found this website with the Great name & social mission—–
http://www.warbabynotaboomer.blogspot.com/
“Pagan Babies”
Any one go to Catholic Grade Schools in the 50′s and 60′s? Remember the “Pagan Babies“?
In order to raise money for the missions, the grade school students were asked to bring in pennies and nickels to save a Pagan Baby. It took $10.00 to save a baby. For every $10.00 collected you got name the baby.
In most classrooms to encourage donations, the nuns pitted the boys against the girls. Least we forget, the donations were collected daily and tallied on the blackboard. I am not sure when this practice ended.
Did you ever wonder what happened to all of the “Pagan Babies“?
This Sunday at Mass a missionary priest had an answer. The missionary work by Catholic priests and nuns is allowing Catholic priests from foreign countries to pastor the priest empty parishes in America.
The work of the missionaries converted the native peoples to the Catholic Religion.
Now I had not given the “Pagan Babies” a thought in years. It is an amazing to think all of those pennies and nickels really helped the children in need. And now they are helping us!
I did go to Catholic Grade School in the 50′s and 60′s. As I recall the girl pagan babies were less than the boy pagan babies because the boy pagan babies were to be given an education while the girl pagan babies only had to be baptized, feed and clothed. (At least that was what the Sisters of St. Joseph taught us.)
I remember the pagan babies. We did this during Lent as I recall. I went to St. Joseph Grade School in Racine, WI during the 50′s. Never got to name a pagan baby!