Faith wasn't enough to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from losing the 2004 NBA Championship to the Detroit Pistons --- and, as a result, caused Cardinal Roger Mahony to lose a friendly wager with Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit.

Still, it was hardly a downcast Cardinal Mahony who made the trek to Homeboy Industries in East Los Angeles to help prepare to ship the boxes of silk-screened t-shirts, messenger bags and other products bearing the Homeboy logo that he wagered on the series. The items --- all made at the Homeboy Industries job training facility headed by Jesuit Father Greg Boyle, which offers a second chance to at-risk and gang affiliated youth --- will be distributed in homeless shelters around Detroit.

"I wanted the wager to be meaningful, and Homeboy Industries is a great success story," said Cardinal Mahony. "It reaches out to gang members and helps them turn their life around. Once they discover their talents they begin to flourish and no longer need the gangs."

For his part, Cardinal Maida had wagered cases of honey, canned goods and jams made by a Detroit-based Capuchin Brother Rick Samyn of the Earth Works Urban Farm in the City, had the Lakers won the title.

Both Cardinal Mahony and Cardinal Maida were in Denver last week for the U.S. bishops' spring meetings. It was during the decisive fifth game June 15 when, after about the third quarter, "Cardinal Mahony realized things were not going to go his way but he was a good sport about it," said Cardinal Maida.

When he made the bet, Cardinal Mahony said he "thought there would be no stopping the Lakers." Neither did some of the employees of Homeboy Industries.

"I thought is was a good bet and I thought L.A. would win," said Juan Campos, a sales coordinator at Homeboy Industries. But he noted that the loss was good for Homeboy Industries since another city will get to know their work.

Which means that, in the end, no one really lost except the Lakers.