Dog 'Trapper' Receives Holy Communion

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Maybe the interim priest missed his seminary class on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, in which he explains the practice and significance of communion .

Or maybe he just sees nothing wrong with providing the host, or sacramental wafer, to a dog named Trapper.

Donald Keith, who owns the Alsatian Cross, has no problem with it. He said he took Trapper to St. Peter's Anglican Church in Toronto because he was told animals were welcome there.

"The minister welcomed me and said come up and take communion, and Trapper came up with me and the minister gave him communion as well," Keith says in The Daily Telegraph . “Then he bent his head and said a little prayer.

“I thought it was a nice way to welcome me into the church. I thought it was acceptable."

Christians from across Canada disagree. They have flooded the church with complaints, The Telegraph reports.

Keith said one member of the congregation was unhappy about the vicar giving the dog communion and complained to the archbishop, Colin Johnson. Trapper has since been banned from receiving the sacrament , reports the news site.

In the Christian faith the elements of communion represent the body (bread or a wafer) and blood (wine or juice) of Jesus Christ. In Anglican and other churches, “host desecration” is considered a form of sacrilege, reports worldling.com.

" Something happened that won't happen again . Something our interim priest did spontaneously,” said Peggy Needham, the deputy people's warden at the Toronto church. She added that no further action would be taken and that the “backlash” stemmed from one person.

"This person went to the top and e-mailed our bishop to make a fuss and change things. But he misjudged our congregation," Needham said.

In 2004, St. Francis Episcopal Church in Stamford, Conn. got an earful after it tried to thwart falling attendance by providing communion to pets, according to shortnews.com .