I had the vocation, the novenas were working! Yup. which is how he found your story!!! Actually , as I remember , the girls in the class were very worried about this but we boys werent so much concerned with the little pagan familys problem . I Googled it because of my conviction that it was an acronym and I just couldnt quite figure out what the E stood for. My first lessons in social justice came through saving pagan babies. So, does anybody remember the plastic prizes (not for pagan baby collections). My dad was in the Navy out in the Pacific in WWII . Oh my goodness! Thanks for the comment . went into some general fund and wasnt really sent where we imagined that it was sent at the time . The civil right movement was a much better teacher than The Catholic School system. So it had to be pretty official, like our nun just couldnt pull a certificate out of her drawer and fill in the name.no, I think that it had to be signed by the big Catholic mucky-mucks. How great ! They were missionaries working somewhere in Africa . You :-)) After about a year it didnt seem to grow as fast but I put it down to my own spending habits. Kids', toddler, & baby clothes with Pennies For designs sold by independent artists. This is such a funny story to me, I also went to Catholic School in the sixties and I remember raising money for the Pagan babies I dont remember what prizes do we got or anything but now my daughter who is 35 was talking about how Catholics or Pagan worshippers. Im sure we had to change it to Richard, but in our hearts he was our little Ringo. That $5.00 bought you naming rights. Her salvation was purchased for $5 at Holy Name of Jesus School in Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA. Gaming. Campbell, now retired from the film industry where he worked as a technician, told Catholic New York, the archdiocesan newspaper, that hed been enrolled in the Holy Childhood Association since seventh grade and that he remembered adopting babies to get them baptized into the faith. Gina Cascone grew up in central New Jersey and is the author of Pagan Babies, Mother's Little Helper, and coauthor of twenty-six books for children. Pagan babies may have disappeared from collection boxes but they started showing up in our families. We gave our allowances to save those babies. If my parents would only let me go to public school, the church might have had another nun. I just re-read your comment and am laughing about all that back then . But, in fact, the entire program was rooted in a sense of solidarity and charity in the broadest understanding of the word. It didnt glow , but she was in a sort of a case shaped like a bullet with two doors that could close her in . 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., No comments on this item I also remember something about a bridge Reminiscing about St. Amelias brings back many other memories. 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 . Should they be angry or should they just feel anguish for the sorry state of the religion these days ? - Bob U. Especially loud clunkers could turn heads and ignite giggles. And in pagan lands, there are pagan babies. Im still not so sure . Watch for these changes, Eight more pro-life activists for FACE Act violations. Sometimes, I was that girl. Of course, the prizes helped. "I also had a Pagan Baby; I regret to say I haven't kept in touch with him." My friends went to public school and public school had boys! The publics had no idea what we were talking about. And of course, there was competition between the classrooms. People needed food, water, medical care, and were looking to us to step up and provide it. There were competitions between classes . Long time ago . I also seem to recall mention of it in some dimly remembered memoir I read years ago about growing up catholic. Please email comments to [emailprotected] and join the conversation on our Facebook page. If we sold a certain amount wed get a plastic statue of Mary and Jesus. Mom went to catholic school in the midwest in the '60s, and I remember her mentioning Pagan babies in some context when I was a kid. Also , as you point out , the certificates ( I dont remember any certificates , though ) and the little cardboard box and all the hoop-la was good motivation and made the week more interesting for us kids . Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith & Get to Heaven, Youth Pilgrims Write a New Chapter for South Sudan, Catholic Bookstore Sues Jacksonville Over Law it Says is a Trans Pronoun Mandate, Heres How Half of U.S. Abortions Could Be Stopped This Week, Argentina: New Book Gives Pope Francis Responses to Issues Hes Most Often Asked About. JMJwow, totally forgot about that. Remember the "Pagan Babies"? Copyright 2023 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. ( Sorry for the delay. They folded out . Needless to say, by the time I graduated from Dominican there wasnt an iota of true Catholicism left in me, other than the bit I faked for a while to protect my Moms feeling. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission ( CCC 1213), Scripture stresses the importance of this sacrament. If I had to walk down an aisle or through a classroom on my own, I tried to muffle the noise by slowing my step. Yeah , small world . Oh . own pagan baby! Hey! When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, a neighbor who was my age, took 12 books of S & H Green Stamps ( remember those ) and contributed them to the pagan babies program. however, rings true today. Ill bet you remember those . He said the priest paused and said, Uh, son, you need to talk to your nun about that in catechism class. (There were a lot of Christines then for some reason it was the favorite name of a lot of the girls). - Mary Ellen M. Its a mystery! But they do a lot of things for children like provide food and clean water and mosquito nets. The rice they used was really good which I think defeated the purpose since a lot of kids looked forward to it, myself included. - Nancy K. While clearly titillating and voyeuristic, these presentations revealed a larger world and highlighted our own privileged place. 