Elvis
07-01-05, 01:05 PM
Plastic Jesus turns 50...
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_3895929,00.html
http://mas.scripps.com/MCA/2005/06/30/1jesus_e.jpg
By James Dowd
July 1, 2005
Fifty years after its debut and more than three decades after riding off into the sunset, a new dashboard Jesus is ready to roll.
The pop culture icon, which graced automobile interiors in the '50s and '60s, has been recast in a commemorative edition by the Sacred Heart Auto League in Walls, Miss.
The ivory-colored plastic statuette resembles the original, which was distributed from 1955 to 1967. Administrators estimate millions of the pocket-sized figures were produced.
Michael McMullen got one of the first. As a 16-year-old eager to drive the family car back in 1955, McMullen promised his parents he'd be careful on the road. Not taking any chances, his mother enrolled him in the Sacred Heart Auto League and he's been a member ever since.
"I had one on my dashboard as long as they made them," said McMullen, 66, of Elko, Nev.
The auto league was founded in 1955 by Father Gregory Bezy, a former military chaplain who was assigned to raise funds for Catholic ministries in North Mississippi.
Concerned by rising prayer requests for automobile crash victims and following the deaths of a niece and nephew in a car wreck, Bezy formed the league to foster "prayerful and careful driving."
Over the years, the league, which counts 700,000 members, has grown into a major fund-raising arm, bringing in more than $2.5 million annually. Proceeds help support ministries, including 10 social service offices, eight parish churches, two schools, a child care program and a thrift store.
More than 5,000 of the new statues have been sent out in recent weeks and more are on the way. But this time around, the tiny statue is meant to evoke the spirit of its predecessor. League administrators expect more people will keep the golden anniversary figures in their homes or offices than in their vehicles.
"It's not so much for the car, since there's no way to attach it and you don't want any flying missiles while you're driving," joked Father Jack Kurps, SCJ, league spiritual director.
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Sacred Heart Auto League
6050 Hwy. 161 N., Walls 38686; (800) 232-9079
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'Plastic Jesus'
I don't care if it rains or freezes
'Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far
Riding down a thoroughfare
With His nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind
Trouble coming He don't see
He just keeps His eye on me
And any other thing that lies behind
(The folk song is most often attributed to Ernie Marrs.)
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_3895929,00.html
http://mas.scripps.com/MCA/2005/06/30/1jesus_e.jpg
By James Dowd
July 1, 2005
Fifty years after its debut and more than three decades after riding off into the sunset, a new dashboard Jesus is ready to roll.
The pop culture icon, which graced automobile interiors in the '50s and '60s, has been recast in a commemorative edition by the Sacred Heart Auto League in Walls, Miss.
The ivory-colored plastic statuette resembles the original, which was distributed from 1955 to 1967. Administrators estimate millions of the pocket-sized figures were produced.
Michael McMullen got one of the first. As a 16-year-old eager to drive the family car back in 1955, McMullen promised his parents he'd be careful on the road. Not taking any chances, his mother enrolled him in the Sacred Heart Auto League and he's been a member ever since.
"I had one on my dashboard as long as they made them," said McMullen, 66, of Elko, Nev.
The auto league was founded in 1955 by Father Gregory Bezy, a former military chaplain who was assigned to raise funds for Catholic ministries in North Mississippi.
Concerned by rising prayer requests for automobile crash victims and following the deaths of a niece and nephew in a car wreck, Bezy formed the league to foster "prayerful and careful driving."
Over the years, the league, which counts 700,000 members, has grown into a major fund-raising arm, bringing in more than $2.5 million annually. Proceeds help support ministries, including 10 social service offices, eight parish churches, two schools, a child care program and a thrift store.
More than 5,000 of the new statues have been sent out in recent weeks and more are on the way. But this time around, the tiny statue is meant to evoke the spirit of its predecessor. League administrators expect more people will keep the golden anniversary figures in their homes or offices than in their vehicles.
"It's not so much for the car, since there's no way to attach it and you don't want any flying missiles while you're driving," joked Father Jack Kurps, SCJ, league spiritual director.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacred Heart Auto League
6050 Hwy. 161 N., Walls 38686; (800) 232-9079
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Plastic Jesus'
I don't care if it rains or freezes
'Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far
Riding down a thoroughfare
With His nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind
Trouble coming He don't see
He just keeps His eye on me
And any other thing that lies behind
(The folk song is most often attributed to Ernie Marrs.)