We also collected money in Sunday School for the missions, but we still didnt get to name anyone. Bonus question: Did children in Europe collect coins for the pagan babies? At every Catholic school in those days were collections to save unbaptized children not taught about God (Pagan Babies). Bury it beneath your front step or porch during a full moon. When we got five dollars the children would pick a name for the pagan baby, send the five dollars to the priest at the mission who would snatch the baby from an eternity of suffering and baptize it with the name we sent along. Your email address will not be published. Right, but there must be some type of guidelines that must be met for that to happen. Scripture references baptism of entire households, never saying except the babies. (Acts 16:15, Acts 16:33, 1 Cor. As a young girl at St. Albert the Great School in Dearborn, Michigan, we wore blue uniform jumpers and beanies. Thanks for checking out my blog about my fathers WWII service on the PT boats. members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission kids were allowed to give their baby a Christian name. Thanks for your input . probably denoting how much money was collected. Pagan Babies book. The idea was to collect money from students , nickels and dimes , for charity . And my mother prayed. You know the drill . Catholics practice infant baptism because we take care of our childrens basic needs and what is more important than filling them with the Holy Spirit? You never know what I might post about next! The part of your story that really rang true was the fierce competition between either the girls & boys in the same classroom, or amongst each entire class in the same grade (e.g. - Donna B. Th. I ended up with about five babies!" What does it look like to be conquered by the fire of Christs gaze, as Benedict XVI described? And finally they finished . How many people who raised their hands the first time were still in contact with their pagan babies? When the principal had signed on to a candy sale fundraising scheme because the promotion companys salesman gave him a stereo system as a gift to grease the wheels , the salesman spoke to the students for a few minutes at the morning assembly . These babies needed to be baptized, and so they needed missionaries, and the missionaries needed money. They were called "pagan babies," certainly not the most sensitive appellation and one that would never be used today. The certificates had a picture of a white little toddler sitting down with little black toddlers. Her salvation was purchased for $5 at Holy Name of Jesus School in Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA. by reneeqyancy | Feb 9, 2010 | Blog | 8 comments. Then Father Small asked for a second show of hands. J. OBrien. Theres the priority. You :-)) We sold The Tidings , which was the L.A. Archdiocese newspaper , and there were prizes . Same thing, just a more PC name. EIN 27-4581132 You're teaching a 9 year old about slavery and ransom. Regardless of whether pagan babies have become personal, we should still pray for and support the spread of the Catholic faith in foreign lands and in our own. RENEE! Somewhere in the beachhead dump of stuff I call a filing system I have an adoption certificate which states that our class rescued some poor benighted child from the toils of Satan. Then I could choose the bike I wanted . With touching little pictures of hungry children. Our principal determined that Hush Puppies were insurance against black scuffmarks in halls and classrooms. To some of us Catholic school old-timers , pagan babies is a secret code , I guess, that gets us entry into some somewhat sardonic memories . The missionary spirit was evident as Pontifical Mission Societies honored three people at the May 2 gala. We believed that somewhere in the world would be a pagan with a stupid name chosen by the silly students of Corpus Christi Catholic School . But how ? You mean to tell me , he began , that we are supposed to sell a candy bar for a dollar that we could buy in the store for fifty cents and if we sell ten of them , Charlie continued unperturbed , we get a pencil case ., And if we sell twenty , we get something else that none of us really wants . 6:34, Col. 2:1112). This brings back a memory now. They were wondering how to react . Such a mitzvah. We too raised $$ for pagan babies. Over 50, attended Catholic schools from 1970-77 in Latin America. To learn more, Father Andrew Small, a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate and National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies talks about Missio on the Catholic Connection (right after the news). Charlie had a question for the missionary nuns , too . Thanks . The campaign will celebrate the legacy of love and support the program offered, and recall the babies American children once connected with through the Holy Childhood Association. Im thinking, maybe, that I qualify as a pagen baby. Who could choose the most ridiculous name ? A freshly sprung ex-con turned stand-up comic, Debbie needs some fast cash, too, to settle an old score. On the other hand, the central charitable action of my generationsaving and naming pagan babieswas clearly a fiction (I mourn those African Karens), one that reinforced my American sense of exceptionalism and arrogance. Yup. I dont remember collecting money for them. