About Me

I am a long time animal lover and more recent animal advocate with a Masters Degree in Theological Studies from Wesley Theological Seminary.  I did not set out in my studies to see what the Scriptures have to say about animals.  In fact, as with most of us, it had never occurred to me that they had much to say on the subject at all.  One day, however, early in my studies, I read about an area church holding an animal blessing service in honor of St. Francis.  I thought, "They should include animals in real need of a blessing - the blessing of a loving home."  I got in touch with the Washington National Cathedral and the next year, the Cathedral's animal blessing included shelter dogs from two DC shelters and participation by the Humane Society of the United States.  That tradition continued for many years and it set me on a journey I never expected to take.

As I continued my studies, I could not help but notice that nearly everything I studied had some application for how we relate to our fellow creatures, the animals.  I have no doubt my professors and fellow students tired of hearing me expound on how the lessons regarding abuse of power in the story of David and Bathsheba apply to human abuse of power over animals, or how the logic of understanding the Trinity expressed in Catherine LaCugna's God For Us applies equally well to God being "for" the animals, or how Paul's lesson to the Galatians about not eating meat if it will cause others to fall back into paganism suggests we should refrain from meat if it says to others that God doesn't care about cruelty.  Nevertheless, with every class, it became clearer to me that this was a lesson that we, as faith communities in a society of factory farms, laboratory animals, circuses, puppy mills, canned hunts, and more, needed to hear.  And so this blog was born, in an effort to contribute to the conversation about what our faith requires of us in regard to animals.

In addition to my theological studies, I served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL), now known as the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA), for many years and currently serve on the Board of Directors of CreatureKind, an organization that seeks to engage churches in new ways of thinking about animals and the Christian faith, with a special focus on farmed animal welfare.  In addition, I volunteer at City Wildlife, a wildlife rehabilitation organization in Washington, DC, and, through the Veg Society of DC, I volunteer at farm animal sanctuaries in the Washington area.  I am a retired environmental attorney and an Episcopalian. I live, work, and worship in Washington, DC. with my husband, two cats, and one dog.

The views expressed on this blog are my entirely my own and any errors or misstatements should be laid at my doorstep and no on else's.  You can contact me directly at loiswye1@gmail.com.