EATONTOWN, N.J. (RNS) — Matty Giuliano is the kind of chaplain who doesn’t mind if you drop an f-bomb midsentence.
The animal cruelty officer-turned-interfaith animal chaplain from Queens, New York, wants everyone he serves to feel at ease, nonhumans included. And part of his ability to connect with those of all backgrounds comes from the authenticity of his own dynamic personality.
Giuliano, 50, lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey, with his wife, four dogs, three ferrets and one cat. He drives a car with the license plate CHPLAIN, speaks with an unmissable New York accent and has multiple credenzas brimming with St. Francis collectibles.
“It’s like walking into a monastery,” he jokes.
After a decade of over 2,000 often gruesome animal cruelty cases, in 2015 Giuliano traded his badge for a stole and began volunteering as the animal chaplain for the Monmouth County SPCA. There, Giuliano is in his element — blessing animals (including pigeons), conducting animal funerals, offering bereavement counseling and providing the kind of support for SPCA volunteers and staff he once craved.
“Matty, as the chaplain, has brought peace and harmony to the hearts of many, many pet owners,” said Ross Licitra, executive director of the Monmouth County SPCA. Barbara Lovell, associate executive director of the Monmouth County SCPA, added that Giuliano’s support is “key,” particularly during the summer when the intake period is intense.
“Not only is he watching out for signs of anxiety or grief during these moments, he has worked right along beside us in crisis — such as unloading dogs from trucks arriving back from hoarding situations,” said Lovell.
Chaplain Matty Giuliano speaks with a woman and her dog. (Courtesy photo)
Giuliano grew up in a 600-square-foot apartment in the Electchester housing project in Queens. The only child of his Jewish mother and Italian Catholic father, he grew up attending a Unitarian Universalist congregation on Long Island. Though Giuliano said his Jewish grandmother mourned his lack of a bar mitzvah, he credits Unitarian Universalism for introducing him to several different religions.
“I got to form a much broader spiritual background than a lot of other people get to experience,” said Giuliano.
Dogs weren’t allowed in the apartment, so his family had three cats: Samson, Delilah and later Bathsheba. “They were Old Testament pussycats,” Giuliano quipped. By 1998, Giuliano had moved to the New Jersey suburbs and graduated from Rutgers University, and in 2005 he took a gig as an animal cruelty officer.
Often, Giuliano recalled, the cases were seasonal — pets left to suffer in extreme heat or cold. He remembers the man who left his dog in a hot car for hours while fishing at the beach; the guy who jumped out of a second-floor window to avoid arrest after advertising dogfighting; the woman who had over 350 dead birds in her house. “We had to wear Tyvek suits,” Giuliano remembered.