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Brazilian Priest Brings Dogs Into Church To Get People To Adopt Them

Brazilian Priest Brings Dogs Into Church To Get People To Adopt Them

Father Gomes has already helped loads of dogs find a forever home

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A Brazilian priest is trying to find homes for a load of stray dogs by inviting them into his services in the hope that families will adopt them.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes, the head of the parish of Santana in the Brazilian city of Gravatá, started bringing the homeless animals into his church in order to show them off to potential adoptive families.

The priest became concerned at seeing so many stray dogs and decided he absolutely had to do something to help them.

With that in mind, he takes them into his rectory and actually brings them into the church to make them a part of his service.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes

The dogs often fall asleep on the altar, and are petted and doted on by his congregation. The idea is that the parishioners see the dogs and fall in love with them. That way the dogs can find a forever home.

Father Gomes got the idea from someone offering him cookies, if you can believe that. He left the cookies out at mass and - as you'd probably imagine - they all got taken and eaten.

Then, he encountered a kennel that had 96 dogs in it and thought: if the cookies went quickly, why not the dogs, too?

His adventurous idea worked out absolutely perfectly.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes

He explained to Metro: "Then I began to bring the dogs to mass, with the same hopes of giving them away.

"In six months, I finished this process. All dogs were adopted. Now I work with street dogs. They sometimes come into the church looking for food and water.

"During service, we speak about dogs of the street, about how to respect and protect them. The church also helps with a castration project (to limit the number of stray dogs)."

Yikes, it's hard to imagine castration being a good thing, but if it keeps the number of stray dogs on the streets down, it's probably for the best.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes

He added: "We also help dogs in emergencies such as victims of violence or health problems."

Because of his efforts, the number of stray dogs in the area has drastically decreased. Oh, and you'd better believe that Father Gomes has fallen in love with a few of the dogs.

Actually, he's adopted three of them himself. The dogs go everywhere with him and even share a bed with their owner.

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Featured Image Credit: Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes

Topics: Dog, World News, Daily Ladness, Animals