{"id":471,"date":"2014-07-17T00:25:16","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T00:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendarees.com\/?p=471"},"modified":"2015-11-04T21:25:22","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T21:25:22","slug":"dogs-of-all-faiths-at-the-cathedral-the-tidings-july-17-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/?p=471","title":{"rendered":"“Dogs of All Faiths” at the Cathedral, The Tidings, July 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Franciscan Sister Christine Bowman was handing out two types of medals to dog owners at Dog Day Afternoon July 9 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are getting St. Francis of Assisi, of course, but they are also getting St. Anthony,\u201d said the director of cathedral relations. \u201cBecause we know how easy it is for some dogs to get lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, there were no lost dogs at this year\u2019s \u201csniff and mingle\u201d annual event that drew about 1,000 dogs and 1,300 owners, most who live in downtown Los Angeles. Guests on two and four legs were invited to hang out on the Cathedral Plaza on this warm summer evening for visiting, music and a light meal (Dodger dogs were on the menu as well as doggie treat samples.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the Cathedral and the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID), the event has become a beloved date for many downtown residents. \u201cI have been to almost all of them and I look forward to this every year,\u201d said Cathedral parishioner Jean Gonsoulin who brought her dog Cowboy. \u201cI am Catholic and I lovethat the Cathedral does this. The courtyard comes alive!\u201d<\/p>\n

Many dogs \u2014 and some owners \u2014 were dressed up in costumes, including a \u201cFlying Nun\u201d pomeranian (a la Sally Field), a tuxedo-clad terrier, and a sunglasses-wearing chihuahua \u201cdriving\u201d a car.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, a big Irish wolfhound towered over a dwarf chihuahua, bassett hounds rolled in the grassy shade, and bulldogs snorted and panted in and out of their owner\u2019s legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two-and-a-half acres of plaza and tonight we are sharing it with our canine companions that give us so much,\u201d explained Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, Cathedral pastor, who was introducing his dog Joaquin to the crowds. Msgr. Kostelnik credits Hal Bastian of the DCBID (and his dog Scooter) as partners in creating the canine-centric event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first year we probably had 50 dogs,\u201d he said. \u201cNow look at it. We like to say that \u2018dogs of all faiths\u2019 are welcomed here, but we also mean their owners, too. We are a cathedral of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the adoption booths and vendor and resource tables, the Cathedral was represented by Sister Bowman who, in addition to handing out saint medals and blessing dogs and people, also reached out to the community to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. \u201cWe have been signing folks up to be parishioners,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This was Sister Bowman\u2019s second Dog Day Afternoon. \u201cSeeing all the different shapes and sizes and kinds of dogs reminds us of how unique each of us is to God,\u201d she said as poodles, dachshunds and mixed breeds frolicked nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs also are a reflection of God\u2019s unconditional love for us,\u201d she added. \u201cWe have a lot to learn from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

(All photos by Brenda Rees)<\/p>\n

\"dogs-faith\"\"DD1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"DD4\"<\/a>\u00a0\"DD8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DD7\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\"DD19\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"DD20\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yappy Hour at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I asked the pastor, Msgr. Kostelnik, why not cats? After all…it’s a CAThedral… This was a photographer’s dream job….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-tidings","post-with-thumbnail","post-with-thumbnail-large"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions\/647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brendarees.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}