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Worshippers were especially noisy at last Sunday's service of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Colesville.

"The Lord be with you," said Rev. Donna Brown to the crowd. Barks, woofs and meows immediately echoed through the church instead of the expected, "And also with you," response.

Animals throughout the Silver Spring area were blessed this weekend in celebration of the feast of St. Francis, the saint often associated with animals. For many churches, this involved a somewhat quirky—but most definitely serious, pastors say—tradition of bringing family pets out to share in prayer and be blessed for the upcoming year.

"It could be considered quirky, but I don't think it is," Brown said. "I really think it's celebrating the lives of our critters—our family pets, and so on—as being part of our lives."

As the blessing took place in the church, parishioners marched up with everything from dogs and cats to stuffed animals and ashes in tow. The blessing is a way to celebrate relationships, Brown said, when asked about blessing inanimate objects.

"You wonder, because the animal isn't alive, and yet when you think of the companionship, you can still bless that relationship," she said.

A similar blessing was held a day earlier at Riderwood Retirement Community in Silver Spring. Father John Shanahan, a Franciscan who weekly says Mass at the community, led a service full of song, prayer, holy water and animal crackers.

Ordained just last year and not a pet owner himself, Shanahan said it was a new experience to him to see the spiritual connection Riderwood residents had with their animals.

"It was quite touching, quite sentimental to see people quite attached to their animals and how the animals provide comfort to them," he said.

Among those he spoke of were Mary Popkin, the event organizer who brought a portrait of her cat rather than the cat itself out of fear of an accident, "e.g. throw up on the way over," she said, and Great Dane owner Ann Ingram, who said her decision to move to Riderwood was largely based on the fact that they would accept her dog.

Ingram, a Jewish woman, said she came to the Franciscan blessing with her dog because, at her age, she'll take any blessings she can get.

"She's the ideal community companion," she said. "She doesn't take good telephone messages, and she doesn't talk, but I talk to her a lot."

To watch a video about local Blessing of the Animal celebrations or to see pet owners talk about their relationship with their furry friends, go to www.gazette.net/video.