Gus reads a letter sent by a priest in Mobile, Alabama to his parishioners last week advising them that he would not be holding the annual blessing of the animals on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Fr. Stephen Vrazel of St. Vincent de Paul Church said that "families will bend over backwards" to bring their pets to get blessed but "consistently fail to bring their children to Sunday mass." It's a pretty hard stand and one that's met with plenty of criticism. Gus asks listeners what their thoughts are on this issue.
Also, today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary so Gus gives away blessed Holy Land Rosaries to listeners who call in and get on the air and, afterwards, does a little Tell Me Something Good.
I understand Fr. Vrazel’s sentiment. However, I think he went about it the completely wrong way. In light of how people in America are viewing Catholic priests these days, he did a poor job of “reading the room” so to speak. He shouldn’t be threatening or punishing his congregation, but rather trying to include everyone with open arms. As some callers said, he should have made it so that families had to attend Mass in order to get their animals blessed, and at that Mass, he could have reiterated that he would like to see those parishioners make more of an effort to come to weekly Mass with their kids.
We want to trust our priests again. An angry letter and removal of well-loved traditions in an effort to try to shame young families is not the way to garner trust back. Just my opinion.