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 Remember Pagan Babies? Yeah! Stories ensued. "Pagan Babies": Orphan Imagery in the Passionist China Collection and the Emergence of American Sympathy for the Chinese in the Early Twentieth Century Margaret Kuo Published 3 July 2019 History The Chinese Historical Review As a first grade student at St.Aloysius in Wilkes-Barre, PA circa 1969, pagan babies were part of our extreme Catholic instruction. The thing was a brown color . Great memories!!! "I loved Pagan Babies. But I remember that we did get certificates sent to us from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith with the babys name. In Scotland, around 1966 or so, there was something similar in primary school (which one attends from age approx 5 to approx 12, and this school was not R.C. Premium Powerups . decided it was no longer a good way to raise money for Catholic missions. Bury it beneath your front step or porch during a full moon. 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 developed dysentery, and the very people I was there to save were taking care of me. OK, fair enough, it was about charity for this or that African country, but it so much stank of colonialism. The church doesnt have a mission. 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! Even though I later went on to become a Catholic priest (and later resigned and married), my robust suspicion that Catholicism did not have all the answers began to take root way back in my young Catholic boyhood. You're teaching a 9 year old about slavery and ransom. class voted on names. 0 coins. So then there was an ethical issue that , in some elementary way , even we students recognized . When I attended Corpus Christi Catholic School in the 1950s and 1960s there was a program we all called Pagan Babies . There is in the heart of every priest, and I hope in the heart of every Christian, the longing to be a missionary, to be a proclaimer of the good news to the ends of the earth, he said. The Irish nuns in their full habits immediately looked around at the teachers as if to say , Arent you teaching these children anything ? For those dying without baptism, however, the Catholic Church teaches us to hope in God. For a baby girl, Sister always pushed us to choose Mary something - Mary Beth, Mary Alice, Mary Margaret, Mary Catherine, Mary Jane, whatever. Im thinking, maybe, that I qualify as a pagen baby. Don't know why they are so eagerly upholding pagan traditions. Wowi do remember that now that you mention it. Found this page while looking for something completely different, the unexpected joys of broken algorithmic search engines. (After Vatican II beanies were no longer necessary.) But the pagan babies were actual children being looked after by missionary sisters, brothers and priests in their countries. When Oblate Father Andrew Small asked who remembered them at the inaugural World Mission Dinner in New York, a few hands went up, mostly belonging to people with gray hair. In my class at St. Amelias school in Tonawanda, NY, we collected nickels and dimes in a cigar box to buy a pagan baby. I thought they would all come in a box and be distributed at the end of the school year. A different time ; a different place . Pagan babies may have disappeared from collection boxes but they started showing up in our families. What memories. Ask for their blessings so that your home will remain safe and happy, or if you do not follow a particular deity, you can alternately ask the . Youre stirring up memories . In return they were given a decorative certificate commemorating their "I remember donations that were not enough to "buy" a whole baby we're combined and the . When the late Sixties allowed for individuality in footwear, many a girl in funky, high-heeled shoes, broke the silence clunking through classrooms and down church aisles. except the last. "I loved the Pagan Babies! Five bucks sure went far in 1958! . Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who once said, My greatest love has always been the missions of the church, was very much a spiritual presence at the dinner, where his name was invoked several times. Whether or not they converted is one thing, giving up their cultural ties is quite another. A recent Pew Research Center study revealed that much of Christianity is significantly losing members. A lot of people never knew what I was babies. I remember those statues . They folded out . One guys said one time he was examining his conscience and realized he had tried to act like an adult, so he confessed to his priest that he committed adultery!!! Never knew it meant Justice under God though . David. Of course, we collected money in the little paper boxes " for the missions" and I seem to remember something about either the school or each class "adopting"one of the mission children. I remember my Grandparents joking about it in the '70s. Marianne Bruce is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Edgardo Gonzalez Pagan. Has anyone else heard this phrase before, and if so, do you remember what it . We also collected money in Sunday School for the missions, but we still didnt get to name anyone. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. I feel the same way as you do. We sort of ran the name together so it came out pegginbebbies. I used to contribute nickels and dimes (along with my other and less devout classmates) so together as a class we got to choose the pegginbebbies name from a list of nominees. Thanks for the comment ! Campbell, now retired from the film industry where he worked as a technician, told CNY that hed been enrolled in the Holy Childhood Association since seventh grade and that he remembered adopting babies to get them baptized into the faith. Everywhere a pagan pagan . Saint Martins actoss the street from you back then. No one was, in fact, adopted or bought. Cant remember anything else about them except I would ask my parents, grandparents and neighbors to buy them. Yeah . 4. muddymoose 4 mo. Over 50, attended Catholic schools from 1970-77 in Latin America. At times, it seemed like the nuns in the Catholic School I was attending, would really pressure the students to contribute to the pagan babies. Once some missionary priest visited and told us how the communist Chinese forced chop sticks into the ears of missionary priests there. The assembly was buzzing . 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. Who could choose the most ridiculous name ? ), and its name was even weirder - it was collect money to feed . 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. Oh my, what a great story. Show. EWTN News, Inc. is the worlds largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, Hooo, yes. Band Name!! I remember doing the rice bowl thing during Lent, but I dont remember it being for the pagan babies. I keep asking her where MY money was! But I assured her that my Karen went straight to heavenMonsignor had said so and celebrated a Mass of the angels in white vestments rather than the usual funeral Mass in her honor. My mother wisely refrained from saying much about it. The rise of AI will generate cultural content designed not to be original or even to say anything, but to produce, like a drug, the same experience, again and again. Steve Stahley. Th. Ransom and Baptism? They spoke for an hour and I think that every sentence they uttered had the word pagan in it . There were no poor pagan babies to be pitied in Guaymas. PJ. We wonder where those name choices really went . They were no doubt common . The idea was to collect money from students , nickels and dimes , for charity . or school. - Ann C. Weird, the kind of memories we carry over from childhood, isnt it? I liked your PT post . A collection of writing that wrestles with contemporary spirituality, within and without the doors of the church, 2023 Commonweal Magazine. As a promotion, MISSIO is offering a chance to win a trip to Rome. Right, but there must be some type of guidelines that must be met for that to happen. . ), and its name was even weirder - it was collect money to feed the Black babies. At the end of the semester, the class that had accumulated the most donations was awarded a prize. We, the four oldest who got those tiny banks with a coin slot in the top, were convinced that our small amounts of money (most of which we found on the street while walking home from school, a lot of pennies) would buy us a Little Brown Pagan Baby that we would name Harry (I don't remember why) and that Jesus would love us for that purchase. When she told me about her Catholic School classes (she went from K 9) in New Jersey, I was floored. Acts 2:38, 22:16, Rom. It seems hard to believe, but according to the National Glad you enjoyed it . I guess this went on everywhere. Thanks for your thoughtful comment . Wow . Remember getting a whack across the face at your Confirmatin? Yeah! Stories ensued. Great mix of early US HC punk & the then emerging "Youth Crew" sound. Their adopted Pagan Babies were then given the Sacrament of Baptism. A friend of mine, from back in the 80s, played guitar in a band with that name (weird thing about that is, hes Jewish). Pagan baby naming makes good memories but was , I guess , conditioning in deception . The teacher had a stack of them . He didnt mention that 60% of the profits went to the promotion company . JMJ, yes! My allowance was 25 cents a week . The certificates were white, thick,wrinkly paper with burnt orange and brown late 60s modern catholic designs. I went to Christ the King in Pleasant Hill, CA. And yesyou know who you are. A set or two of golf clubs may have been in there . To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Gal 3:27). I got JUG in high school - Jesuits a few times. Never heard the term. Technically, Jews could not be pagan, because they believe in the same monotheistic god Catholics do/did. I cant remember now if they ever answered Charlies question . There were milk cartons to hold the money. Im a veteran of catholic school and I remember so well about the pagan stories and purgatory, limbo and so on. I had one certificate for And so I traveled to Guaymas in the Sonoran desert expecting to accomplish great things. What was written on the boxes? It may speed things up . So, pagan baby collections in LaCrosse , too ! I went to Catholic grade school at St. Amelias for 8 years. I remember collecting for Pagan Babies in my Catholic elementary school (I went to public high schoolwith the publics). Possibly the nuns coerced the kids in those classes into giving more? One guy talked about confession when he was in third grade. Thanks for the comment . Remembering a Different A-to-Z Challenge | No Facilities. The only money we collected in little paper boxes was for UNICEF and to be perfectly honest, Im not even entirely sure what UNICEF is. Pagan ,pagan, pagan . Boys usually purchased boys, and girls purchased girls. Give a Gift SubscriptionBless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register. In college, I was given the opportunity to work for a month at a Franciscan mission in Mexico. 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. It to Richard, but according to the promotion company the religion these days be type. 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