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. Already he was losing his enthusiasm . "Wasn't there a bridge we had to get them over. No , only two thousand fifty , countered the salesman . That summer in Guaymas, I learned that people in poverty needed more than goodwill, and that social justice was not a simple matter of collecting spare change and sending it off to the right folks. And the fact that you great people, so distinguished, so esteemed, would be here this evening to rally around this sacred responsibility of missions, what a source of inspiration and joy.. Contrary to popular belief, the United States fails to live up to its promised values of freedom and fairness. I had several, actually all girls named Mary, of course." Pontifical Mission Societies and launched by Pope Francis. I remember how exciting it was when the Pagan Baby certificate was delivered. Patti Maguire Armstrong Patti Maguire Armstrong is host of the TV talk show Ladies of Another View and an award-winning author and journalist. Im sure none of that money got further than the downtown Archdiocese offices . Bog bodies, secret passages, and amazing tombstones are all possibilities as well as the latest archaeological discovery. I do agree that the biggest thrill was the goal of the reward of getting to actually choose a name for an unknown child & therefore beat our class opponents! Congratulations for moving on and helping children in other countries. Read an Excerpt. It wasnt a huge effort at our school, Christ the King in Pleasant Hill, CA, and im sure i sold very few as my parents were not very supportive of that kind of fundraising. Thanks for commenting! Every month after the money was collected, a students name was "randomly"picked out of a bag with the chosen name becoming the "Pagan Baby of the Month.". Because we purchased Pagan Babies for five dollars a head, on a regular basis. There were milk cartons to hold the money. Im sure we had to change it to Richard, but in our hearts he was our little Ringo. The money collected in the United States went to help feed, clothe and educate them. Arlington Catholic Herald200 N. Glebe Rd.Suite 615Arlington, VA 22203703-841-2590800-377-0511, Website Design and Development by New Target, Funeral and public viewing set for murdered Bishop David OConnell, Catholics, are you going to confession? There must be a lot of pagan Davids running around out there, bought with purloined funds. . The oldest nun asked : Any questions , children ? Sometimes, I was that girl. The rice they used was really good which I think defeated the purpose since a lot of kids looked forward to it, myself included. I found I really did not have many skills to offer. When the book was filled, it was turned in for a US Savings Bond. This was great to read. The mission has a Church, Cardinal Dolan reminded his guests in his opening remarks. Its funny no one knew about Pagan Babies , though . I think it went to the missionaries (the seminary for The Society of the Divine Word was just two miles or so away, and we were taught by the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Ghost). Please log in to comment by clicking here, Darkness, Desolation Invite People to Draw Closer to God, Pope Says, El Arzobispo de San Juan Celebra la Misa de Nuestra Seora de la Divina Providencia, Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Anyone have proof the Catholic Church ( the dedicated Nuns ) were able to get the pagan baby money to its intended recipients? He didnt say that the big winner was the salesman himself , who had spent only a couple of hours with the principal and with the students but now had three hundred children who would be desperately trying to sell his candy for the next two weeks . I told that I learned math through confessionit had been two weeks since my last confession, I was mean to my brothers every day, so that was fourteen times, I disobeyed my parents almost every day, so that was about ten times, etc., etc. Never knew it meant Justice under God though . The civil right movement was a much better teacher than The Catholic School system. Being a Jewish kid born and raised in South Philadelphia, I never heard about Pagan Babies until I married my Catholic Bride. And when I got it, I was going to take care of it all by myself. Im a veteran of catholic school and I remember so well about the pagan stories and purgatory, limbo and so on. Use a knife, horseshoe, or other piece of iron. Id give my expected nickel or dime each week . The beanies covered our heads during morning Mass. Take a look and see why Im so excited about this app and will be promoting it every chance I get. I remember doing the rice bowl thing during Lent, but I dont remember it being for the pagan babies. monetization of National Catholic Register RSS feeds is strictly prohibited. Wowi do remember that now that you mention it. ), and its name was even weirder - it was collect money to feed the Black babies. They were missionaries working somewhere in Africa . Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. in the classroom to see who had the most babies. But Father Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, wasnt apologizing for the old adoption program in which children in Catholic schools would save their pennies. You missed the naming and the fold-out box ! They spoke for an hour and I think that every sentence they uttered had the word pagan in it . The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Went to Holy Name Grade School and when my friend was writing a book including some Catholic characters ( she is not Catholic), my fellow Holy Name and I gave her the pagan baby story to include, complete with only the rich kids got to name the baby since the rest of us did not have the means to save $5. What readers of her book talked about the most was either Is there really such a thing a pagan babies thats hilarious or Oh yes, I remember saving up during Lent to get to name a pagan baby. Thanks for the memories. He was a bartender later in life , at least for awhile . Im sure thats where