Who is behind AgnusGiftShop?

I was born a cradle Catholic and went to public school and really didn't know too much about my faith. When I went to design school in Providence, RI, I attended a non-denominational Bible study group. Gradually, the group revealed to me that they accepted all denominations except one.

They pointed to verse after verse "proving" to me that Catholicism was wrong and unbiblical. I couldn't defend my faith and didn't have any answers. Not wanting to abandon my faith for theirs, my Bible study friends gradually disappeared. In retrospect, this was the best thing that could have ever happened.

This event in 1989 lit a fire under me. I made a promise to myself to get to the bottom of my faith. I started with a blank slate and asked God to show me the truth whether Catholic or Protestant. I started to read every book I could get my hands on. First up, the Bible, twice. The Catechism. Aquinas. Luther. Zwingli. Augustine. Merton. Lewis. Brown. Hahn. Wright. Crossan and more. Through the Spirit, I came to see that Catholicism IS Biblical Christianity. The Mass, the Liturgy, the Sacraments, the Saints, Marian devotion, the Papacy. This is home.

After graduating college, I became involved in several groups: YAMI ( Young Adult Ministry Institute), The Lay Ministry Program in the Archdiocese of Miami, St. Brendan's Young Adult Group, Catholic Scripture Program at St. Thomas University and I presently co-lead a Bible Study program at my parish.

I am also actively involved with Amor En Accion (Love in Action), a lay Catholic missionary organization. Through Amor en Accion, I have traveled yearly since 2000 to the Dominican Republic to work with the youth and elderly. It has been very impactful.

I have donated my graphic design skills to every group with which I have come in contact. Brochures, logos, websites, videos, invitations, flyers. Since graduating in 1993 I have created over 1000 pieces of graphic design for these organizations. I do this because I want Catholics to know about their faith, to understand it, to live it and to be able to defend it!

And this is underlying reason why I created AgnusGiftShop.com. I want to create visually appealing designs that instruct Catholics about their faith. I want people to wear the shirts and more importantly to understand the meaning behind it and be able to explain it when someone asks. They are powerful evangelization tools and excellent conversation starters.

What is CrazyTees and all the other non-Catholic t-shirts?

My shirts were originally offered by a company called CafePress. That company, like Zazzle, Spreadshirt and others, allow users to upload designs and write descriptions. As a person orders shirts, they fullfill and ship the orders. Cafepress has hundreds of thousands of contributors and because of that, the quality of the shirts was sub-par and the delivery times excessive.

To remedy that problem, I moved my shirts to CrazyTees.net. They have considerably fewer contributors so the quality of the printed shirts are better, their prices are lower and their delivery times faster. Contributors to CrazyTees.net each have their own stores. Mine is AgnusGiftShop. There are other categories as you see down the left-hand side of the site. These designs are created by other designers. Much like a store in a mall, we are all independant stores under the umbrella "CrazyTees.net." No contributor can tell me what to put in my store and neither can I in theirs.

What are your current interests?

I am very interested in Catholic apologetics, the history of the liturgy and the historical critical method of Bible study. While I am a lay person, I have been studying Sacred Scripture, Church Documents and the history of the Mass for well over 20 years.

I hope you find these shirts interesting, thought-provoking and at times comical. I am always open to design suggestions. We offer bulk discounts for Catholic book stores and fundraisers. I have created several custom designs for parishes, World Youth Day, ministries, carnivals. Please contact me if you need information on bulk pricing or custom designs.

Thanks for visiting AgnusGiftShop!

God Bless,

-Dan

Dan Gonzalez currently lives in Miami, Florida with his wife and child.