"Every Christmas Hy-Vee grocery stores feature a church on their plastic bags," said Father Don Blaeser, OFM, who is pastor of the parish. "It seems that one of our parishioners who works for Hy-Vee accomplished this. When I called to thank him he told me he has tried for five years to get our church on the bags, and he was thrilled that it finally went through.

"If you could have seen how happy he was," Father Don said. "He was as thrilled as a 10-year-old with a new bike for Christmas."

Although the parishioner doesn't want his name mentioned in the press, Father Don said he is thankful for all the effort that went into the project. "He took the photo of the church and it took him several tries to get one that would work properly on the bags," he said. "He even wrote the text that was on the bag and he did a great job. What he said was so perfect, I couldn't have written it better myself."

The copy on the bag read as follows: "St. Francis Solanus Parish. Founded in 1860 by Franciscan friars from Germany, St. Francis Parish is still today in the care of the Franciscans of Sacred Heart Province. It has a very active faith community, excellent school, and good participation in the community of Quincy. Whether you are parishioner or visitor in the Quincy area, we encourage you to come 'home' this Christmas and join us here at St. Francis. As St. Francis of Assisi said, 'Pax et Bonum!' — 'Peace and everything good to you!'"

Hy-Vee has 235 stores in eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Quincy has two Hy-Vee stores, said Father Don. "The St. Francis bags — 2.5 million of them — were used in stores in central Illinois, southeastern Iowa and northeastern Missouri," he said. "Can you imagine how many people saw the picture of our church?"

Father Don said his parish received a box of the bags and they are putting them to good use. "We have a food pantry here in the parish and we are using the bags to put those groceries in," he said.

"I think you can imagine how thrilled and grateful I am with this man for taking such initiative and for his expression of love for our parish," Father Don said. "My hope is that it might bring more people to church or back to church, and more than just at Christmas."