Animal lovers, clergy gather for blessing

Dozens of Rocky Mount animal lovers gathered Saturday to pray for neglected, abused and abandoned animals. Others showed up at Sunset Park to ask blessings for their own pets during the fourth annual Blessing of the Animals.

Constance Pitts was among the residents who aksed the Revs. Bob Bergland and Howard Kendrick to pray for their pets. Pitts carried her dog Dryfus, a terrier amd Shih Tzu mix to the blessing.

The animal blessing event was hosted by Merlin’s Song and the Nash-Edgecombe Humane Society in recognition of National Homeless Animals Day.

Brenda Griffin cofounded Merlin’s Song to help stray cats throughout Rocky Mount. The organization traps the animals, has them spayed or neutered and then adopts them out.

Bergland, of First United Methodist Church, prayed for all abandoned animals before praying for a specific blessing over each of the pets in attendance.

“Aug. 15 is National Homeless Animals Day, so we do this as a kind of tribute to all the homeless animals out there,” said Beth Mathieu, a founding member of Merlin’s Song.