I thought I’d mention here that I’ve started a series of video tours of Poppe’s. I hope these videos will give people an idea what sort of things we carry, in a way that’s easier and more entertaining than taking pictures and writing up descriptions for hundreds of items. I may do more of a formal online catalog eventually, but this will do for now. It should take about 8-10 of these short videos to cover the entire store, and after that I’ll do ones on new products as they come in. I hope that keeping them short makes them more watchable than if I did one hour-long tour of the entire store.
These were made with a Flip camera by a total amateur (me), so the quality isn’t that great, but I think they’re good enough for my purpose. It’s a little time-consuming, because I have to shoot the video — and then probably shoot it a couple more times, because I forgot to include something or didn’t like how the first one turned out — and then upload it to YouTube, which takes a while. Once it’s uploaded and they have it converted to their format and placed in public view, then I can go to the website and make a page for it, and post links from other places like Facebook. So I probably won’t be posting more than one per day.
This first one covers the wall crucifixes, and some of the jewelry and statues that we have in the display counter. More jewelry and statues will show up in later tours of other parts of the store.
Suggestions, or complaints that I need to speak up, are heartily welcome in the comments. (By the way, I discovered recently that my comment spam prevention plugin was broken, so if anyone tried to comment on my long ADD post and wasn’t able to, I’m sorry about that. It should be fixed now.) Also, if you are on Facebook and would like to be notified of new videos and other store news, be sure to go to the Poppe’s fan page and ‘like’ it. Thank you!
Something pretty cool happened at Poppe’s today. A fellow came in looking for a sort of Catholic dictionary, something that would explain technical terms like “conclave” (that’s when the cardinals get together to choose a new pope). I found a book that fit the bill; then after he paid, he asked if we had any pictures of the Virgin Mary. I pointed him to several framed prints (I really have to get them out of that dark corner), and he proceeded to tell me about how, ten years ago, he had a vision of her which helped him through some difficult times. He drew a picture of her at the time, and when he spotted a print we had of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, he said she looked just like his drawing. It turns out he’s not even Catholic, but he’s obviously curious about it, and maybe that discovery today will be a step along that path.
image courtesy of DUCKMARX
Events like that are the real reason I decided to buy Poppe’s when I was asked. I also think it’s a good long-term business opportunity, and certainly an interesting new challenge, since I haven’t worked in retail since managing a Domino’s Pizza store twenty years ago. But the main reason was for those moments like today, when you have a chance to give a bit of information or inspiration to someone who’s searching for Truth, or a little solace or comfort to someone who’s grieving or in pain. It doesn’t happen every day (some days the highlight is telling yet another person not to bury St. Joseph upside down), but when it does, it’s an honor to be used in that way.
(I have a ton more to say about Poppe’s, but right now my hand is on fire from a grease burn I got cooking supper tonight, so I need to get it back on something cold. I just wanted to get today’s story down while it was fresh.)
Between finishing up end-of-the-month work, teaching Latin class, getting ready for the soup dinner, shoveling snow, and recovering from shoveling snow, I haven’t managed to post anything here for about a week. Today isn’t any better, so I’ll just post this announcement about the soup dinner at St. Rose on Sunday, from 11-2:30. We’re having 5 different kinds of soup, plus cream-turkey sandwiches, desserts, and drinks. Further details at that link.
We’ve also got a pretty excellent raffle going, with a grand prize of a $200 gift certificate from the Butcher Block, and several other prizes of gift cards from local businesses. Tickets will be available at the dinner for $1 each or 6 for $5.
Well, now the holidays are over and schedules are getting back somewhat to normal, it’s time to start having fundraising dinners at St. Rose again! The first one this year is this coming Sunday, the 24th, from 11-2:30. Come for the 11:00 High Mass and stay for lunch! We’ll be serving pulled-pork sandwiches (perhaps pulled by yours truly), green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, dessert, etc. More information at the link above.
Also, we’re having a couple raffles. One is a 50/50, and the other will give away a night’s stay for two at Stoney Creek Inn, plus some gift baskets. So I’m going to do what I did last year: I will buy a raffle ticket for the first ten people who leave a comment on this post. Just be sure to say which raffle you want me to enter for you.
Whaddya know. I’ve had his name for almost 40 years, and I didn’t even know Moses’s brother Aaron from the Old Testament was a saint. It turns out today is his feast day. I guess it’s a minor one, though; he doesn’t even rate a commemoration in my missal. (On the other hand, my middle name happens to belong to the guy who taught Jesus how to use a hammer, so it balances out.)
Many bloggers take it easy on Friday by offering lists of links, so who am I to argue? Here are some interesting Church-related things I’ve come across lately:
One thing Catholics and other pro-lifers hear a lot is that we’re all negative, no positive; that we only care about stopping abortion but don’t offer any solutions about what to do with the babies. Of course, that’s not true. The Church and other pro-life organizations run all sorts of pregnancy crisis centers, adoption agencies, and so on; but those things don’t get the press that the political stuff does. This video is a nice (non-political) reminder of the positive work that is always going on without fanfare—that always has gone on.
It’s funny how sometimes you find yourself encountering the same thought or conversation from different sources all at once. I’ve found myself talking to a few different people lately about Catholic education and how dismal our generation’s was, and then I ran across this podcast called “Catholic Traitors” by Michael Voris of St. Michael Media. (It was originally a video, but the podcast is free.) If you went to Catholic school or CCD/PSR/Catechism classes in the US in the past 40 years or so, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along with him in several places. It’s 45 minutes long, so for those who don’t have time to listen right now, here are a few money quotes and my comments.
By the time the 1970s dawned, religion classes had been replaced by Arts and Crafts.
We had some new people at the 8:00 Mass this Sunday, and I discovered afterward that we’re not doing a very good job of helping newbies get started and follow along. After you’ve been going a while, it’s easy to forget how confusing it was the first time, but it doesn’t have to be that way if people are helped a little. So for people who are thinking about joining us at St. Rose, here’s a step-by-step guide that I hope will prevent some confusion.
