Best Catholic T-shirt?

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I wasn’t sure where to start this thread, but I finally settled on Popular Media because it’s about “media,” namely, t-shirts.

My husband and I are ex-evangelical Protestants. We converted to Catholicism in 2004 and love the Church!

In our city, one of the large evangelical churches has its own outdoor amphitheater, and throughout the summer, they offer free concerts featuring some of the best contemporary Christian artists. (e.g., Sandi Patty, Michael W. Smith, etc.)

My husband and I occasionally attend these programs and of course we meet up with former friends (some are still friends!) and former church associates… We would like to wear t-shirts that are a witness to our Catholic faith that also make it clear that we are ex-Protestants.

We don’t want to be rude or obnoxious or insulting to our Protestant brothers and sisters, but we want to make it very clear that we are glad that we are no longer Protestant and that we are thrilled to be Catholic.

We WANT people to stare and to stop and ask questions. We WANT a discussion that perhaps gets all the people around us thinking. (In case you are wondering, all of this would take place before the concert starts–in order to get a seat, you have to arrive a couple of hours early for the really big concerts. Lots of time to sit and chat!)

So does anyone have a good recommendation? A link to a Catholic t-shirt that Protestants just can’t ignore? A picture of a t-shirt that is a sure-fire conversation starter?

Thanks!
 
I don’t know how old you are, but if you don’t feel too old to wear some of the shirts over at LifeTeen.com, they’ve got some great ones!

I’m personally a fan of both the “Not All Habits Are Bad” shirt (featuring a nun in a habit) and the “On Target” shirt (graphic of a cross in a circle, reminds me of the Host).

If you go to cafepress.com, and type in Catholic in the search engine, you’ll come up with other shirts of varying cuteness/in your face factores (be warned, some people have created anti-Catholic designs and posted them in the Catholic category).

My husband’s favorite is the “Catholicism: founded 33 AD shirt” from Catholictothemax.com
 
Catholics should not be wearing any such nonsense “advertising” the faith or the name of the Lord. We advertise by the way we live…not by what we wear. And the holy name of Jesus should never be profaned by plastering it across a t-shirt.

HOLY IS HIS NAME
 
so when the church gives my son VBS shirts that say God or Jesus they are being profane? is my son for wearing it proudly? me for allowing it? You are misinformed.🤷
 
I love the t-shirt that says…

what part of ‘This is my body’ don’t you understand?

I want to get it for my boys…

Crystal
 
I’ve got a bunch of Catholic t-shirts. I wear them all the time. They’re great!

I’ve also shopped at Catholictothemax.com. Good stuff there. Another company I was pleased with is www.littlewaydesign.com. They’ve got good quality products, including a variation of my favorite: littlewaydesign.com/index.cfm?load=page&page=36&view=details&product=64. On mine, instead of having the list on the back, it has the name Benedict with a big number 16, like a baseball jersey. It’s so cool!

If you can find the “who started your church” shirt, that’ll really get a conversation started…
 
Brenflor3 said:
so when the church gives my son VBS shirts that say God or Jesus they are being profane? is my son for wearing it proudly? me for allowing it? You are misinformed.🤷
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Unfortunately it is you who are misinformed.** HOLY **is his name. Do you understand the meaning of that?. HOLY HOLY HOLY
 
having his name on a shirt does not make it less holy. where’d you hear that? Muhammad, danes, jihad…ring a bell? yeah and I’m misinformed
 
One thing you could do is, if your parish doesn’t have their own logo t-shirt, ask if you could start a committee to put your parish logo on a t-shirt and sell them after Masses. If the mission statement of your church isn’t too long maybe that would be nice for the back. Last summer my parish sold tickets for a local minor league baseball game (at a very good price), so we all sat in a reserved section. Shirts were also sold at the time. I think a parish t-shirt is a good idea because it is a fund raiser that also identifies you as an active Catholic.

I don’t know where you buy or order it but I saw an awesome t-shirt once that had an entire list of all the aspects of the Catholic Church that proves it is The Church. If you could find something like that, it would definitely start a discussion.

Personally, as a cradle Catholic I have found that all I need to do is say I’m Catholic or what church I go to and I often get unwanted comments. If you want to start a discussion, I’m sure just telling those you know that you are now going to St. Paul’s Catholic Church, for instance will get a reaction.

By the way, have you ever gone to a Carman concert? If yes, how was it? I’m a fan.
 
