Keywords by David Yonke

It's been a great trip to San Antonio, quite an impressive city in many ways. Although it is seventh on the list of largest cities in the United States, it does not seem that big. I had lunch with Roger Downing, a former Blade editor who now works at the San Antonio Express-News, who explained that unlike most large metro areas, San Antonio has no suburbs and is not landlocked, so it just keeps spreading out geographically. That is evident when you look at the metropolitan area. While the city is No. 7, the San Antonio metropolitan area is 23rd in rank.

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Roger Downing is doing well at the Express-News. When he quit his management job as news editor of The Blade, he went to Las Vegas. But after 8 months there, he moved back to S.A., his hometown. It turns out the Vegas editor was making Roger's life miserable, and the housing prices in Vegas are sky high. He had worked at the San Antonio paper before and when they offered to also hire his wife, a veteran editor, it made it too good an offer to refuse.
Roger has a lot of realistic ideas about what The Blade needs to do to rebuild from the disastrous labor struggles. He also has a lot of funny stories to share about the people at the Blade and he said he misses Toledo and the paper, and strangely enough I believe he means it.
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The Alamo is not only a national historic site, but it's also a shrine. It is the place where nearly 200 Texas soldiers were killed by Santa Anna's army of 3,000. When you enter the church itself, there are signs asking men to remove their hats, and for people to be quiet as signs of reverence.

The River Walk is truly an amazing place to visit, one of the finest "tourist traps" in the world, and I use that term facetiously. Tourists come here but it's not really a trap, it's more of a gem.
I took a guided boat tour last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The scenery is beatiful and the tour guide provided a lot of interesting history lessons. The walk opened in 1941 and is an example of how city leaders with vision can really have an impact for generations to come. One of the S. Antonio's biggest industries is tourism, and the River Walk and the Alamo are probably equally responsible for bringing gringos to town.
The river is controlled by floodgates that open up to drain the water when it threatens to flood. In 1921, before the floodgates were installed, the river crested at eight feet above street level and destroyed the downtown, which was stunning to hear when you're in a boat on the river, looking up at a street that is about 20 feet over your head. That must have been some incredible flood.
The soft lights and the greenery on the river make for such a delightful scene. You can sit at a restaurant patio, enjoy a meal and watch the endless parade of people walk by. Then there's the bar area that gets really crazy. About 30 people a year fall into the river, our guide said, most of them in the bar area for obvious reasons, and there is a $500 fine for anyone who falls in.
What if you're pushed?
Maybe it's worth it on hot days, however. San Antonio has been incredibly humid and hot while I was here. I knew it would be warm but the humidity clings to you like a hot towel. Everybody is dripping with sweat. And this was at the end of September. I'm sure it's much worse in mid-summer. I was talking to Mark Pinsky of the Orlando Sentinel, however, and he said it was quite a bit cooler than his hometown. So everything's relative.
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I took a drive up to Fredericksburg yesterday, about an hour northwest of San Antonio. It's where German settlers arrived in the early 19th century. The flatlands of San Antonio quickly turn into rolling hills dotted with ranches and forests. The LBJ ranch is just east of Fredericksburg but I didn't have time to see it.
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Yesterday was really the only free time I had here; the Religion Newsriters Association really jams a lot into the conference and keeps you busy from morning till night. I am coming home with a million story ideas and lots of terrific sources, scholars and experts in areas from politics to megachurches, whom I can call for future reference.
I found the conference extremely inspiring, as well as rejuvenating. I hope to attend next year's in Washington D.C., which will be even more interesting because it will be an election year.
San Antonio
Oct. 1, 2007

