Does this look familiar? 

No..  It’s not the collection for the pagan babies.  That was SO yesterday.  It’s been cleaned up and repackaged in a more politically savvy wrapper.  It’s Operation Rice Bowl.

The premise is the same…

Have a simple meal or pass up the venti nonfat vanilla soy decaf latte and deposit the money you save into this little box.   Write a check at the end of Lent to Catholic Relief Services. This organization supports programs all over the world in an effort to alleviate hunger and poverty.  orb.crs.org

And while we’re on the subject..

What happened to all those pagan babies we saved in elementary school?  You know.. the ones we gave up our milk money for?  The ones we were told we could purchase for $5, have baptized, fed and housed and saved from the fires of hell, in order to fulfill our Lenten obligation of almsgiving?

The topic of pagan babies stimulated some interesting posts on Facebook:

Remember naming your pagan baby?  That was the fun part!

We nominated, voted, and named it after our teacher.. always.

Since the girls donated 5-1, it was usually always a girl.

The term “pagan baby” sounds so horrific!  We thought it was so normal in Catholic grade school in the 50’s and 60’s!

I used to give them all my birthday money!

How innocent were we?  What other things did our parents tell us that we bought hook line and sinker?  “Clean your plates because the children are starving in Biafra.” Where is Biafra anyway?  And how will we get my uneaten peas to them? 

If only we could have Googled that to see if they were telling us the truth.

Regardless of how they dished up the message (pun intended), the proof is in the pudding.   If you are reading this blog you probably have more peas on your plate than 925 million people.  There’s also a good chance that you stopped at Starbuck’s this morning and that you will enjoy a satisfying and nourishing dinner tonight.

I’m just sayin’…