{"id":172,"date":"2009-09-17T06:34:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-17T06:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/a-saint-for-our-times.html"},"modified":"2009-09-17T06:34:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-17T06:34:00","slug":"a-saint-for-our-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/a-saint-for-our-times.html","title":{"rendered":"A saint for our times?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems that way. Devotion to St. Joseph is evidently picking up among homeowners (or home sellers). And the New York Times<\/a> has more: <\/p>\n

<\/a> Lord knows it\u2019s rough out there in the housing market. Still, you had to feel bad for Patty Bonadies, digging with a spoon in the rocky soil in front of the new three-story colonial for sale at 7 Old Roaring Brook Road in search of the tiny statue of St. Joseph she had buried in hopes of helping the house sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have brought a bigger spoon,\u201d she said. She wanted to move the statue, which she had planted near the front door in May, to a perhaps more propitious spot. Her late mother-in-law\u2019s house in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., is for sale, and she plans to plant a statue there, too. \u201cYou have to believe,\u201d she said. \u201cIn this market, you\u2019re looking for any help you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Bonadies, a real estate agent for three years, is Roman Catholic, but St. Joseph, who is said to look after homes, families and carpenters, among many other things, isn\u2019t just for Catholics anymore. With the housing market still dismal, the Catholic tradition of planting a statue of him as a way to help a house sell is going like gangbusters online, in stores selling religious goods and elsewhere \u2014 even if home sales are not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, we\u2019ve seen some upticks in sales of the kits whenever there\u2019s a sign that the housing market is on the skids,\u201d said Nicholas Cole, director of marketing for the Catholic Company, based in Charlotte, N.C., which sells religious items online and through catalogs. \u201cBut the sales of the product have been really strong for the last two years. We saw a really big spike last year, and they\u2019re still really selling. I don\u2019t want to say \u2018desperate\u2019 is the right word, but I think it\u2019s selling to people across the board, not just Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the statue had helped him sell a house and a condominium in the past few years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not completely clear when the tradition began, and devotees disagree over how best to participate. Head down? By the \u201cfor sale\u201d sign? In a flowerpot? But it has been adopted by many real estate agents, who suggest that sellers, particularly in this market, give the statue a chance.<\/p>\n

A religious-goods store in the area has four green-and-white St. Joseph kits \u2014 a 3 \u00bd-inch plastic statue, a card with the words to a prayer to St. Joseph, and an instructional pamphlet \u2014 on its front counter. The front of the kit shows the statue and a house with a \u201csold\u201d sign. The back explains: \u201cCan\u2019t sell home? Ask St. Joseph. He\u2019s helping 1,000s.\u201d It adds, \u201cFaith can move mountains and homes!!!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can find more at the link<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For what it’s worth: I know someone who tried this. Didn’t work. After about two years, her house is still on the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems that way. Devotion to St. Joseph is evidently picking up among homeowners (or home sellers). And the New York Times has more: Lord knows it\u2019s rough out there in the housing market. Still, you had to feel bad for Patty Bonadies, digging with a spoon in the rocky soil in front of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hanging-with-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nA saint for our times? - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/a-saint-for-our-times.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A saint for our times? - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It seems that way. 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