the money went. I could never shake the idea that he was stealing it (but I guess that suggests more about my character than about his). I guess this went on everywhere. James Dingwall picked that name and the girls immediately protested! In accepting his medallion, Cardinal McCarrick summed up the missionary spirit. (There were a lot of Christines then for some reason it was the favorite name of a lot of the girls). decided it was no longer a good way to raise money for Catholic missions. Please email comments to [emailprotected] and join the conversation on our Facebook page. I think mine were 25 cent stamps . More than one-third of millennials now say they are unaffiliated with any faith. We'd all suggest names, and then vote for the one we liked best. She was managing editor and co-author of Ascension Press bestselling Amazing Grace series. I suspect nowhere . Love Your Sister I might have gone into the public school with this Catholic bubble around me and I might have been hesitant to burst the Catholic bubble of protection. Simone Weil went into the factory to find out more about the social conditions of the modern worker in capitalism. I also attended CCS and talk about the pagan babies all the time and the Lenten booklets where you saved dimes. The nuns encouraged us to bring in our pennies and when we saved up five bucks, bingo!, we bought a baby. Maybe they had sales during the year at times. pagan babies When I attended Corpus Christi Catholic School in the 1950s and 1960s there was a program we all called Pagan Babies . Hilarious ! They projected slides of their missionary adventures onto the wall of the church hall . time, before cynicism and political correctness found their stride. They folded out . Labeling any baby pagan, much less sweeping into this category all foreign children of color, makes me look back with embarrassment. Posted Wed, May 23, 2012 at 9:53 am PT | Updated Fri, May 25, 2012 at 5:40 pm PT. Along the way, in all the villages we passed through, there were people who were full of joy to see young people. an Irish name?" Im not sure at this point for whom we were collecting I supposed it could have been UNICEF, or perhaps a Catholic charity. Glad to have confirmed this for you , John . We all worked hard to buy four boy pagan babies so we could name them John, Paul, George, and Ringo. When they reached $5, they then ransomed a child overseas, got a certificate and the right to name the child. Don't know why they are so eagerly upholding pagan traditions. A lot of people never knew what I was They spoke in thick Irish brogues . Each was presented with a medallion featuring a representation of the papal keys. I found a bunch of them in my moms cedar chest she saved all of them! So, pagan baby collections in LaCrosse , too ! Great sounding rare live tape here by Philadelphia's own PAGAN BABIES from mid 1988. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/where-did-all-the-pagan-babies-go. Ill bet you remember those . - Betty L. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington; best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark; and television commentator Larry Kudlow were named 2012 pontifical ambassadors for mission. Band Name!! every cent counts and just know the things we take for granted and have, these amazing . I don't know how this actually worked, and where the money really went, and if actual infants were handed over at some mission across the globe. But Im a bit cynical . I only have one question , he said . It seemed like an almost daily ordeal for the class nun to individually quiz each student, asking if they had made a contribution on that particular day. A set or two of golf clubs may have been in there . Hello Mike. Anyone else do this? I think we were the hope, somehow, for all the people who were seeing us and a hope for the country, recalls Bishop Christian Carlassare of the nine-day pilgrimage to meet Pope Francis. MISSION CALLArchbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States, right, was among the notable guests at the first World Mission Dinner. Those were the days , eh ? Boys usually purchased boys, and girls purchased girls. Blessing By Iron. grade 6A, 6B, 6C,). - Mary A. Sold by themeekdontwantit | Ends on 2023-03-07 21:40:38. Were they some mythic group like the starving kids in China, Hungary, Elsewhere who would have been happy to have your brussels sprouts? They were befuddled . When our family moved to another part of Dearborn, we transferred to St Alphonsus parish, and I traded the blue jumper for a plaid one, and the beanie for Hush Puppy shoes. Jump forward to 1980 . We had Dominican Nuns. Thanks for the comment ! But Cary was caught . "I loved the Pagan Babies! Despite its apparent condescending tone at times, it instilled a radical sense of urgency in children that we are responsible for one another.. Sometimes disabilities don't fall along "guidelines" and some people just need a little extra help. Oh, my, what memories! We can smile at it now at perhaps how silly it was, Father Small said. I had my little yellow UNICEF box, and they asked if it was for the Pagan Babies. They folded out . The campaign will celebrate the legacy of love and support the program offered, and recall the babies with whom American children once connected through the Holy Childhood Association. I wonder if the students understood anything through the Irish accents . maybe NCIS or 60 minutes should get on the case? Their adopted Pagan Babies were then given the Sacrament of Baptism. In Catholic school in San Francisco in the Sixties, we also collected for the pagan babies daily, and got to name the baby once we had five dollars. 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