“Can we baptize the dog?”
On the expansiveness and limitations of animals, sacraments, and grace
Ezra asked me, “Can we baptize the dog?” on the first day Marley joined us as a nine-week-old Golden Retriever puppy, on April 28th, 2025. That is a lovely question and one I knew Ezra knew is important to me as a pastor. I am glad he asked it.
Baptism is an initiation ritual, the entrance, the doorway into church family (see Romans 6:3-4, Acts 2:39 as small examples). Ezra knows this. When he asked his question, he wanted to be sure we had done all that we needed to do for Marley to be officially part of our family. “Can we baptize the dog?” is a question filled with love, affection, and liturgical ecotheology. He had my attention.
As a Presbyterian pastor, I baptize human infants and adults, trusting that God’s grace is sufficient and that the visible outward sign of water points to the invisible, inward reality of grace. We practice this ritual with all humility in the presence of mystery, encircled by the mystery of our lives and the mystery of God’s presence.
The Presbyterian pastor, Frederick Buechner, entertained the question, “How about infant baptism? Shouldn’t you wait until the child grows up enough to know what’s going on?” He continued by responding, “When it comes to the forgiving and transforming love of God, one wonders if the six-week-old screecher knows all that much less than the Archbishop of Canterbury.”[1]
We often put a lot of emphasis on human intellect and understanding. Buechner draws attention to the limitations of our human intellect and understanding.
I do realize, of course, pastors and theologians and denominational leaders in the Presbyterian Church (USA) will emphasize the importance of preparation and education in connection with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (our two sacraments). I agree. Education, or rather, spiritual formation is important. The sacraments are not magic. The sacraments have their meaning within the context of human spiritual community over the course of generations, in the context of spiritual formation.
And yet, doesn’t this question of which animals (human animals or other animals) can receive the sacraments raise an issue more with the severe limitations of our human rituals than with the reality of God’s grace? To expand upon Buechner’s query, “When it comes to the forgiving and transforming love of God, one wonders if the barking nine-week-old puppy knows all that much less than the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Our human rituals – sermons, prayers, litanies, gestures, sacraments, etc. – are important but only offer glimpses of reality, as if looking at reality through a keyhole. We do need more expansive ways of perceiving the reality of God’s grace in the world, grace that touches upon every fiber of existence, seen and unseen.
Last year, I helped host and facilitate a Blessing of the Animals Service, celebrating the Feast of Saint Francis. We even had a jazz band. It was fantastic. We used the Book of Common Worship (2018) prepared by the Office of Theology and Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Book of Common Worship states “This service may be used on or near October 4, the commemoration of Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226), reformer and renewer of the church. For practical reasons, an outdoor setting for the service may be preferred…”
In the Blessing of the Animals Service, I was touched as I witnessed people bring their pets with them – mostly they brought dogs with them. Dogs were very much a part of their human families. As I offered a blessing for each animal, their human family introduced them with their name and a bit of their story. Isn’t that what human parents do when they bring their infant or child to me to be baptized?
Before anyone begins to wonder whether I am about to advocate for baptizing animals, let me say I would not be entirely against the idea, though I also realize the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s ideas of “rich diversity” and “full participation” regarding those baptized does not include anyone outside the human species (Book of Order, F-1.0403). And I’m realistic about whether this would actually ever happen; just look at how long it took to ordain women. I have been interested in the fact, however, that animals participated in the ritual of lamentation and repentance with the human population in Ninevah (take a look at Jonah 3:8).
What constitutes a human body is mostly nonhuman, but that is a conversation for another time. I think we need to consider more deeply what we are doing when we are participating in the sacraments and what participation should or must involve and how far we are willing to limit what that participation may require.
God’s grace is present and active in the world with or without our human rituals. Salvation, as Beverly Gaventa has said, “encompasses the cosmos.”[2] Isn’t that the ultimate hope, a renewal of all things in the heavens and on the Earth?
Our rituals and sacraments barely touch upon glimpses of a reality beyond our grasp.
On Marley’s first evening with us, we shared an evening ritual; we gave him a bath. After hardly more than a few moments, Esther, Ezra, Marley, and I were all wet with water everywhere. And, by the end of the bath, we were all smiling. He was now part of the family, and we were drenched with grace upon grace. We all belonged.
God’s love is too big
for our small minds
the least we can do
is bless everyone
all creatures great
and very, very small
[1] Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 6.
[2] Gaventa, When In Romans, 128.
Absolutely precious that Ezra wanted Marley to be baptized! I am all in for a Blessing of the Animals next fall :)
An infant baptism is both a blessing of that infant and a statement of intent on the part of the biological (or adoptive) family and the church family to watch over and guide the infant as it grows and matures.
While a pet can and should be welcomed into a home and become a member of the family therein, it is much less common for a congregation to welcome that pet into the church family and into the larger family of Christ.
It is completely appropriate for that welcome into the home to include an earnest prayer for its health and long life. It is also appropriate for the welcome to also celebrate the intent of the family to guide it and love it for as long as it lives.
Whether this blessing and commitment takes the form of a formal ritual and whether it is given the title of baptism is up to the family that is adopting the pet.