The Church Cats
Meet Simon!
To adapt a popular phrase, cats are what happens when you’re making other plans. After we lost Jake and Jeoffry, Fr. Warren planned to wait a while before looking for new feline residents. But you don’t find a cat - the cat finds you, and so it was that a little fellow we named Simon showed up in July 2012 and immediately took charge. Simon is now a strapping 15 pounds and always eager to make new friends, so stop by and say hello!
Exploring other orders of ministry? (photo by Ciaran Anthony DellaFera, MD, BSG)
Saying his prayers on a Lenten morning
Helping Fr. Warren fill out the service register
Simon waiting for Mass (photo by Fr. Wood)
Simon’s idea of serving Mass (photo by Fr. Wood)
Simon attends a Vestry meeting
Are you a strange-looking cat?
Simon is friendly with everybody.
Simon says hello!
Showing off some of his striking markings
He’s made himself right at home ...
Claiming the kitty bed ...
... And the scratch-pad ...
... And the ball-chase-scratcher toy.
Time to get to work!
Helping the Rector write email ...
Quality control on the Sunday bulletins.
In Memoriam
Jeoffry and Jake died within a month of each other in the spring of 2012. We miss them terribly. These photos of them will remain here as memorials. An obituary of Jake which appeared in the Beacon Hill Times follows the photographs.
What are you doing up there?
The church cat population increased when Max came in from the cold - literally - after a snowstorm. Max now lives happily at the Rectory - see below.
Keeping the parish running ...
Jake saying his prayers ...
... and Jeoffry monitoring the Annual Meeting
Exploring the Parish Gardens...
What cats do best: sleep! (Anywhere)
Father Warren reminds the cats who keeps them fed...
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!
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’s obituary from the Beacon Hill Times
a reader’s letter responding to the obituary
Other Advent Animals
Jake and Jeoffry may be the kings of the Hill, but they are not the only creatures associated with the Advent ...
Max, Lucy, and Black Louis run the Rectory.
And then there are the wild creatures who live nearby...
A raccoon relaxing on the Parish House fire escape
"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)
This red-tailed hawk is frequently seen perching on the cross atop the spire