Dear Mary and Frank,

I was planning to ask you if you'd had much success with the churches over there ...when, there was your letter on the net!

I'm afraid I haven't (yet) had any success with the Anglican minister in Monbulk.

I approached him in early October last year and he (eventually) suggested I give a short talk at their church which eventuated in December. He said he' need to 'think about' incorporating Christian concern for animals into the church. I left him with a wealth of books etc, Peaceable Kingdom/the Witness and the Christian video (with you in it Frank) that I had bought especially for him to see. I also made a list of suggestions for him..........(below)

WAYS TO ENCOURAGE CHRISTIAN CONCERN FOR ANIMALS AT SAINT GEORGES CHURCH, MONBULK.

1.Screen Christian video/Peaceable Kingdom/The Witness (any or all...at Saint Georges Church. It could be advertised in localAnglican churches, local papers and shop windows.)

2.Join the Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals. (www.aswa.org.uk) and have quarterly bulletins, booklets available for church members to borrow.

3.Regularly include animals in the liturgy and/or prayers (See samples)

7.Make biblical and theological ideas on animals part of your Christian study. Familiarize yourself with the teaching of animal advocates (particularly Primatt, Butler, Wesley, Lewis, Hume and Linzey). ASWA publishes short helpful guides on some issues.

Use these to speak out for animals in your church, bible study or discussion group.

5.Have Animals Australia /Australian Association for Humane Research brochures on table for members to read/take.

6.Poster on wall. Have a poster on wall encouraging Christian concern for animals. e.g All God's creatures are precious /God loves all his creatures/or 'Peace' poster available from www.allastar.com.(US$20)

7.On World Animal Day (Oct 1st) highlight our need to show concern and compassion for ALL of Gods beloved creatures.(Talk/prayers/animal blessing/newspaper article ... contact press. ASWA's theme this year is Live Export. Free info. packs available from them.)

8.Consider your churches charitable giving. Will money raised be used to exploit animals (eg. export animals to third world countries, experiment on animals (Aust. Assoc. for Humane Research provides a list. www.humanecharities.org.au ) 

9. Synod.

Propose that Christian concern for animals be encouraged throughout the diocese by:

1. the regular inclusion of prayers for animals during church services;

2. urging members of the congregation to help alleviate animal abuse/suffering by

a. avoiding household products and cosmetic tested on animals,

b. avoiding fur,

c. avoiding entertainment that exploits animals,

d. speaking out against cruelty whenever possible (letters to news papers/politicians)

e. avoiding factory farmed animal products and, considering going vegetarian, as we progress towards the ultimate 'peaceable kingdom' (Eating meat is participating in a bloody massacre. Is this consistent with Christian ethics and morals? )

10. Include compassionate links on St. Georges website.

Animals Australia www.animalsaustralia.org 

 All Creatures www.all-creatures.org. 

Compassion in World Farming www.ciwf.org 

People Against Cruelty in Animal Transport (PACAT) www.pacat.org 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) www.peta.org 

Christian Vegetarian Association www.christianveg.com 

Sea Shepherd Foundation www.seashepherd.org 

Ballarat Organisation for animal rights www.goldlinks.org 

Farm Sanctuary www.farmsanctuary.org 

Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania www.aact.org.au 

..........anyway, he kept saying he'd look at the videos, then something would crop up and he'd tell me to ring back in a few weeks. Last Friday it was the same story, so I said just look at the Christian video then .......it only takes about 20 minutes. He said he look at it that night.

A friend that I was seeing on Sunday (we were participating in a city 'protest' against sow stalls) said he'd like to view it at and show it to his son who is a minister so I rang the Anglican church asking if I could pick up the video on Saturday. Shortly after the secretary rang back ....I've got the video here for you.......the minister has to go to a meeting tonight and he'll be too busy to look at it!!!!!

After 5 months of waiting. What a let-down. (And this minister has a vegetarian wife and daughter!) He also returned the Witness. I'll give him another week then may as well pick up P.Kingdom. On the phone on Friday I also mentioned Earthlings which I had just viewed, so he is well aware of the terrible suffering that meat eating inflict on animals. Have you seen the DVD?

I t's the most shocking film I've ever seen. It should be compulsory viewing for all meat-eaters. Unfortunately most would not watch it.

My mum rang whilst I was watching Earthlings last Thurs. She asked what I was watching so I said, I'm watching a film that all meat-eaters should see. She quickly replied.........I don't want to know about it!

I then said It's so cruel ............she again said, I don't want to know about it! I only rang to find out about the family and if you don't want to tell me that I'll talk another time.I was feeling a bit stunned ...maybe at her callousness in light of what I'd just viewed so I didn't speak .........and then she hung up.

Sadly, I thought, this is probably the response one would get from most people.

I hope I'm not sounding too depressing. On the positive side, I was thinking how wonderful the internet is. It's so good to know that there are other compassionate souls out there and it's so good to actually be able to communicate with them too.

And it's especially great to have your wonderful and informative website to click onto at will.

Best wishes

Jenny

Go on to: Comments by Frank and Mary Hoffman - 16 May 2006

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