St. Francis Pet Ministry

Who We Are

The St. Francis Pet Ministry was created by pet-loving members of Christ Episcopal Church in the Spotsylvania Courthouse community. The ministry provides pastoral care, limited financial resources, and comfort to all of God’s creatures and the individuals that love and care for them in the Spotsylvania community. Our pet ministry has been featured in the Free Lance Star for their community outreach work in the article "Ministry Serves God's Creatures.'

What We Do

Sometimes circumstances make keeping a pet healthy and well-fed difficult. Our pet ministry is able to provide limited financial support to assist with the costs of emergency food and medical treatment, as funds allow.

Pets are our four-legged children. We are here to support grieving owners in their time of need through accompaniment to difficult appointments including euthanasia. In addition, our “Pet Prayer Chain” provides spiritual support to those in need of comfort.

Our pet ministry is involved with our local community by organizing pet-related food drives for our local rescue organizations and hosting our annual “Blessing of the Animals” event at Christ Episcopal Church.

Meet Our Therapy Dogs

We also make visits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities where residents pet and play with our therapy dogs. Together with our therapy dogs,  we visit homebound people, bringing smiles and wags. We also visit schools so children can read to and talk to our therapy dogs. Their favorite books include "Where's Spot?" and "Clifford the Big Red Dog."

You can often see our therapy dogs at the 10:30 Sunday service, and you will always see one or more of them at Father Daniel’s healing service on the 4th Sunday of each month. Meet our therapy dogs!

Help

If you or someone you know is in need of our assistance or if you would like to talk with someone in our ministry please complete this form or call our church at 540.582.5033 and one of our partners will reach back out to you.

The Pet Ministry gratefully accepts donations which we put towards our outreach. Donating is easy! Click here to give online or you can send a check to Christ Episcopal Church at 8951 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania VA 22553. Please include "Pet Ministry" in the memo line.