What do you call dogs with immortal souls that are consigned to perdition? The hounds of hell.

This Daily Blog quip is occasioned by a pair of news items that the Register’s news editor, John Burger, recently drew to my attention, both involving the anthropomorphizing of animals.

The first news item is actually quite old. In 1997, according to a report in Britain’s Independent newspaper, a Church of England priest actually consented to a baptismal service for a dog.

Anglican dog owner Anne Moore, convinced that her Rottweiler Bertie possessed an immortal soul, persuaded Rev. Anthony Kerswill to hold the service at his church. The event was canceled only after local newspapers reported that a canine baptism was about to take place.

After the news leaked out, Rev. Kerswill insisted he had been operating under the mistaken belief that the planned service would be merely “a service of thanksgiving,” not a baptism.

The second news item is much more current: The upcoming first-ever “National Pet Parent’s Day” is scheduled for April 27.

You can find out all about this important new national day, which was invented by Veterinary Pet Insurance of Brea, Calif., here at catchannel.com.

According to the CatChannel.com report, the day is intended “to recognize and honor those who consider cats and other pets a part of their family.”

Actually, most pet owners already do that to some extent. But National Pet Parent’s Day promotes some things that go well beyond what most people would regard as appropriate, including “parental behavior,” such as “designating a seat at the dinner table for a pet” and “giving pets a role in a wedding or other special occasion.”

What’s wrong with this from a Christian perspective? Taken to extremes, like the canceled Church of England canine “baptism,” it has the effect of elevating animals to equal status with people.

Here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about the subject: “Man is the summit of the Creator’s work, as the inspired account expresses by clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures” (No. 343).

The Catechism also stresses, in section No. 339, that all creatures in their own way reflect “a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness” and therefore are deserving of respect and must not be misused by man in a disordered way. However, Judeo-Christian revelation holds that among the earth’s creatures only humankind was created with an immortal soul, in the image and likeness of God.

Sorry about that, Bertie the Rottweiler. But on the plus side, Bertie, you don’t have to worry about the possibility of eternal damnation.