The Bishop and the Ducks

If you've spent any time in the last couple years in the Diocese of WNY you know that there is this long running tradition that connects our bishop (R. William Franklin) and rubber ducks.  In his office you will shelves of ducks.  It began at a confirmation class.  I asked Kayli Christ, one of the young people in that class, to tell the story of the Bishop and the Ducks:

"Beginning of the duck.
Many people wonder how the duck became about. So here's the story. The saying "Wanna buy a duck" was taught at church camp, but most people had forgot about it except for the youth at St. Patrick's in Cheektowaga. In December of 2011 9 of the youth were going to be confirmed. Before the confirmation we had a breakfast with the Bishop where he was going to ask us questions about what we had learned through the confirmation classes. Well St. pats didn't want to answer them so we replied with "wanna buy a duck" and we had kept the Bishop very busy with that question. At first the Bishop thought that we were actually selling ducks. As every youth event has passed the question "wanna buy a duck" came by and he caught on. Almost two years later the duck lives on. For example at the Bishops Ball the Bishop was presented with a duck cookie, or at St. Matthews in Buffalo, where 2 of their youth were being confirmed, there was the " rise of the duck". But as the start, everyone can thank the St. Patrick's youth for the duck!"

There's also a rubber duck tradition at Senior High Conference that goes back even farther.  Why we are so stuck on rubber ducks is anyone's guess.  But we have a good time.  Thanks to Kayli for sharing this story.