Brazilian Child Preachers.

Managed by their parents, on tour 365 days a year, and charging $900 for a two-hour sermon, child preachers are big business in Brazil. Each event is a finely tuned marketing maneuver promoted with posters, magazine coverage, and radio ads. If you want one of these kid wonders to visit your parish, you’ll also have to fork over a down payment on a minimum of 150 DVDs (around $750). -Vice

Vice Mag recently chatted with 3 of Brazil's most popular little Catholic prophets - Ana Carolina Lucena Dias (14), Matheus Moraes (11) and Alex Silva (15) - to see what life's really like for them (pray, preach, pray, sermon, pray, travel and repeat). The article sheds some light on the life these kids lead and how unwaivering they seem to be in their devotion to serving God and the people. Matheus has been preaching sermons since age 6 and Alex is the only one who seems remotely well-rounded because he mentions he likes soccer - the other kids talk only of god and their parents.

I can't help but feel sad for these kids -of course they're going to believe what their parents tell them. Everyone does when you're that young. But these fanatic religious parents are telling their kids stories of being born as prophets, building them up and touting them as such across the country to make quick and easy money. I mean, come on, preacher Alex gets a new suit for every sermon he does!

I would very much like to catch up with these same kids in 10 years to see what they're like and if they still feel the same.

Read the whole article here.