I almost forgot to mention that one reason I went to the Religion Newswriters Association convention in San Antonio was that I was nominated for the Cornell religion reporter of the year award, for mid-sized papers. I didn't win, but it was nice to be nominated. Jeff McDonald, a freelancer who writes for the Christian Science Monitor, took home the plaque. I met Jeff when we were Gralla Fellowship winners at Brandeis University in 2004. Nice guy, good writer.
Yesterday, I got a card in the mail from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. It starts out with a big headline: "Congratulations!" Hey, maybe I did win something. Then it says, "You are invited to the Ohio SPJ Awards Luncheon Ceremony.... Tickets are $40 each..." As a colleague put it, the card should have read: "Congratulations, now pay up!"
There was no mention of being an award winner, but the card did have a link to a website listing the winners. So I go there and as I am scrolling through the winners list, voila, there I am. Second place in religion reporting. It was for an article I wrote about religion and pop culture, particularly how Hollywood was suddenly wooing the churches after the industry was caught by surprise by the shocking success of The Passion of The Christ. I went back and read the piece and to be honest, I thought it was an example of very good reporting but not my best writing. I basically wove together a lot of insights from experts, and raised some good points. I don't consider it my best writing but I am glad for the award. I will put a copy of the story at the end of this entry. It ran on Page 1 of the news section on Christmas eve day.
In the past, I rarely entered journalism contests, thinking they were vain and mostly run by little cliques of journalists who all know each other and vote for each other. I still feel that's true, in general. However, management really likes to collect hardware so I have tried to be more diligent in entering. It's nice to be recognized by other journalists for your work, of course, but I've been around long enough to know when I am doing well and when I am "phoning it in." Considering the fact that I am the only one reporting on religion full-time in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, I am confident that I have been fulfilling my duties as best as I can. On the other hand, after hanging out with other religion writers last week, I do feel inspired to crank it up a notch and try to do more in-depth investigative and analytical reporting. It's hard to find time, but it can be done.
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Here's a copy of the article that won the Ohio SPJ award:
Published on December 24, 2006 Blade, The (Toledo, OH)

Role of religion rising throughout pop culture

In the latest Rocky movie, when the title character climbs out of the boxing ring for - presumably - the last time, what is the first thing he does?
"He points right up to God," Sylvester Stallone said.

Mr. Stallone, the star and the writer of all six Rocky movies, recently hosted a conference call with ministers and church leaders around the country to pump up the spiritual content of Rocky Balboa before it opened last week.

"It's like in the first movie, you know, I was never a writer, all of a sudden one day, I felt like, you know, I was being asked to write this," he said over the phone. "And I've said it before, I felt as though God was moving me to do that. That's why I started the first Rocky out with the first picture of Jesus and I just felt the same kind of feeling was moving through me now."

No one is calling Rocky Balboa a religious film, but Mr. Stallone and his marketing agency are among a growing number of entertainment insiders who are courting the consumer clout of Christians and other spiritually minded consumers.

Religion and spirituality can be found in all areas of pop culture today, from best-selling books like The Purpose-Driven Life, Left Behind, and The Da Vinci Code to such Hollywood blockbusters as The Passion of The Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

A wake-up call

Although stories with spiritual themes have been around since the dawn of time, most observers credit actor-director Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of The Christ with waking up modern-day Hollywood to the potential market for faith-based films.

"I think Hollywood was smacked in the face by The Passion of The Christ," said David Poland, editor of the moviecitynews.com. "The truth of the matter is that Hollywood is not in that head space, and it takes a person like Mel Gibson - who despite his problems is truly a passionate person and passionate about his beliefs - who was willing to spend his own money to make a movie."

Bob Waliszewski, director of Plugged In, a branch of Focus on the Family that offers movie reviews from a Christian perspective, agreed that The Passion caught Hollywood by surprise.

Mr. Gibson first tried to get the major studios to back the movie about Jesus' final hours before his crucifixion, Mr. Waliszewski pointed out, but after repeated rejections he decided to produce the movie himself. It has generated $612 million thus far.

"Those studio executives whom he sat with eyeball to eyeball are all saying, 'Why didn't we see this? How did we miss the incredible opportunity to make this kind of money?' " he said.

Like Mr. Poland, Mr. Waliszewski believes Hollywood decision-makers do not understand the religious market. But they now are well aware of the potential profits to be made in that genre.

