{"id":594224,"date":"2019-02-25T10:51:30","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T10:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"
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A Florida church is drawing attention for a weekly service welcoming some unusual parishioners \u2014 dogs.<\/p>\n

Father Albert Cutie, rector at St. Benedict\u2019s Episcopal Church in Plantation, said the facility has been holding \u201cdog-friendly\u201d\u00a06 p.m. Saturday services for about 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you really pray and leave a loved one behind?\u201d Cutie\u00a0told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.<\/p>\n

He said the canine congregants are remarkably well behaved while sitting in the pews with their owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sometimes have 10 to 12 dogs at a time,\u201d Cutie said. \u201cYou never really hear them much \u2014 unless they encounter each other after Communion and then they begin to bark at each other. But everybody expects that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cutie said the services are particularly attractive to people who live alone with their pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about this service \u2014 and I think that\u2019s the reason that we have it \u2014 is that many of our people do live alone,\u201d Cutie said. \u201cThey are elderly, they\u2019ve lost their spouse or they\u2019ve lived alone for a long time. And their dog really does become their companion in every way and their closest family member.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said other types of pets are welcomed into the church once a year for\u00a0a Blessing of the Animals\u00a0service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t they be welcome in God\u2019s house?\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re God\u2019s creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

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