{"id":2712,"date":"2008-10-13T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-13T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html"},"modified":"2008-10-13T11:11:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-13T11:11:00","slug":"something-fishy-about-mother-angelica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html","title":{"rendered":"Something fishy about Mother Angelica"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those of us who know Mother Angelica from her television ministry might be surprised to learn that her first forays into evangelism began just like the apostles: with fishing. <\/p>\n

A reader sent me the following, from Fishing for History<\/a>: <\/p>\n

One of the most amazing fishing tackle stories of all-time centers on a group of Franciscan nuns in Ohio who decided to go into the tackle business. Calling their lures \u201cSt. Peter\u2019s Fishing Lures,\u201d they manufactured and sold a line of 16 different lures, ranging from worms and jigs to bucktails and plugs. Their amazing story, and the life of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, is told here.<\/p>\n

One of the first mentions of this fascinating enterprise came from a Carl Barnhart newswire item, reprinted here from the 29 May 1961 Southern Illinoisian that read as follows:<\/p>\n

A group of Franciscan Nuns in Ohio has gone into the fishing lure manufacturing business. All profits will go to their church. These lures will be called the St. Peter\u2019s Fishing Lures\u2014after the Big Fisherman. They have 16 worms, jigs, bucktails, and plugs. I\u2019m told that each lure is sold with a built-in prayer for the user to have good fishing. I\u2019m sure there are days when each of us can use all the help we can get.<\/p>\n

Who were these enterprising nuns? How and why did they decide to get into the tackle business? Was this venture a success, or like most tackle businesses, a failure? The story is one of the neatest forgotten tales in the history of tackle manufacturing.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The genesis (pun intended) behind these piscatorial St. Peters was a remarkable nun by the name of Mother Mary Angelica who was a member of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, a Franciscan Order in Canton, Ohio. Born Rita Rizzo in Canton, she joined the order in 1953 and while living at the Santa Clara Monastery there, dreamt of opening a monastery in the deep South. She was told that not only would she have to raise the money for the monastery, but it would have to be self-supporting afterward\u2014an almost impossible task for the time.<\/p>\n

Undaunted, in 1958 Mother Angelica hit on an idea. \u201cIt was while I was praying,\u201d she noted in an interview in The Family Weekly in 1962, \u201cthat I got an idea for making money for the new monastery.\u201d The original idea? Sell fishing bait. She approached the Mother Superior with the idea of raising red worms for bait, but was immediately shot down. Undaunted, Mother Angelica prayed again\u2014and the idea of manufacturing and selling fishing tackle was born.<\/p>\n

The Franciscans gave their approval, but no one expected much. After all, how much money could be made selling fishing lures for .75 each? But Mother Angelica understood marketing. Before joining the cloister, she had worked in the advertising business, and used that experience to come up with an idea so audacious many thought her crazy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crazy like a fox. So crazy, she eventually was honored by Sports Illustrated<\/i> for her contributions. Check out the rest<\/a> of the story. And a cheerful h\/t to author Todd E.A. Larson for spreading the gospel of fishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of us who know Mother Angelica from her television ministry might be surprised to learn that her first forays into evangelism began just like the apostles: with fishing. A reader sent me the following, from Fishing for History: One of the most amazing fishing tackle stories of all-time centers on a group of Franciscan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-links-r-us","category-this-and-that"],"yoast_head":"\nSomething fishy about Mother Angelica - 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\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Something fishy about Mother Angelica - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Those of us who know Mother Angelica from her television ministry might be surprised to learn that her first forays into evangelism began just like the apostles: with fishing. A reader sent me the following, from Fishing for History: One of the most amazing fishing tackle stories of all-time centers on a group of Franciscan…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-13T11:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPNmddLd2eI\/AAAAAAAADII\/eccTSSgpoIo\/s320\/m-4045.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Something fishy about Mother Angelica - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Something fishy about Mother Angelica - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"Those of us who know Mother Angelica from her television ministry might be surprised to learn that her first forays into evangelism began just like the apostles: with fishing. A reader sent me the following, from Fishing for History: One of the most amazing fishing tackle stories of all-time centers on a group of Franciscan…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-10-13T11:11:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPNmddLd2eI\/AAAAAAAADII\/eccTSSgpoIo\/s320\/m-4045.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html","name":"Something fishy about Mother Angelica - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPNmddLd2eI\/AAAAAAAADII\/eccTSSgpoIo\/s320\/m-4045.jpg","datePublished":"2008-10-13T11:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-13T11:11:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPNmddLd2eI\/AAAAAAAADII\/eccTSSgpoIo\/s320\/m-4045.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPNmddLd2eI\/AAAAAAAADII\/eccTSSgpoIo\/s320\/m-4045.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/something-fishy-about-mother-angelica.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Something fishy about Mother Angelica"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}