The ones with ‘Tiber River Swim Team’ should provoke a good discussion. They are not offensive or in your face, yet invite inquiry.
 
I have this great T-shirt, back from Pope John Paul II’s visit to Canada in 1984. It has a picture of the pope and two of the Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, both in their Sgt. Pepper uniforms. Then the words go next to the images, “John Paul George Ringo”
 
Linda_Marie said:
The ones with ‘Tiber River Swim Team’ should provoke a good discussion. They are not offensive or in your face, yet invite inquiry.
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Yeah, I’d stick with something more subtle and not so in-your-face. In-your-face invites an in-your-face response when I think what you want it discussion.

I’m not sure where one can get it but there’s one with a picture of Pope John Paul II wearing sun-glasses and when he died they put a big “Mission Accomplished” on it.
mozier said:
I have this great T-shirt, back from Pope John Paul II’s visit to Canada in 1984. It has a picture of the pope and two of the Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, both in their Sgt. Pepper uniforms. Then the words go next to the images, “John Paul George Ringo”
Click to expand...
SWEET! Where can I get one?
 
Brenflor3 said:
having his name on a shirt does not make it less holy. where’d you hear that? Muhammad, danes, jihad…ring a bell? yeah and I’m misinformed
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You know Catholics would have ** NEVER EVER **in the past have been so presumptious as to do this sort of thing…I call it ‘recruiting’ rather than evangelizating. All this advertising of “Jesus” and ‘religion’ started with the evangelical sects. Heck, they even have something called “hookers for Jesus”.
And I’ve seen enough ‘honk if you love jesus bumper stickers’ to cause me severe nausea.
Those who truly love Jesus, revere his HOLY Name.

It trivializes and demeans and degrades the name and work of our Lord as if he is a media pop star or product to be broadcast or promoted on a bulletin board or t-shirt …and yes it is profane and it is almost cult-like behavior. There is a certain pride-like atitude involved here too. give me a "j’ , giving me an ‘e’ give me an…Jesus doesn’t want cheerleaders…he wants saints.

Catholics wouldn’t have presumed to be missionaries as such without proper training and prayer support and a mandate from the Church. This is “commercializing our precious faith.” And we should be trying to teach the separated brethren how to return to the sense of the sacred, reverence, humility and dignity instead of imitating their silliness and commercialism. They are lacking in the fullness of the truth so they have to try to make up for it by acting like this. Maybe they don’t think others would believe them without all the theatrics.

I place this stuff in the same category as the st joseph, house selling kits, the prayer of Jabez and other such trivia, having nothing to do with the faith…

There were very good reasons indeed for the start of the Holy Name Society. We need it to be revived.

And as far as the original OP’s. They seem to want to be proud to be Catholics, but continue with their tintillating old evangelical techniques and lifestyle. Sounds like they want to make sure everyone knows ‘my religion is better than yours’ type of thing.

You can best ‘witness’ by growing in holiness, dignity, reverence and respect, true christian charity and humility. You don’t need to advertize what you are.
I also noticed a lot of we WANT this or that…you want to Evangelize, right? Just like when you were in an evangelical sect. Have you searched in prayer and asked what OUR LORD wants?? where is your humility?

If you go to these events act like the decent good joyful christians you are trying to be as Catholics and stop tryiing to use these occasions to spout off and recruit and “save souls”. The Holy Spirit will handle the rest. You don’t save anyone…God does that.

This is treating Our Lord like a commercial object. I am appalled at this utter lack of respect shown by Catholics. And those selling this stuff and profiting from it should be ashamed of themselves as well as those wearing these things.

There is a terribly disordered thinking going on here I believe mainly due to the abysmal lack of catechesis and passing on of the faith in these past 40 years. Lord have mercy on us all.

Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
 
I started really thinking about this thread in the morning after posting last night. I, too, began to see that the OP is more about wanting to show others how great it is to be Catholic in a sort of prideful way than it is about living life in a Catholic Christian manner, with humility.

Yes, it’s good to be proud to be Catholic, but is being Catholic about wanting to wear things and say things that will cause total strangers to start a conversation about our church (even if it is how it relates to Jesus) or is being Catholic about modestly living our faith by example and being an evangelist by answering questions rather than by putting statements on t-shirts in order to create questions?

When I think of the attitude of a Catholic, the last thing that comes to my mind is the attitude of WANTING to cause a stir or discussion. Perhaps we should be a little more out there with our faith, I don’t know. But, traditionally, we are more quiet and dignified about it.

