The Church of the Advent in Boston, Massachusetts, is very proud of its cats and they have their own web page. The present holders of the post are Jeoffry, who is all black, and Jake, black and white. They are 'big boys' says the site, at 16 pounds and 19 pounds respectively (7.3 and 8.6 kilos), and they arrived to replace former church cat Bradley when he died in October 2004 after a three-year tenure. Bradley was clearly a cat who made a deep impression on the church community; there are pictures of him and of his burial service at this page.

The reason given for now having two incumbents is that 'no one cat could ever replace the incomparable Bradley', and they came as a pair when their previous owner could no longer care for them. Jeoffry and Jake are also obviously 'into' most aspects of church life; there are some great photos, a few of which we reproduce below. As to the matter of 'what church cats do' — well, as you can see from a couple of the images, Jeoffry and Jake do sometimes like to participate in church functions. We are also referred to Christopher Smart's eighteenth-century poem Jubilate Agno in which he praises his cat Jeoffry (hence the name). You can find the poem, or the relevant part of it, here.

In addition to Jake and Jeoffry, there are now (2011) two further cats living at the Rectory. Lucy is a pretty tortoiseshell-and-white female, while tabby Max, the newest arrival, sought shelter following a snowstorm and has taken up residence.

The photographs, along with many more of cats and other animals, are the work of Julianne Turé, webmaster and 'official cat photographer' to the Church of the Advent. We're grateful to her for permission to use them here.

First United Methodist Church

Victoria, Texas, USA

The church's website reports that an early newsletter, from 1951, recorded a new addition to the church — a grey-and-white cat, who attended services every Sunday morning, arriving during the organ prelude and seating herself in the aisle, from which she was removed bodily by the ushers. The reporter suggested that the cat's religious zeal was probably 'considerably dampened' by the treatment she received every Sunday!

In more recent years the tradition of keeping a church cat has continued. CC (above left) was an indoor-outdoor cat, who would be there to greet Margie (the administrative assistant) when the church was opened every morning — until one morning, after many years, she just wasn't there any more.

It didn't seem right not to have a church cat — so along came DD (above right), to follow CC and keep up the hard work of greeting people. But one day when DD was entertaining in the VIP office, she suddenly died. So, after a while, a friendly new greeter came to carry on the church cat tradition. She is the handsomely striped Tiggie (left), seen guarding the church against cockroaches!