For trend-conscious Roman Catholic priests, this year's must-have is the isothermal cassock, ideal for winter outdoor ceremonies or masses in an unheated church.Retailing at 300 euros (400 dollars), the cassock was one of a host of novelties on display at the annual SacroExpo, the three-day Polish trade fair that wrapped up Wednesday.
"It's expensive, but if you buy one it'll last a lifetime," claimed Bogumila Niewiadomska, who was running the stand of Pratulin, a small Polish firm specialising in religious vestments.
SacroExpo is held annually in Kielce, a town some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the Polish capital Warsaw, and is one of Europe's top religious fairs.
About 250 exhibitors attended this year's edition, the eighth SacroExpo.
It has drawn thousands of priests, monks and nuns from more than a dozen countries, keen to do anything from spruce up their wardrobe to modernise their church.
"There are fashions in vestments and liturgical accessories," explained Father Ryszard Rozycki, sizing up a display of altar cloths with computer-designed motifs.
"You have to adapt," he added.
Ryszard is a SacroExpo regular. This year, he was comparing prices for new pews for his church in Kartuzy, in northern Poland, but said he had also ordered a new cassock.
Father Waldemar, a Catholic missionary who works in largely Orthodox eastern Ukraine, was perusing the stands.
"Our church has just been finished. Now all we have to do is equip it," he said, with a twinkle in his eye.
SacroExpo provides everything required: chalices, rosaries, hand-sculpted wooden crucifixes, altars, organs, as well as heating systems and even roofing.
But Waldemar said there was no question of coming home from Kielce laden with the lot, explaining: "We're interested in everything, but we have to consult the other parish officials before buying anything."
For 8,000 euros (10,700 dollars), his church could boast an electronic carillon with more than 1,500 MP3 chimes, recorded by professional ringers from the Netherlands and the United States.
"It's still ten times cheaper than buying a set of big bells," said Filip Horvat, of Horvat Elektronika, the Croatian company which sells the system.
Horvat said prospects are great in the Polish market.
"In Croatia we are just four million and there are 3,000 churches. Here, they are around 40 million and there are thousands and thousands of churches," he said.
Poland, the birthplace of the late pope John Paul II, is staunchly Catholic.
More than 90 per cent of Poland's 38 million inhabitants are professed believers, and the country boasts more than 15,000 churches with hundreds more under construction.
A quarter of all priests ordained in Europe every year are Polish, and many subsequently leave for parishes across the continent and beyond.
It was thanks to the advice of the Polish priest in his small village of Jois in eastern Austria that wine-maker Werner Auer decided to hire a stand at SacroExpo.
Auer said he aimed to enter Poland's sacramental wine business and also hoped to use it as a springboard to reach the country's lay wine-lovers.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce