(Today is the Blessings of the Pets at the Little Brown Church in Studio City from 10 to noon. Here's Linda Rubin's take on the event last year in her Faith & Charity column. If you attend, don't hesitate to add your own photos.)

“I’m a person who believes soul or spirit is synonymous with life, just being alive” says Rev. Russell Willoughby, pastor of Little Brown Church/Church of the Valley. “And if that’s true animals are as much living spirits as we are.”

Willoughby, a pug owner, knows that pets mean as much to people as family. So for the second year in a row, he invited anyone who wanted to to come on down to the Little Brown Church on Coldwater Canyon in Studio City to receive a Blessing of Pets.

Willoughby welcomed me to film the blessings. I found the chapel suffused with warm feeling. The pet owners’ love for their animals extended also to one another, and the benevolence of the pastor’s heartfelt benedictions spread over the proceedings like a big hug. His authentic feeling for parishioners and their animal companions is evident in the video.