Bishop Baraga Association now selling Bishop Baraga socks

By Caty Mraz
The U.P. Catholic

The Bishop Baraga Association (BBA) has recently added a new item to its list of merchandise: a pair of socks depicting Venerable Bishop Frederic Baraga and other key details relating to the life of the Diocese of Marquette’s first bishop.

Len McKeen, executive director of the BBA, shared how the idea for a pair of Bishop Baraga inspired socks came to life. “I met Jeff Traylor from Catholic Concepts at a Development Conference in Kentucky last July [of 2023]. It has become a wonderful partnership!”

Catholic Concepts is a company that offers screen printing as well as other custom product creation. Sock Religious is a brand under Catholic Concepts that creates socks and other clothing and merchandise items depicting saints and other Catholic figures and topics.

“Catholic Concepts gifted each attendee a pair of St. Peter socks. Immediately I was struck with how fun it would be to have Baraga socks. Jeff and his team partnered with us to make that crazy idea a reality,” McKeen said. She explained that it also resulted in a second partnership with Catholic Concept as a wholesale distributor for their items, with all profits benefiting the BBA and Bishop Baraga’s cause for canonization. The partnership with Catholic Concepts allows the BBA to sell Catholic Concept’s items.

McKeen and Carley Challender, marketing coordinator for the BBA, worked with Traylor and his staff to design the socks from beginning to end. They wanted to stay true to Bishop Baraga and his image by including his portrait, snowshoes, and his title of “The Snowshoe Priest” as well as his episcopal motto “One Thing is Necessary” on the sock design. McKeen said, “If we take nothing else from what Baraga taught, take his motto to heart.”

McKeen described the socks as a fun way to support the cause with an item that was “a little different, since you can only have so many coffee mugs.”

The BBA currently only has adult size Bishop Baraga socks on sale, but depending on sales, there may be children’s size socks offered in the future. The BBA will ship socks if an online order is placed. They are sold on the BBA’s website as well as in person at the Baraga Educational Center and Museum Gift Shop, located at 615 S. 4th St., in Marquette.

McKeen said that Challender “was a big help” in the process of designing the socks. “Carley has a gift of taking the ideas I have and bringing them to life,” she said.

“If you are looking for a fun way to support the BBA and to promote Bishop Baraga to others consider purchasing a pair of these fun socks!” McKeen added.

For more information about the Bishop Baraga Association, visit https://bishopbaraga.org/. To purchase the Bishop Baraga socks and other merchandise to support the cause for canonization, visit https://bishop-baraga-association-2.square.site/.

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