McDuck
Well-known member
October 3, 1988
At Cathedral, a Blessing for Algae
By ARI L. GOLDMAN
LEAD: After a summer of polluted beaches, soaring temperatures and devastating drought, it was time to get back to basics. And so, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine yesterday, there was a special blessing for the algae.
After a summer of polluted beaches, soaring temperatures and devastating drought, it was time to get back to basics. And so, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine yesterday, there was a special blessing for the algae.
The algae - 10 billion of them in a flask labeled Anabaena Flosaqua - were carried in a procession into the cathedral that included an elephant, a dromedary, a llama, a fish, a python, an eagle, a tortoise, a raccoon and a turkey. Bringing up the rear was a 14-foot-tall ginkgo tree, its roots wrapped in burlap.
About 4,000 people stood and cheered as the Episcopal Bishop of New York, the Right Rev. Paul Moore, blessed all the creatures, large and small. An Annual Spectacle
The blessing of the animals, part of the celebration of St. Francis Day, has become an annual New York spectacle at the huge and flamboyant cathedral, which stands the length of two football fields at Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street. Always fun and a whimsical event, it took on a measure of seriousness this year.
''The summer of '88 makes us remember how we haven't loved the oceans, we haven't loved the water,'' said the Rev. James Parks Morton, dean of the cathedral. ''The ozone layer and the greenhouse effect became household words. We learned that we haven't loved the earth as we've loved ourselves.''
The dean invoked the spirit of St. Francis, the 13th-century monk who taught that all of creation was sacred. Legend has it that St. Francis preached to the birds and tamed a wolf that was terrorizing a small village. A Broader Message
But St. Francis had a broader message, as was evident from a hymn he wrote, called ''Canticle of Brother Sun.'' The hymn, incorporated into the liturgy for the day, the ''Missa Gaia/Earth Mass,'' invoked Brother Sun and Sister Moon and concluded:
All praise to those who live in peace.
Ask of the Beasts and they shall teach you The Beauty of the Earth.
The liturgy, which included the essentials of the Mass - the Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, was performed by the Paul Winter Consort, the Omega Liturgical Dancers and the cathedral's choristers, chorus and singers.
Incense filled the air. With the peal of Paul Winter's soprano saxophone, the plaintive song of Eugene Friesen's cello and the recorded sounds of wolf and whale, and with the congregation, on instructions from the dancers, waving like wheat in the wind, the cathedral built to a sensory crescendo before the procession began. All Eyes on Peggy
When the great bronze doors opened and Peggy, an 8,000-pound elephant from the Big Apple Circus entered, the cathedral fell silent. A dog barked, a child screeched with delight, and all eyes were on Peggy.
Mary Bloom, the coordinator of the St. Francis Day event, said she chose animals ''who were good ambassadors of their species'' to be led in the procession. The turtle, for example, was purchased Saturday in Chinatown from a barrel, where it was being sold for use in soup. After the blessing, the boy who brought it said he planned to release it in an upstate stream.
Besides the animals chosen for the procession, hundreds of others were brought by their owners to be blessed. While dogs and cats predominated, there were also parakeets, white mice and a macaw with a 30-word vocabulary. 'Important' Additions
After the service, priests were stationed on the grounds to offer blessings. Instead of holy water, there was a drinking fountain from which the dogs eagerly refreshed themselves.
Ms. Bloom said this was the first year that the so-called lower levels of life, such as bacteria and flora, were included in what had been the domain of mammals and amphibians and aquatic vertebrate. The additions, she said, were ''important and timely.''
''The earth is crying out for us to heal it,'' she added.