I have a thought that what this comes down to is asking God to keep you humble. Adopting the more quiet attitude of a Catholic might be challenging for you. Perhaps you haven’t entirely left behind your need to actively and assertively evangelize strangers. Although wearing a t-shirt with an interesting saying promoting the Catholic Church can be fun, perhaps it is better left for wearing at parish picnics or other activities where the attendance is mostly Catholic. Or at least wait until your attitude is more humble.

I think that wearing a parish t-shirt is and perhaps a small cross with a cruxifix to these concerts is enough. Quietly wearing your faith is probably best. As is quietly defending it, only if need be. I can understand your desire to let your friends know that you identify yourselves as Catholics now rather than the old identiies that you possessed. If they are your friends you can certainly let them know bit by bit that you are truly committed to the Church, without needing gimmicks.
 
I can certainly understand both sides of this issue. At the moment, my husband and I don’t own any Catholic t-shirts. We’ve thought about it, but we agree that it is a risk.

On the other hand, evangelical Christians respond to t-shirt witnessing. We know this from years of experience as evangelical Christians. Those of you who are cradle Catholics are shocked and horrified, but that’s because you are from a different background than us. Evangelicals would be shocked and horrified that you’re shocked and horrified over t-shirts and “Jesus” merchandise!

Remember, Paul said that in order to win some souls, we need to be all things to all people. We personally see no sin in wearing the Name of Jesus. One of the readings this past Sunday was the passage in Deuteronomy that said that we need to wear the Word of God on our foreheads. There is another passage in Deuteronomy that talks about hanging the Word of God in your house and reading it when you wake up and when you go to bed. It seem that there is an implied Biblical approval of “wearing” or displaying the Word of God in such a way that it is visible to us and others.

What is the difference between wearing the Name of Jesus on a T-shirt, and carrying a banner with His Holy Name, or wearing a Crucifix with His Holy Image? I cannot see a difference. And I think many evangelicals would agree with me. If you want to say, “Well, that’s not the way Catholics think”–well, I spent 40 years as an evangelical Protestant and for this reason, I will probably never think totally the way a cradle Catholic thinks. I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry. Being former evangelical Protestant means that I am able to correctly assess what will be effective in witnessing to evangelical Protestants, and what will fall flat and fail and offend them. This is something that you as a cradle Catholic can never do–understand the mind of an evangelical Protestant. I do understand the mind, because I had that mind for most of my life and still have much of the mindset. And I’m not ashamed to say it–I think that Catholics NEED to be more outspokenly “evangelical!” And that means more than just being holy. It means speaking up.

I wish to high heaven that some of YOU had spoken up years and years ago, when my husband and I were evangelical Protestants! Maybe if we had seen one of the T-shirts that some of you are posting on this thread, maybe we would have asked questions about the Catholic Church sooner and maybe we would have become Catholic many years ago, while we still had young children, instead of having to wait for years and years to finally come home to this wonderful Church!

We know many good and holy Catholics, but they didn’t tell us what they knew! I wish they had “evangelized” us! I wish they had gotten in our faces and spelled out Catholic apologetics and told us all about the history of the Church and pointed out how we were missing the whole point of John 6–I WISH THEY HAD SAID SOMETHING instead of being quiet and meek. Are you hearing what I’m saying?!! There are thousands and thousands of our friends and family who have no idea what Catholicism is all about! If we don’t tell them, who will?

I read a lot of posts on this board condemning Protestants in their errors. The Bible says that if we fail to tell them about God, WE will be held accountable for their failure to believe. Do you take that seriously? We do. Sitting around being holy isn’t going to bring evangelicals to the Catholic Church, because they are also very very holy, holier than many Catholics. They won’t see the difference. They have to be TOLD verbally.

I should not complain. God’s timing is perfect. Thanks be to God for His mercy in bringing us home in His own time. He knows best.

But I feel for evangelical Protestant brothers and sisters who are still searching. If a t-shirt can light their way home, I’ll wear it.

As far as I know, the Vatican has NOT condemned or forbidden these T-shirts and other Catholic merchandise, have they? Until they do, it seems to me that we all have the freedom to choose to purchase and use this material–or to choose not to purchase and use it.

One thought that I had was to have a t-shirt made with the following slogan: “We were kicked out of our evangelical Protestant church. Ask us where we go to Church now.”

