The Church of the Advent - The Church Cats

Many popular houseplants are toxic to cats. Lilies are particularly dangerous - ingesting even a tiny part of the lily plant could cause death from kidney failure within hours or days. Please be safe: keep lilies and other toxic plants away from your pets. If you are sending flowers to a cat-owned household, choose arrangements of roses or common daisies, which are not harmful to cats. Please review this list of toxic plants, or check with a veterinarian if you are not sure about the safety of a particular species. Thank you!

Meet our Church Cats, Jeoffry (all black) and Jake (black and white). These big boys (16 and 19 pounds, respectively) came to us when their former owner had to move away and couldn't keep them.

What are you doing up there?

Keeping the parish running ...

Jake at Sunday Mass...

... and Jeoffry monitoring the Annual Meeting

Exploring the Parish Garden...

Jeoffry and Jake in the garden looking around

Jeoffry and Jake in the garden looking the other direction

Jake disappearing into the flowers while Jeoffry looks on

A Poem for the Church Cats

Jake's Rogation Day Experience

Jeoffry says his prayers in the Crypt Chapel
Jeoffry in the Crypt Chapel

What cats do best: sleep! (Anywhere)

Father Warren reminds the cats who keeps them fed...
Fr. Warren with the cats

Jake knows how to compose a good shot

"Supervising" preparations for Mass
supervising preparations for Mass

A favorite vantage point
cats atop closet in sacristy

What exactly does a Church Cat do? The 18th century poet Christopher Smart left us a lyrical, if eccentric, job description, which beautifully details the life of an honored feline (and explains where our Jeoffry got his name).

And why two Church Cats? Because no one cat could ever replace the incomparable Bradley!

Cats make reluctant subjects for portraiture.
Jake and Jeoffry with their 'Chief of Staff'

THE BOYS OF SUMMER

Come summer,
winter’s hearth huggers
find the parish garden,
join early comers,
lay back ears,
lash tails
at birds
and interlopers.

Morning sun haloes
Jeoffry’s black coat…
Jake’s black and white
accepts his washing ritual ~
and loving pats.
Morning coffee is a blessing
in the company
of cats.

June A. Knowles

For Jake and Jeoffry ~ our parish cats

September 4, 2005

Jake and Jeoffry under the influence of catnip

Other Advent Animals

Jake and Jeoffry may be the kings of the Hill, but they are not the only creatures associated with the Advent ...

Lovey the Dove keeps Father Gray company in his office, safely out of the Church Cats' reach

Jake and Jeoffry do not have a monopoly on Father Warren's attention: meet the Rectory cats, Skippergee and The Owl

Skippergee, like most calicos, has serious "cattitude"

The Owl has extra toes, folded ears, and Siamese coloring - a real "spare parts" cat

And then there are the wild creatures who live nearby...

One of the numerous raccoons on Beacon Hill
(unfazed by the scaffolding that shrouded the church during our restoration project)

"The sparrow hath found her an house" (Ps. 84:3) -
on the tympanum over the Mt Vernon Street doors
(see below - the nest is in the structure over Our Lord's head)

Quite possibly the most predator-unfriendly nesting site in Boston protects the nest from:

photo of red-tailed hawk perching on spire cross

This red-tailed hawk is frequently seen perching on the cross atop the spire