Residents of one Vermont town were left wondering why, after receiving stacks of mailers with a book on the “untold story behind the Vatican’s rising influence in America,” along with a small cross.
WCAXreportedthat the books, titled “The Great Controversy,” came from a company called Remnant Publications in Coldwater, Michigan.
A resident of Essex Junction, Vermont, Adam Thompson, said, “Some people would pick it up and put it in the trash.”
He said, speaking from his apartment complex, "it’s cluttering up the lobby. So, I don’t think it really had an effect really.”
The cross reportedly came from another organization, called Cross America, based in Kokomo, Indiana, WCAX reported.
Terry Merrell, the chair of the organization, said, “Yeah, no, no correlation,” confirming the book and the cross didn't come from the same organization, it is believed.
Cross America says it wants to have a cross in every household in America, via the mail.
Vermont, Wyoming and Hawaii are at least three of the U.S. states that have reportedly received the religious items.
The crosses cost around 43 cents each to make, according to Merrell.
The organization spent around $113,000 to have them sent to residences in Vermont, Merrell said.
Matthew Dodds, who WCAX spoke to, runs a marketing firm in Burlington, Vermont and said the U.S. Postal Service released data that said 2007 was the peak of these types of mailers there, and said there has been a 40% decrease in the direct mail marketing.