National Catholic Reporter

The Independent News Source

Service dog helps at church

 |  NCR Today

From the Asbury Park Press:

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Rev. Joel Marable stood at the altar at St. Matthew’s Anglican Catholic Church on Christmas morning and officiated at Mass, just as he has done many times before.

But this time was different.

Help us explore new ideas for the NCR website by taking this brief survey.
survey-button3_1.jpg

This time his friend Donovan sat nearby, meticulously monitoring the priest’s blood pressure. Marable, the 67-year-old curate at the Newport News church, has survived a dozen strokes, and if Donovan detects any significant drop in blood pressure, he signals for the priest to sit down before he loses his balance and falls.

Donovan is a 5-year-old, 55-pound standard poodle.

Read more here at the Asbury Park Press.

NCR Comment code:

  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger.
  • Don't use obscene, profane or vulgar language.
  • Stay on point. Comments that stray from the original idea may be deleted.

We are not able to monitor every comment that comes through. If you see something objectionable, please click the "Report abuse" button. Once a comment has been flagged, an NCR staff member will investigate.

For more detailed guidelines, visit our User Guidelines page.

For help on how to post a comment, visit our reference page.

Sisters' Stories; read more

NCR Email Alerts

 

In This Issue

May 10-23, 2013

May10-cover.jpg

Not all of our content is online. Subscribe to receive all the news and features you won't find anywhere else.