Najmah

 

Najmah, Bishop Howard’s (The Episcopal Diocese of Florida) constant companion and pet, died on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.  Najmah was bred by the New Skete Monks of Cambridge, NY, and was ten and half years old.

A letter from Bishop Howard to New Skete:

You may recall that Najmah was fifteen months old or so when Marie and I visited New Skete and she came home with us.  We were told that she had spent many of her days at New Skete in the gift shop, and I’m sure that the socialization and exposure to strangers there helped lay the foundation for her ministry with me.  She never met a stranger (except for a few cats and an occasional squirrel!).

 The warmth and attachment between us was immediate, and it only grew over the years of our life together.  The unhappiest moments of her life were when I would have to break the news to her that, for some reason, she could not accompany me to my office or to church on Sunday.  The happiest moments were when she was in attendance and getting attention from hundreds of people at a Diocesan conference or in a large parish.  One of the pictures in the notice Gregory sent you is of the two us with me in purple cassock and carrying a crozier and of her sitting beside me.  There were 400 or more attendance that day! My favorite of all the pictures in that notice, though, is the one of Najmah lying in front of the altar in the Cathedral chapel and looking back over her shoulder at me as I prayed the words of consecration in the Eucharist! 

Cautious parents who had not previously met her would ask if their children could pet her.  My response was always “Please do ask your child to pet her.  She will be disappointed if your child doesn’t!” 

What a tribute her life has been to the work and ministry of the New Skete community. You brought Jairus and Petra together to produce Najmah, and you trained her to be a faithful and loving companion to so many!   All of you were so welcoming and warm with Marie and me when we came to meet and adopt her.  And each day as she was with me, whether on the road or in my study, I have always said a prayer of thanksgiving for you and for the formation you gave her for life as a bishop’s dog!  Being her friend and companion is truly one of the greatest experiences of my life!

 I have received many notes, e-mails, and phone calls of sympathy over the past couple of weeks, and especially since the notice of Najmah’s death was sent out.  A number of them have emphasized the importance of Najmah in their own spiritual lives, several saying that coming to church and seeing their Bishop with his dog together at worship was an important factor in their own decision to attend church and worship with us.

 I apologize if I have gone on too long in this note to you.  But please know that it comes to you with gratitude and affection—Christian love—and with the sense of loss which I am still feeling so intensely because Najmah is not here by my side at this moment.

 

 

A fixture at the Florida Diocesan office, Camp, and Conference Center, and in churches of the Diocese, Najmah especially enjoyed accompanying the Bishop on his Sunday visitations.  Bishop Howard would comment on how well Najmah behaved in church, saying that “she processes into church right at my heel, finds her place near me in the front, and when I preach, she does what everyone else does: falls sound asleep!”