My Cat Sapphire was in Cat Fancy Magazine!

Those of you who were following my old eBay blog will remember I mentioned this article when the interview was done in July 2006. When the December 2006 issue was published, there we were, Sappire and I, in a 4-page article entitled "Clergy Cats." The article was about -- you guessed it! -- some clergy who have cats.    The clergy included are:

• Cardinal Roger Mahoney (Los Angeles) and his two silver tabbies, Raphael and Gabriel

• Father Chuck Giradeau, Associate rector at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta, with his orange tabbycat, Ivan

• Father Allan Warren, Church of the Advent in Boston, with his four cats, Jake, Jeoffrey, Skipergee and Owl

• And yours truly -- Rabbi Gershom, freelance writer, on a farm in MN with my cat, Sapphire 

Each of us was profiled with some anecdotes about our cats. There were also short facts about cats.  I learned that Pope Benedict loves cats, as did Confucius and Mohammed. The pictures here are the ones that they used of me and Sapphire (now that the issue is  published, the rights revert back to me and my stepson, who took the pic of me, so we can post them).  One blooper, though - -they identified Sapphire as a female, but he's a neutered male.  He got his name, Sapphire, because of his beautiful blue eyes.  My old sheepdog, Grett (may he rest in peace) led me to Sapphire on a cold winter day.  He was lost, hungry, thirsty and scared.  Whoever dumped him here missed out on a wonderful, affectionate, loving cat.

Mine was the only cat shown twice -- once with me and once alone.  (He's sitting on the branches I put on the chicken pen during the heatwave that summer.  He's  not after the chickens, just getting some early morning sun.)  The pic on the left was also used in a composite graphic.  I suppose that might have been because I was the only one to send in two photos?  Or maybe it was because he's such a beautiful cat!

 How did Sapphire and I rate this honor?   The author, Sandy Robins, who is also a freelance writer,  is Jewish, and wanted to find a rabbi with a cat to round out the article.  So she searched the Web and contacted me after reading a story about Sapphire on my old website.