"And I will make you fisher of people..."

(Mark 1:17)

In his introduction of Bishop Croneberger before his annual Convention address, Michael Francaviglia, Diocesan Administrator, commented, " Sponge Bob Squarepants was chided for 'insidious' conduct by participating in a video on the importance of diversity and the very real sins of bigotry and intolerance. All because SpongeBob holds hands with a starfish. 'Sugartime,' a planned episode in a cartoon series. 'Postcards from Buster' for PBS was denounced by our new Secretary of Education as inappropriate for children. Remember - cartoon characters! This absurdity can be placed right along side the earlier attacks on the Telly-Tubbies for their 'propaganda ploys.'
 

The Living Water of Baptism, Convention theme, was integrated into the altar frontal. Cartoon figures added by the youth ministers after hearing Michael's remarks (sidebar) are Sponge Bob Squarepants and his cohort, Patrick ...and of course, the requisite fishy friends.The frontal was created by an intergenerational group, led by Carol Holmer of Church of the Messiah, Chester.