Need a present for a baptism or First Communion? Check your local Catholic bookstore. Looking for a book that explains the Mass? Check your local Catholic bookstore. Want a medal or prayer card of your favorite saint? Check your local Catholic bookstore.

“Whatever is necessary that the church needs we can provide,” said Anna Marie Haugh, owner of Heaven Sent, a Catholic bookstore and gift shop in Palos Heights.

Catholic bookstores provide a special ministry because the owners and staff have a knowledge of the faith that other Christian shops may not have and they can match up needs with particular Catholic items.

Haugh was inspired to leave her teaching job and start a Catholic gift shop and bookstore after she took her first trip to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I couldn’t deny it anymore. No matter what I did I knew this is what I was supposed to do,” she told the Catholic New World. She opened the store 23 years ago and recently moved the location to Palos Heights.

While Haugh says she has had to learn to balance between running the store as a business and a ministry there are often times when people come in needing more help than just being directed to a book or gift.

She recalled a man who came into the store and broke down because his girlfriend was having an abortion.

“It’s just things like that. Those are the true things to stop and minister about,” she said.

For the most part, Haugh feels she’s there to guide people to find the spiritual nourishment that they are searching for.

“A Catholic bookstore differs from a Christian bookstore because the person who is running a Catholic bookstore is there because they feel that the Lord has called them,” she said. “I don’t think you go into this business because it’s your life’s dream because you aren’t making money.”

Like Haugh, the staff at the bookstore and gift shop at Marytown in Libertyville often end up praying with the customers.

Because Marytown is a shrine and retreat center there are frequently priests on site to offer spiritual direction or to bless objects customers purchase such as medals or statues.

Manager Kathie Caspary recalls a woman coming in to the Marytown bookstore who had lost her mother and was very distraught and angry.

Caspary prayed with the woman and then recommended she speak with one of the Franciscan priests on staff.

After meeting with the priest a few times the woman returned to the bookstore.

“She came in and told me she was at peace,” Caspary said.

There’s a reason to single out a Catholic bookstore and gift shop, said Franciscan Brother Donald Thielsen, who works at the shop.

“We have sacraments and devotions that other faiths don’t have,” he said.

What do shop owners say are their most popular items? Holy cards, rosaries and medals.

“They like to wear or have a sign of their faith,” said Brother Donald. “Medals are important to the faithful because in times of trouble they can hold on to that medal and pray.”

And holy cards remind us to pray on a daily basis.

The Marytown bookstore opened in 1978 and proceeds benefit the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe located on the site.

But times are hard for some small businesses, including Catholic bookstores, Haugh said.

“When you’re looking for a sacramental or something for a sacrament please buy it from a Catholic store because we have to survive,” she said. “We need to be there for you. If you don’t support us we won’t.”