A national animal rights group wants Boston’s self-proclaimed “circus priest” to stop clowning around, accusing the Hub holy man of supporting animal abuse and calling on church officials to order him out of the Big Top.Officials with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have sent a letter to Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley asking him to order the Rev. George “Jerry” Hogan to “end his endorsement and promotion of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’s animal abuse.”
“Father Hogan and, indirectly, the Catholic Church are endorsing cruelty to animals,” PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich wrote to O’Malley. “I think that you will agree, upon reflection, that the use of animals in circuses is in direct conflict with both the Church’s mission and the Catholic Catechism.”
Hogan, who is assigned to St. Michael’s Church in North Andover, travels the country blessing elephants, clowns and carny workers as part of a Catholic Church mission that dates back to the 1920s. Hogan, who says on his Web site that he “fell in love” with the circus as a young boy at the old Boston Garden, raised the ire of animal rights groups last year when he testified against a measure that would have banned elephant trainers from using steel-tipped bull hooks.
Hogan did not respond to an e-mail and his cell phone voice mail said he was traveling with the circus. A church spokesman said officials received the letter but had no comment. Ringling officials did not return calls last night.
PETA and other organizations say bull hooks are cruel because trainers jab the sharp metal tips into sensitive parts of the animals’ bodies as a training method. PETA officials say they have sent O’Malley a DVD showing elephants bleeding and squealing in pain from the bull hooks, as well as other examples of circus animal abuse.
“It’s the cruelest show on earth and it brings shame on the Boston archdiocese that they have a practicing priest that’s supporting it,” Friedrich said.
The letter to O’Malley states that Ringling has been the subject of several federal investigations into alleged animal abuse and deaths, including paying a $20,000 fine in 1998 for making a baby elephant perform while ill. The elephant later died.
“Clearly, Christ’s teachings of mercy and compassion are completely subverted by today’s harrowing abuse of animals in circuses,” Friedrich wrote. “The Catholic Catechism states explicitly, ‘It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.’ ”
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