St. Matthew's Church "prayer rug"- anyone heard of this?

[PhilomenaJohn2]

Hi all,
yesterday I got a package in the mail from a place that called itself “St Matthew’s Church” and it included a large paper that looked like a rug with an image of Jesus’ face with the crown of thorns. There was a brochure about how I should use this prayer rug to gain all sorts of blessings, etc.
I thought it was gimicky/superstitious looking, and I’m pretty sure its not a Catholic group, but it said that the “prayer rug” was blessed, and I didn’t want to just throw it out in case it was. (There was not any other explanation)
Does anyone know anything about this group? Would it be ok to just throw the “rug” out? I don’t really want to keep it

 

[Oldtimer_7]

I have gotten a similar mailing. If it is like the one I got, on the back there is a space to fill out how much money you want God to send you, to the penny. I have a friend who was a mail carrier, and he said these “ministries” got lots of mail from elderly people right after they received their Social Security checks.
If you want a blessed prayer rug, go to your priest and have him bless one. If you want to give money, give it to your local parish. All else is garbage. Sorry, I did not mean to demean garbage. Some of it once was of some use.

 

[Catholic1954]

Hi all,
yesterday I got a package in the mail from a place that called itself “St Matthew’s Church” and it included a large paper that looked like a rug with an image of Jesus’ face with the crown of thorns. There was a brochure about how I should use this prayer rug to gain all sorts of blessings, etc.
I thought it was gimicky/superstitious looking, and I’m pretty sure its not a Catholic group, but it said that the “prayer rug” was blessed, and I didn’t want to just throw it out in case it was. (There was not any other explanation)
Does anyone know anything about this group? Would it be ok to just throw the “rug” out? I don’t really want to keep it

I doubt that your “rug” has been blessed by a Catholic priest; in that case I would just toss it out.

 

[puzzleannie]

Hi all,
yesterday I got a package in the mail from a place that called itself “St Matthew’s Church” and it included a large paper that looked like a rug with an image of Jesus’ face with the crown of thorns. There was a brochure about how I should use this prayer rug to gain all sorts of blessings, etc.
I thought it was gimicky/superstitious looking, and I’m pretty sure its not a Catholic group, but it said that the “prayer rug” was blessed, and I didn’t want to just throw it out in case it was. (There was not any other explanation)
Does anyone know anything about this group? Would it be ok to just throw the “rug” out? I don’t really want to keep it

it is a fundraiser, run by a third party for-profit mass mailer. throw it away like you would all similar mailings, unless for some reason you like sleazy quasi-religious chochkees and want to keep it.

 

[Camondw]

It is junk mail. If you are concerned that it may have been legitimately blessed, burn it and bury the ashes.

 

[The_Idiot]

here’s an article from Wiki on this ‘group’

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Matthew’s_Churches

And there was plenty more there on Google

 

[Joe_Kelley]

It is junk mail. If you are concerned that it may have been legitimately blessed, burn it and bury the ashes.

Since it has the image of Jesus on it, I would either burn it or thoroughly shred it. I would hate to see His image in a trash truck etc. whether it was blessed or not.