Who We Are
Pet Chaplain founder Dr. Rob Gierka and writer/artist Karen Elizabeth Duke have collectively worked for more than two decades on their pet chaplain project. Their in-depth understanding of pet keeping and loss is the culmination of extensive scholarship into the human-animal bond and bereavement, hands-on experience working with grieving pet keepers, dogged persistence, and creative expression. This work is truly a labor of love.
Our History
Rob blessing a cat at the annual Blessing of the Animals held every October at Duke University Chapel in Durham, NC.
April 2004
Pet Chaplain® founded
In early 2004, Rob Gierka launched Pet Chaplain, a community service organization dedicated to providing interfaith spiritual care to pet keepers. His goal was to bring his skills as a Stephen minister and hospital chaplain to the animal lovers in his community. He counseled those who were struggling with the imminent and past loss of a pet, attended euthanasias, conducted eulogies and memorial services, and spoke about pet loss to caregiving professionals and veterinarians.
Rob praying with a couple whose dog was being treated at North Carolina State University’s veterinary teaching hospital.
Jan 2005
Spiritual care program launched at a major veterinary teaching hospital
Rob was invited to serve as the on-call chaplain at the College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Teaching Hospital (CVM-VTH) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. For nearly two years, he did rounds in the small and large animal clinics, providing spiritual support to pet keepers as well as veterinary faculty, staff, and students.
Rob’s photo on the cover of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Sept 2006
The press takes notice
Interviews and articles about Rob’s innovative pastoral care program at the veterinary teaching hospital began to appear in local and national media, including National Public Radio, University of North Carolina Public Television, National Geographic, in the Raleigh News and Observer and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Nov 2006
SPCA pet loss support group begins
In the summer of 2006, Rob was invited by the Raleigh location of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to facilitate a pet loss support group. He continues to facilitate the group to this day, which meets via Zoom on the afternoon of the third Sunday of each month. Click here to learn more about the group.
Dec 2014
Rob earns a doctoral degree with a focus on “anthrozoological bereavement”
Determined to learn more about the intense grief he was witnessing among pet keepers in his community, Rob completed a doctoral degree in adult education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. His research focused on the human-animal bond and bereavement. For his doctoral study, he interviewed sixteen veterinary technology students about pets they had loved and lost. Rob’s scholarship and those stories would eventually become the foundation of the Pet Chaplain Learning Series.
July 2018
Introduction to Pet Chaplaincy online course launches
In partnership with writer/artist Karen Elizabeth Duke, Rob launched a six-week online course in pet chaplaincy. Over the next five years, dozens of animal lovers from around the world and from all walks of life participated in the course, which included small cohorts and lots of one-on-one interaction. Rob and Karen continually expanded the course based on student input and ongoing research into pet loss, and the Introduction to Pet Chaplaincy eventually became a comprehensive, graduate-level course.
2024
Coming soon: The Pet Chaplain Learning Series
Determined to bring their message to pet keepers everywhere and to spark the growth of community chaplaincy, Rob and Karen retired in 2023 from teaching the online course in pet chaplaincy. They are currently transforming the written materials they’d developed for the course into the Pet Chaplain Learning Series.
Our Stories
Robert E. Gierka, EdD
Pet Chaplain Founder and President
Like many of the people I support, I grew up in a pet-loving family and have personally experienced the heartache of losing beloved animal and human family members. The violent death of my dog Queenie was a significant childhood experience that shaped my interest in helping people who grieve for their pets. The death of my youngest brother John, who tragically died with AIDS when he was 36 years old, was also a life-changing experience that sparked my dedication to helping people who experience social alienation and ostracism.
My journey as a spiritual caregiver began in the mid 1990s when I assumed the lead of the congregational care committee at Pullen Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Under the guidance of my mentor, Rev. Dr. Mahan Siler, I served Pullen Baptist Church as a Stephen minister, performing pastoral duties at church and visiting home-based members. During this time, I also trained as an interfaith hospital chaplain at REX hospital in Raleigh and served there as a volunteer chaplain for three years. In 2004, I brought my chaplaincy skills to the world of pet keeping and created Pet Chaplain®, a community service organization dedicated to providing interfaith spiritual care and educational resources to people who love animals and grieve their loss.
