What penniless priest of impecunious ministry has left these icons ? Broke Bishops and skint Vicars and Nuns that have got none. Times are hard in the local church when Jesus and Mary make it into to the local pawn shop.

Strolling through the aisles of a vast warehouse-like emporium, where the hard-up of the world leave their prized possessions in exchange for a little cash.

I occasionally pop into the pawn shop for a saunter around the eclectic and eccentric mix of unworldly and other-worldly goods, which are adored, prized and valued by those who pawn them, but treated with incredulous loathing by others. This is better than art. The question always comes to the forefront of my mind as I look on “How in God’s name could anyone like that that …” (A question that often comes to mind when I wander around many modern art galleries.)

And this time, in God’s name, we have ostentatiously odious statues of Jesus and Virgin. From what shrine or grotto have these emerged, and who in heaven’s name will buy them?

They might look good in a disco or one of those kitsch roadside cocktail joints. Thereagain if you are launching a Vegas-style, drive-in evangelical experience, this is the gear for you.