I still don’t get this:

Two congregations will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of the animals.

The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea invites pets and their owners to the celebration Oct. 3. The procession into the church will begin at 8:45 a.m., with the service starting at 9 a.m. Coffee hour in the garth will follow.

The next day, the Rev. Frank Lechiara will hold the blessing in the St. Edward Catholic Church courtyard at a time to be announced.

I remember the Shiny Sheet’s video a year or two ago of this event at Bethesda.  Readers of this blog know that I have fond memories of our Siamese cat Buff, but the whole concept of taking him to Bethesda to have water thrown on him sends chills up my spine.

But this is worthy of note, for the church that has everything (emphasis mine):

The Rev. Perry T. Fuller has appointed Laura Warner to become the coordinator of Children and Youth Ministry at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. Warner has a master’s degree in education and has been involved in all phases of children and youth ministry at the church.

She is chaplain of the rector search committee, a vestry member and serves on the Altar Guild and as a Eucharistic minister.

I’m a big supporter of chaplaincy, was my church’s Chaplains Commission webmaster for many years.  This takes chaplaincy to a new level, but where that level is I’m not quite sure in this case.