Thank you, St Anthony!

I had a nice comment from Gresham Blake of Brighton the other day, concerning the shop's placing of a Gresham Blake carrier bag on the arm of a Statue of St Anthony in his window. I did a blog post saying this was irreligious and irreverent towards God and His Saint and 'something must be done.'

'I did not mean to offend, and St Anthony was not a commercial move on my behalf. I could have put in Santa for that. To be honest I hate the commercial side of Christmas and the tat we buy each other. 

My own family has had a present ban for years unless we see something ideal but that is rare. It was meant to be a comment on the lack of spiritualism at Christmas. And although not being a Catholic myself, St Anthony seemed apt considering the Saint' background. 

It's interesting that we don't see our saints around. My wife is Hindu and there saints statues are everywhere. I agree that the bag is pushing my point a bit far, and will remove when the shop opens on the 2nd January. 

I will of course be happy to donate the statue for your religious event. Am happy to discuss further if you wish. May be a crucifix for Easter! Happy New Year
Gresham Blake'

God bless him. He also said if we want to he and I could meet for a coffee. Thank you St Anthony of Padua. May your statue's presence in Gresham Blake bring blessings from God to the owner and to the poor and serve to remind Brighton of your holiness of life, while encouraging locals to give praise to the Babe who for us was born in a stable for our Salvation. Deo gratias.