Dolls for Children Who Like to Cuddle Their Savior

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) About 10 years ago, Mary Englund moved her 5-year-old son into a basement room _ and he was terrified. To comfort him, Englund put a statue of Jesus in the bed with him. “I put it under the blanket and told him, `Jesus wouldn’t want you to be afraid,”’ […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) About 10 years ago, Mary Englund moved her 5-year-old son into a basement room _ and he was terrified.

To comfort him, Englund put a statue of Jesus in the bed with him.


“I put it under the blanket and told him, `Jesus wouldn’t want you to be afraid,”’ she said. “He was fine with it. I said, `I’m sorry it’s not soft.’ When I left the room, I thought, `I wonder if there is a Jesus doll.”’

There is now _ plenty of them.

Englund created what has become known as “My Loving Jesus Doll,” which sells for $19.95. It’s about a foot tall, a squeezable soft doll with outstretched arms, dressed in a robe. It comes with a linen scroll addressed to a child, explaining who Jesus is.

Englund, 47, a mother of three in Champlain, Minn., began making the dolls and sold 400 to 500 out of her basement. She got help with the sewing, and her kids helped stuff the dolls. “It sold by word of mouth,” Englund said.

Dolls are important companions for children, she said, and can be used as a tool to introduce children to Jesus. “If you can plant that seed early, it doesn’t go away,” Englund said. “When I was a girl I talked to my dolls. I loved my dolls.”

The business got too big for her, so she brought in Jim Keding, who worked in the wholesale grocery distribution business. He arranged for a more professionally made and packaged Jesus doll, still using the soft, washable fabric concept.

Keding had a booth at the recent Catholic Marketing Network conference in Birmingham, Ala., last month. He was trying to sell the dolls to Catholic stores nationwide.

“They are new on the market nationally,” he said.

At the opposite end of the exhibit hall, a more expensive Jesus doll was on display. Made with molded rubber face and hands, the Soft Saints dolls sell for $98 apiece. “We can barely stay ahead of the demand,” said Teri O’Toole, founder of Soft Saints, based in Anaheim, Calif. She said she began making and selling her realistic-looking dolls in 2000.

“I looked at the religious gifts available to children,” said O’Toole, a former advertising executive. “There wasn’t much available. What do you give a kid _ a rosary, a statue?”


The toys children play with have an emotional impact on their lives, she said.

“Give a girl a Barbie doll, and by the time she’s 11, she’s dressing like Britney Spears,” O’Toole said. “Give a boy a GI Joe, and he’s playing war. We innocently give our children role models to aspire to be like. I wanted to give children a role model that really lived, who lived a holy life.”

She offers several Jesus dolls, including an infant Jesus. And she sells a Virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus. There are 28 historical characters, including Joan of Arc, Pope John Paul II, St. Francis and Mother Teresa, with four new ones coming out this spring.

“They look like porcelain dolls, but I wanted the dolls to feel like skin and be virtually indestructible,” O’Toole said. “This is a hand-crafted doll. We have stay-at-home moms who sew for us.”

Another entry in the Christian doll market is Faith Filled Friends, small plush religious toys made by J-Zoo in Vista, Calif., including Jesus and other saints in a simple style like stuffed carnival toys, selling for $16.95.

For those wanting wholesome religious dolls, the choices, once few, are many.

“A lot of people just don’t know about it,” said O’Toole.

MO/PH END RNS

(Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.)

Editors: To obtain photos of Jesus dolls, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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