"Jo Firey" wrote in message
...
A cat that attends church? At Sunday's 10:00 a.m. service at Mission
Hills
United Methodist Church, in pranced a handsome gray and white
long-haired
cat. It cruised the aisles, licked its fur, and curled up in a pew
right
next to
parishioner Larry Granfield for a cat nap - right in the middle of
the Rev.
Craig
Dorval's sermon.

Churchgoers welcomed back "Bootsy Guzinski," who had been missed the
last
couple of months and was now a skinnier version of his former self,
causing
church secretary Judy Mefford to wonder if he might have hopped
aboard
moving
van loading up across the street at the time he disappeared.

Bootsy' real home is down the block with Vivian Guzinski. But he
started
frequenting the church after his "dad," Arthur Guzinski, passed away
in
1996.

Ever since, Bootsy, a rescued pound cat, has been as faithful as
they
come --
attending Sunday devotions, joining in the two weekly AA meetings in
the
church's basement, going to exercise classes, Christmas programs,
weddings,
keeping Mefford company in her church office, even attending garden
club
sessions. During one, Boosy leaped through a half-open window
mid-meeting
and proudly presented his human friends with a mouse.......
a church mouse, no doubt.


--
Jo Firey

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take
our breath away."

My church used to have a cat who showed up for the coffee hour after
Sunday morning services. He liked attention, and especially liked being
picked up, although he drooled copiously when he was held for any length
of time. He'd get shut up in the church every once in a while, but he
didn't seem upset, and managed to "hold it" until someone showed up the
next day and let him out. His name was Leo, and his people lived
nearby. Eventually he stopped turning up, and we never knew what
happened to him.

Fast forward several years. Our church merged with another church about
10 miles away. We began having our services at the other church, and
during-the-week meetings at our old church. There was a cat that would
show up at the other church. If it was warm, and the doors were open,
he would often come in for the services. His favorite place to nap was
the choir loft, but he would occasionally favor a parishioner for a
while.

Joy