{"id":1728,"date":"2007-08-16T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-16T08:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/you-have-to-start-with-the-youth.html"},"modified":"2007-08-16T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-16T08:16:00","slug":"you-have-to-start-with-the-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/08\/you-have-to-start-with-the-youth.html","title":{"rendered":"“You have to start with the youth”"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is money to be made from faith and belief, and nowhere was that more evident, it seems, than at a recent religious marketing expo<\/a> in Cleveland:<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cAs far as T-shirts go, you can\u2019t beat Pope John Paul,\u201d said Dominic Scarnecchia, who was hawking his wares at the Catholic Marketing Network\u2019s international trade show here in late July.<\/p>\n

Scarnecchia is a sales associate with \u201cCatholic to the Max,\u201d a hip division of Nelson Woodcraft, a family-owned business that sells Catholic gift items in Steubenville, Ohio.<\/p>\n

A student at Franciscan University in Steubenville, he could easily be working the floor at Abercrombie & Fitch or Old Navy, but instead, he was hawking \u201cGet Holy or Die Tryin\u2019 \u201d and \u201cPuttin\u2019 the STUD back in Bible study\u201d license plate frames and messenger bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to start with the youth,\u201d Scarnecchia said. \u201cIt\u2019s the future of the Catholic church, like Pope John Paul said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judging by some of the paraphernalia offered to retailers at the trade show, one thing is clear: Pope John Paul II is as big as Bono.<\/p>\n

A photo of him before he became bishop of Rome, in which he is wearing shades, a beret and a slightly devilish smile graces coffee mugs, T-shirts and key chains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that JP II?\u201d yelped a young woman working the entrance of the recent International Exposition Center in Cleveland, which housed nearly 60 exhibitors for four days. She had spotted an \u201cXtreme Papa\u201d dog tag around a guest\u2019s neck. \u201cI love JP II! I bawled my eyes out when he died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPapa Ben\u201d merchandise, featuring current pontiff Pope Benedict XVI, doesn\u2019t move as well.<\/p>\n

While traditional religious artifacts were in evidence — crucifixes and giant praying hands \u201chandmade in the Holy Land,\u201d heavy embroidered vestments, glow-in-the-dark Fatima statues from Portugal — there was a decided whiff of Madison Avenue at the 2007 Expo.<\/p>\n

Like the Wearable Service Rosary, also known as the \u201ctough guy rosary necklace\u201d made with a safety break-away clasp. Why? Because traditional rosaries, strung onto piano wire-like thread, can be used to choke troops in hand-to-hand combat, explained Dede Laugesen of The Rosary Project. There have been no such reports, but \u201cit could happen,\u201d she said. Introduced in November, the Wearable Service Rosaries are \u201cselling like hotcakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boulder, Colo., company also markets rosaries for jocks; strung among the plastic beads are tiny baseballs, basketballs or footballs.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Department of Full Disclosure: I have a couple “Catholic to the Max”<\/a> tee shirts myself. (“Catholic Original: Est. 33 AD” is a particular favorite of mine.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is money to be made from faith and belief, and nowhere was that more evident, it seems, than at a recent religious marketing expo in Cleveland: \u201cAs far as T-shirts go, you can\u2019t beat Pope John Paul,\u201d said Dominic Scarnecchia, who was hawking his wares at the Catholic Marketing Network\u2019s international trade show here…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"You have to start with the youth" - 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\/2007\/08\/you-have-to-start-with-the-youth.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""You have to start with the youth" - 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