Outrage of the day?

An ad popped up for me from Chewy, fine Internet provider of pet stuff. We order from Chewy all the time, because I'd rather have the UPS man deal with 40-pound sacks of dog food than do it myself. And even being purchased by PetSmart last year has not ruined Chewy's outstanding customer service.

The ad featured doggie Halloween (sorry, Howl-oween) costumes, which PetSmart's stores have been pushing since July. As I've noted before, PetSmart gets the Halloween stuff out even before my notoriously early supermarket does. Here was the costume that caught my eye:

Yes, indeed, the Holy Hound Pope Dog Costume by California Costumes. Cute, huh? But shouldn't that be Howly Hound?

So. As a Catholic, I look at this and think: I should probably be offended. I'm not one of those dog owners who thinks Dogs = People, let alone Dogs > People. I do think dogs are great and useful and lots of fun, and if we weren't in charge of the joint then I'd hope the dogs would get a shot. I do not, however, think that a dog would make a good pope.

I feel like I should take offense, as if this were mocking the pope. Then again, I have to admit they did a really good job with the chasuble and miter, but I think the papal stole is not worn with the miter because the latter is used when celebrating Mass, and during Mass the pope wears the zucchetto (skullcap). I could be wrong; the pope wears about 8,782 articles of clothing with choir dress and it's hard for a non-cradle Catholic like me to remember it all. Anyway, it's a good likeness and you'd know what the dog was supposed to be immediately. And I am glad that, while some design elements were changed for paws, the Cross remains, albeit made of bones. (Also glad that that other universal symbol of doghood, the fire hydrant, was not used.)

My offense builds, though, when the auto-offense generators in my mind kick in: This is the kind of thing that is bought for the dogs of Catholic haters. It is not done out of respect. I'll bet you'll see some of these in the Greenwich Village parade. They'd never, EVER sell an imam costume. And so on.

On the other hand, I think it's cute. I wish the Holy Father could inspire as much love as people have for their dogs. I think Francis would probably find it amusing. He's not a Franciscan (he's a Jesuit), but by taking the name of St. Francis you have to think he is devoted to the great saint, famous for his love of all God's creatures.

And on the third hand -- or paw -- I can decide not to take offense, laugh at the humor of it, and not care. I don't think every damn thing has to result in a world war anymore. We need to laugh stuff off, and with a kindly laugh, not an irritated HA! or clapter or any of the other things that pass for a real laugh these days.

On the final paw: I wouldn't buy it for my dogs, because they are too huge and they hate hats. They'd make bad popes.