Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org

Our Executive Director, Tams Nicholson, shares the exciting news that vegan priest Fr Terry Martin has been honored by PETA in recognition of his advocacy against bullfighting.

A Faithful Witness Against Bullfighting
From Tams Nicholson

Images from Canva and Fr Terry Martin

Did you know that All-Creatures.org keeps a list of vegan religious leaders and churches? We have for decades, and it has changed and grown in recent years along with the accomplishments of its members. Fr Terry Martin, a member of our list, was recently honored at a London celebration of PETA’s 45 years of victories for the animals. Fr. Terry Martin—parish priest of Worthing and Lancing—received the Guiding Light Award for urging the Catholic Church to end all participation in bullfights and the misuse of saints’ feast days to bless violence. Fr. Martin’s witness is pastoral and prophetic: a full-page ad in The Tablet, naming bullfighting as torture, a clergy letter to Pope Francis, op-ed in the Catholic Herald, and a life aligned with mercy as an ethical vegan. His recent book, Animals in Heaven? A Catholic Pastoral Response to Questions about Animals continues the conversation many faithful are ready to have.

In accepting the award, he vowed to remain “a voice for the voiceless.” That resolve echoes Laudato Si’ and the Gospel call to nonviolence: every creature is God’s beloved, and cruelty contradicts human dignity. For those of us laboring for the Peaceable Kingdom, Fr. Martin’s stance is a pastoral light—inviting Catholics and all faith-based peoples to reject spectacle-violence, reform our practices, and honor God and the saints with compassion for all creatures.

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: October 10, 2025
Return to Tams Nicholson, Executive Director
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