A VICAR has called on Christians to be more "touchy-feely" in a bid to improve their health.

The Rev Rodney Nicholson, of St Paul's Church, Low Moor, Clitheroe, said studies had shown that touch and affection were important for human health.

He cited the Children and Animals Therapy Association, which takes pets into hospitals to help sick youngsters recover.

He added: "At one time, pets were strictly banned from hospitals but today it is realised that touch and affection can be important in the treatment of medical conditions.

"Dogs are often taken to elderly people in nursing care, because to stroke a dog can remind them of home life and be therapeutic. This goes to show that we respond to warmth and encouragement.

He called for church-goers to be "stirred by the love of God and the warmth of mutual affection."

"The Church isn't just pews and stained glass windows. Visiting Africans, for example, can find our worship a little cold and impersonal, and might well wonder if we have been stirred at all!" the vicar added.

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