Lent for Man & Beast

Should animals observe Lent? In his Lenten pastoral letter, Britain's William Cardinal Godfrey, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, suggested that 1) Catholic families observe Ember Friday (Feb. 24) by fasting and donating the money thus saved to relief of the "hungry and starving," and 2) pets be fed with less expensive foods. "A plump and pampered poodle might run all the more gaily after a reduced diet, simpler fare, and perhaps after having been denied a visit to the hair stylist. If this suggestion seems odd, turn to the third chapter of the Book of Jonas, in which we read that, at the thought of impending disaster, the Ninevites' King raised a cry for a fast for man and beast."

A different kind of cry was raised in England at the archbishop's words. Senior Scientist Rufus Bowden of the Animal Health Trust: "An animal doesn't understand what fasting is. It might be worried if its food did not arrive. It would wonder what it had done wrong." Comedian Charlie Chester: "It's all bilge. If I want to help the hungry, I won't drag my poodle Sasha into it." N. J. Lambert of the Canine Defense League: "The cardinal's idea seems fatuous. It would be punishing the animals. They would not know what it was for." Then he threw in a bit of startling theology: "We have some animals who behave in a more Christian way than some Christians."

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