Since then, my journey as a community veterinary chaplain has been long and circuitous, wonderfully rewarding and incredibly challenging. I’ve received the enthusiastic support of many kind and compassionate people who understood the significance and the challenges of the cultural change I was seeking. Yet I’ve also encountered resistance, both personally and at an institutional level. Though I strongly believe veterinary chaplaincy serves the public good, I’ve run into skepticism about this work in some circles. Despite the increasing popularity of pet keeping, many people still misunderstand or deny the profound spiritual connections many people enjoy with their animal companions and the intense grief they experience when their special animal is lost.
A good friend of mine helped to frame this for me when she said, “Some people will get this idea and some won’t. Go with the ones who get it.” And I remember well my spiritual mentor’s advice: Don’t push the river; go where it flows.
For those of you who “get it,” I encourage you to find others with whom you can safely share your stories about the animals and sacred places you love. I firmly believe that the unique model of community chaplaincy that we offer through the Pet Chaplain® Learning Series can transform lives. The better we can support each other, the more we will be able to celebrate our commonalities, tolerate our differences, and help each other heal and grow.
I am greatly encouraged by the slow but steady transformation that appears to be taking place in the way we think about animals in our society. As more people welcome pets into their homes and hearts, they are gaining a new appreciation for the beauty and simple wisdom of these animals and the healing power of the non-judgmental love that they bring to our lives. Our pets are change agents. They have made my life better, and they have also improved the lives of the hundreds of pet keepers I’ve spoken with over the last two decades. My hope is that, through the loving bonds we enjoy with our pets, we can improve our relationship with all of the creatures with whom we share this beautiful planet.
Karen Elizabeth Duke
Pet Chaplain® Senior Vice President
From my earliest memories I’ve been writing and illustrating stories. I was four years old when I began creating my own storybooks, fully illustrated and with talk bubbles for the characters. Most of my stories were about little girls who saved animals, so it’s no great surprise that I would be drawn to pet chaplaincy. I love stories about animals, and through my pet chaplaincy work I’ve been privileged to hear many inspiring tales about the amazing bonds between people and their beloved animal companions.
My interest in the magical interplay of words and images continued throughout my life as I pursued a career as a professional writer and graphic designer. I earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Florida and, for two years after finishing my degree, I loaded up on extra courses in creative writing, painting, and graphic design. After leaving college, I took various jobs in the corporate world, working for newspapers, small graphic design firms, and small and large software companies. I retired from the corporate world in October 2021 and now dedicate my time to researching and writing about the human-animal bond and pet loss, maintaining an organic vegetable garden, painting, quilting, cooking, reading, and spending time in nature and with friends and family.
Like Rob, I grew up in a pet-loving home surrounded by dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and parakeets, and I’ve had the pleasure of knowing many funny, quirky, loving animals in my life. My work in pet chaplaincy has deepened my appreciation for those animals with whom I’ve shared my home as well as the wondrous, mysterious creatures I glimpse when out in nature. It has also given me the opportunity to meet dozens of animal lovers from around the world, who I consider to be among the kindest and most compassionate people I’ve ever known. I sincerely hope that my contribution as a writer and artist to the pet chaplain project will make a difference in the lives of people who find their way here. Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Honoring the animals
At Pet Chaplain, we believe that all life on this beautiful planet is connected, both physically and spiritually. We’re grateful for the many gifts that our animal companions bring to our lives and equally grateful for the gifts offered by other forms of life, including other domesticated animals, wild animals, plants, and all of the natural world. All life on this planet deserves our respect, compassion, and gratitude. Through our educational work, we hope to widen our collective circle of love beyond the dogs, cats, hamsters, horses, fish, and reptiles who we call pets to encompass the earth and nature itself.