It doesn’t insult or trivialize Jesus or the Catholic Church, does it? It tells people the truth about what happened to us and invites them to ask us more.
 
As a convert, I would have to disagree with the pride part. When a person is in the first flush of new faith, they really really really want to share it. It is not about my religion being better than yours, it is about finding the Truth after being in darkness and wanting all your friends, acquaintances and family to share it with you.

As far as evangelising not being Catholic, again I will have to disagree. We may now be called to bow our heads and be silent, but if Peter, Paul, John, Titus, Linus, Timothy and all of them had done that, we would not know of Jesus now. They went out to tell people the Good News. They told it in the Forums, in the markets, in the agora. When others told them to shut up, even flogged them to make the point, they didn’t stop, they continued to preach the Good News.

We are also called to witness and sometimes the quiet way just doesn’t cut it. I can honestly say that the quiet way has appealed to me since I am very non-confrontational and have trouble witnessing in a vocal way. I always put my foot in my mouth. It took me a long time to realize that the Lord wanted me to witness by the way I live my faith, not by my preaching. So I wear my Pardon Crucifix, so others know I’m Catholic. I don’t mind if people see me cross myself and pray, but opening my mouth and preaching just isn’t my strength. This is not to say that no one has this gift.

The good news is that we are all different and are called to witness to Christ in our lives in different ways. Some people become priests or religious, wear a habit or clerical garb and proclaim their faith that way. Each person is gifted in their own way by the Holy Spirit and what works as witness for one person, might not be the same for another. All work together, however, the priest with his cassock, the nun in her habit, the husband and wife with their children, the couple who are so on fire with their faith that they just can’t contain themselves; All gifts of the One Spirit to spread the Good News.
 
I guess I just look at it as the people going to the concerts are Christians and I could accept them as they are. I, personally, feel that we each have things to gain from sharing our witness and praising God in song. I don’t really see a need to evangelize Protestants, although other Catholics may disagree with me. I just see a need for us to accept each other and share our beliefs in Jesus Christ. I’m not saying you don’t accept your friends. But I know that I would love to go to a Sandie Patty concert and my main purpose for being there and sharing the time with others there would be to celebrate our common belief in the Lord. Taking evangelizing and Protestant/Catholic out of the picture, and admitting I have never been to a concert like that, I think it would give me goosebumps to just be in the presence of so many believers and know that in America we are totally free to gather as one and say the name of Jesus in public, sharing our belief and raising His name on high.

I don’t think we should hide the fact that we are Catholic, or not try to evangalize, but that we should speak in a nonchalant manner about our church and our experiences allowing others to ask questions at their own pace.

Were you asking questions and being open to learning about the Catholic faith, just to learn and view things from the eyes of other believers, during the time that you wish Catholic would have shared their faith with you and told you about the Church?

In my experiences, I would have loved to share my Catholic faith with Protestants or non-demoniational Christians. I have been able to do that. A couple of friends have gone to Mass with me. But, many evangelical Protestants or fundamentalists shut their ears once you say that you attend a Catholic church and the next thing I hear is condemnation. I don’t mean to categorize but many evangelicals seem to believe that everyone is lost and needs to be saved, which is off-putting to most people, especially to Catholics. The key to learning is to ask questions and share and be open. It works both ways.

I don’t want to start a big thing, but several years ago when I discussed that I went to Mass on Sunday with a coworker who was a non-demonitional Christian, she told me that the Catholic Church was “the whore of Babylon”. I was shocked. All I was doing was acting as an equal with her. She talked about going to church on Sunday and so did I. I never had anyone talk to me like that. It was very matter of fact too. When I went home I cried and cried and I was a mess for about a week. When you experience things like that it is hard to reach out to others.

In the end, though, my feelings about the concerts is why not just go and celebrate that Christians of all denominations (or no denomination) can all gather together in this free country? Why not discuss your church as if it is the most natural thing in the world to share with another Christian? I don’t see the need to evangelize at one of these events, but if you wanted to why not just ask them to go to Mass with you. Even if they balk at that you can say, “I just feel so great about being a Catholic that I want to share my joy with you and show you how wonderful the Mass can be.”

The way I look at it the Holy Spirit leads people. Being meek and holy is following the example of Jesus. I don’t see anything wrong with wearing a tasteful t-shirt with the name of Jesus on in praise of God, but, just my opinion, it should be done in the spirit of joining in with other Christians at the event to celebrate your belief in God.
 
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