
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993                   TAG: 9310090064
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PAPAL RUG MAY PROVE PROFITABLE FOR ENTREPRENEUR

An enterprising Albuquerque man did not steal the rug from under the Pope's feet during World Youth Day, but he did buy it.

And now for $3 a square inch, you, too, can have a piece of the carpet where His Holiness is said to have trod.

Following the papal Mass at Denver's Cherry Creek State Park in Denver Aug. 15, Dennis Bylina purchased 16 square yards of white carpet from Freeman Decorating Co., which supplied the carpeting upon which the Pope walked. No one from the company was available for comment.

"Hurry before you miss this unique opportunity to possess a very unusual piece of religious history," reads Bylina's press release.

Fran Maier, spokesperson for the Denver Catholic Archdiocese, said officials there know nothing of the carpet deal.

"I'm gravely doubtful of its legitimacy and the prudence of this," Maier told the Denver Post. "It demeans the experience [of the Mass]."

Maier does not consider the rug a religious relic, as would be the clothing, hair or bones of a saint. But he fears that faithful Catholics might mistake the rug for such an artifact.

But Bylina, 46, said he sees nothing wrong with what he's doing.

"The church was selling T-shirts and mugs and everything else with the pope on them," he said.

Bylina bought the carpet for $8 a square yard, plus $10 in tax and $89 for shipping. He has begun to cut the pieces in a shed behind his house where the carpet is stored. He will mail them at a cost of $1 each.

Bylina said he hopes to make a little money off the deal.

by CNB