I had two reactions to the back and forth. 1) I didn’t know that Catholics had such a good sense of humor, and 2) how anyone can question whether a dog has a soul or not? How can creatures who stir so much within our souls, not have a soul themselves?

And it’s not just dogs. I can sense a soul in so many creatures, and I don’t understand people who kill them for fun. I can’t even watch anyone fish, because I can’t stand to see the fish hung up on a sharp hook, struggling to breath. It just seems so cruel. And I’ll never understand the “nature lovers” who get up before dawn, trudge deep into the woods, and in all the silence and beauty, shoot a deer.

I’m a total hypocrite, of course. I don’t eat deer, but I eat fish. I cry when I see a load of cattle being led off to slaughter, but I occasionally eat a hamburger. I have to hand it to my daughter, Summer. She shares my deep connection with animals and declared at age 10 that she would not eat any of them. Except chickens. She doesn’t like chickens, so she doesn’t mind eating them. She’s 13 now, and for 3 years, she has not yielded in her pledge. No meat. Which is pretty hard to do when you have no control over what gets bought at the store and what gets cooked. I’ll tell this, she’s stubborn as all get out. We learned pretty quickly to provide this child with vegetarian food or watch her starve. I admire her dedication to her beliefs.

Even though I occasionally eat them, my children will tell you that helping animals is a big part of who I am. Summer and Jordan know that the only pets allowed into the family are animals who need us. Or they are missing a leg.

Currently, we have:

-- A husky/collie mix who lost a leg after being hit by a car in NYC. Her owner, who was also hit, picked himself up, dusted himself off and hailed a cab, leaving that wonderful dog to die alone. A colleague of mine rescued her, got her medical care, and we adopted her. That was nine years ago.

--We have a three-legged cat that had been locked in a windowless bathroom for more than a year, only given food and water. Don’t get me started. I brought him home. He absolutely loves his new life, revels in the sunlight, and gets along beautifully with all our other animals.

-- We have the sweetest pitbull/boxer mix who was one day away from being put down in a high-kill shelter,

-- A golden retriever whose owner is temporarily homeless. Well, actually her owner is staying with us too.

--Two stray cats, one of which was born under our Jacuzzi tub, and

--4 goldfish that were being mistreated at a carnival

And many more animals have passed through our home on the way to a permanent home. Just this year:

--An Australian Shepherd left behind after his owner foreclosed on her house – just left the dog outside. We found him days later, dutifully guarding his empty house. I’m happy to report, he now lives on a 100-acre farm with two lakes.

--A tabby cat whose owners moved out of state and left her in the house, which we had listed for sale. A neighbor gave the cat food and water, but she was so lonely. Every time we came to check on the house, she practically jumped in our laps. We used our real estate database to find her a great home.

--A cocker spaniel puppy who was being kept in a crate for up to 12 hours at a time  because his owners were incredibly stupid people. He stayed with us until we found him a home with a wonderful woman who treats him like a son, and he has a cocker spaniel sister to play with.

--And last but not least, the cutest little baby rat who was so frightened of our cats he could not move. We kept him in a cage until he got his wits about him. Presumably by now, he’s been reunited with his rat family.

Sounds like a pretty good list of good deeds. But here’s my weakness. I am not an activist, and I think I am supposed to be. I help animals who cross my path, but I don’t go out looking for animals to help. I wait until they find me. That’s because when I am confronted with animal abuse or cruelty, I get so emotionally wrought that I can’t sleep; my soul is in agony. I can feel an animal’s anguish. So, my confession: As driven as I am to help animals, I’m afraid I’m too fragile to make any big differences in this world.  

Let’s put it this way. I’m no Henry Bergh. Henry Bergh is one of our most famous Unitarians.  One incident changed him and he then changed the lives of countless animals. Back in 1861, Henry was traveling in Russia when he witnessed a man brutally whipping his horse. When Henry tried to intervene, the police stopped him and said that because the horse belonged to the man, he could do whatever he wanted to it.

Now look, I assure you, if I had come upon that scene, I would have cried for days and days and scrambled to block those images from my mind to get relief. But Henry came back to NY and worked to get a law passed making it illegal to abuse animals. Then he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  In his lifetime, besides helping all the dogs and cats, he stopped the abuse of dairy cows, made rooster fighting illegal, helped sick and lame horses get relief from debilitating work and on and on.

And he did all this in the face of people’s ridicule. At the time, people were not admiring him for his good works; they were making fun of him. They called him a meddler and a kook. He even got death threats. But Henry kept going, never stopped doing what he knew was right.

Henry Bergh is my hero because he used the horrifying images he had witnessed to propel him into positive action. I am in awe.

I forced myself recently to watch some undercover PETA footage of circus workers beating elephants. I could only make it through about a third of it before I screamed out loud and x’ed out of the screen. I thank God that there are people in this world that can watch the whole thing and then do something about it. I pray for the courage to be an animal activist.

But perhaps the bigger question is why do we even need animal activists? Why is there such cruelty in this world? I blame the Bible. It’s right there in Genesis, God gives man “dominion over the fish in the sea, and over the fowl in the air, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” We’re just better than everything else, and for the unenlightened, that’s like a license to kill.

Thank God, there is evidence, though, that we are evolving; otherwise people like Henry Bergh wouldn’t have gone from kook to hero in his lifetime. And the more we get in touch with our unity, our common bond or thread with all living creatures - what we Unitarians would call the interdependent web of existence - the more we can see dominion as a responsibility and obligation to help care for lesser species.

Actually, though, I’m not convinced that animals really are a lesser species. I can see how people might think that – us with our opposable thumbs and all - but on the other hand, animals seem to handle day to day existence in a much more gracious way than people do. Maybe they are the ones who have life figured out. In fact, if I had a church with a billboard and could post any message, here’s what I would say: “Do Well in This Life and You Might Get Promoted to Dog in the Next.”