Confessions of a Holy-Card Hoarder

Charlene Rack shares her humorous and positive outlook regarding “Catholic Clutter.”

Hi, my name is Charlene, and I have an addiction. I can’t throw away Catholic holy cards, prayer pamphlets, or anything else that is Catholic faith-oriented. I feel guilty just considering such an action! It started slowly, shortly after I converted to the faith in 1984. There were just so many new and beautiful prayers to memorize, and saints I knew nothing about. I searched for free saint cards and prayer guides in every church and retreat center that I visited.

As time went on, I began to widen my search, and my collection. My mother-in-law volunteered at a non-profit thrift store, and she would buy or rescue Catholic décor items donated to the store. She passed a lot of it on to us. Before I knew it, we had holy water fonts and Last Rites crucifix sets added to our collection. I had to buy a cabinet for storage (which later became our Schoenstatt, Marian home shrine base). The drawer is filled with above-mentioned cards and prayer pamphlets, while the lower storage area overflows with rosaries, candles, and Rosary mediation books.

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Then came the framed Catholic art on the walls, followed closely by saint statues. We’ve got Our Lady of Guadelupe, Our lady of Schoenstatt, Blessed Solanus Casey, Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, along with other Catholic art (Bartolomé Esteban Marillo, my absolute favorite!). And one of my daughters finally found (at a thrift store) something I’d been wanting for years: a framed print of The Angelus now hangs proudly, and inspiringly, on our wall (not to mention at least one crucifix in every room, with our living room sporting one that I made myself in a ceramics class!).

Now that our small living room is packed to the gills, I’m limiting my own new acquisitions to Catholic books, but it won’t be long before the bookshelves are overflowing, too. We’ve got bookshelves in every room (including a bookshelf headboard in our bedroom, and a large bookshelf in our attic, but dust is collecting while space is dwindling. I’ve decided to change my tactics (and my wedding-gift purchasing plan), to thrift-store shopping from our local St. Vincent de Paul thrift store locations (we are very blessed in that regard here in Cincinnati, and I’ve even taken Catholic youth groups to volunteer in the SVDP “grocery store”).

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It seems to me that I have taken on my mother-in-law’s old job (may she rest in peace!). I pick up lovely statues, crucifixes and Catholic books, all in like-new condition, and all for a portion of the original cost, while supporting our local St. Vincent de Paul Society in their efforts to serve the poor in our community (with the added bonus of not supporting agendas that I don’t want to support!) So far, I’ve had wonderful responses to my “rescued Catholic items gift-giving plan.” I always add a little note fessing up to where I shop, and I’ve had nothing but rave reviews! How can they complain when I say, “The purchase of this gift supported a Catholic charity in action"?

It’s a great plan that allows me to continue the fun adventure of my thrift-store Catholic treasure hunts without falling into the trap of needing a rented storage space.

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How can they complain when I say, “The purchase of this gift supported a Catholic charity in action"? #CatholicMom

And as for our collection (and yes, my husband’s basement bookshelf is rather impressive, too!), we’re still enjoying the peace of being surrounded by statues, pictures, and written words of the saints. So, our plan is to leave it all to our kids to sort through when we’re gone. And if they don’t want it all, they can donate the leftovers to a non-profit Christian thrift store where the money raised goes to help others. It’s an ongoing circle of care that helps everyone, in more ways than one!

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