"There's probably very few people in positions of power in Hollywood that actually are motivated because they strongly believe in the Christian message," he said. "But there are hundreds of people in positions of power in Hollywood who understand dollars and cents. Whether it's Saw II, Borat, the new Hostel film, or The Nativity Story, if they see a track record of making money, they're open to the idea."

Cashing in

Two major filmmakers announced this year that they are plunging into the religious film market. The Weinstein Co., led by Hollywood moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein, formed a partnership with veteran Christian film company Impact Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox created a division called FoxFaith that specializes in religious movies and DVDs.

A number of religious titles released in recent years, both in theaters and in the publishing business, have posted such eye-popping sales figures that industry executives could not help but look for new ways to cash in on the trend.

Left Behind, for example, a series of apocalyptic novels written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, has sold an estimated 70 million copies since the first book was released in 1996. Five Left Behind movies have been made, including two backed by Sony Pictures.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church near Los Angeles, created a publishing sensation with The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold 25 million copies since 2002. Fox News Channel plans to broadcast Mr. Warren's church services and his sermon, "The Purpose of Christmas," six times today and tomorrow.

Dan Brown's 2003 religious-conspiracy novel, The Da Vinci Code, sold more than 45 million books, and a theatrical version, starring Tom Hanks, made $757 million worldwide at the box office this year.

A popular topic

Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and director of its Center for the Study of Popular Television, said God always has been one of the top three topics of storytellers, along with love and war.

In the 1950s, Cecil B. DeMille and other movie moguls churned out biblical epics such as The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur, but Hollywood's interest in spirituality was born again after the success of The Passion.

"Religion is one of the primal, basic interests of humanity," Mr. Thompson said. " 'Why are we here?' and 'What happens when we die?' - these are still the big questions, even in the high-tech, 21st century."

The Passion proved two things to the film industry, he said: First, that biblical epics can be financially successful, and, second, that churches and religious groups are ripe for Hollywood marketing.

"They figured out this demographic can be really, really well exploited," Mr. Thompson said. "When The Chronicles of Narnia came out, there were an awful lot of pastors and ministers who were in essence deputies of the promotional arm of the movie maker, urging their congregations to support the film. There is a huge, built-in potential audience."

The wholesome approach

Gerald Celente, editor and publisher of The Trends Journal, believes Americans have a growing interest in spirituality, especially baby boomers who realize they failed to fulfill the ideals they espoused in the 1960s.

But spirituality does not necessarily equate with religion, he said.

"Organized religion, by all indicators, is on a downswing from the fringe to the established mainstream," Mr. Celente said. "People see through the hypocrisy of institutions, whether they are political or religious. But the quest for spirituality runs very deep."

Motive Entertainment, founded by Paul Lauer in 2002, was the firm responsible for marketing The Passion, Narnia, and now Rocky Balboa.

In the recent conference call with Mr. Stallone and hundreds of church leaders, Mr. Lauer said the one-two punch of The Passion and Narnia "showed Hollywood that there's a huge, under-served audience in America who are hungry for wholesome, inspiring entertainment - not necessarily always faith-based, but nonetheless wholesome."

Falling short financially

But American audiences can still be fickle, and filmmakers will always be cautious before investing tens of millions of dollars into a project.

Marty Bowen, producer of The Nativity Story, now in theaters, quit his job as a successful Hollywood agent to make movies "that I could emotionally believe in and that reflected my faith and themes that I think are important."

But interviewed shortly after the Dec. 1 premiere of his film, a scripturally accurate account of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of Jesus, Mr. Bowen was clearly dejected over the box office figures.

The film grossed $8 million in its first weekend of release and, according to Mr. Poland of moviecitynews.com, is unlikely to reach the $30 million mark.

"To say the numbers are lower than expected is to say we lost a few men in World War II," Mr. Bowen said. "Yes, I think there is an audience for biblical epics. But I don't think that audience is as big as some people might think."

He predicted that Hollywood's recent interest in overtly religious titles might now be chilled by The Nativity Story's poor showing.

"Hollywood is a business. Let's be candid," Mr. Bowen said. "If the economics are right, if it's done for the right price, you'll always be able to see movies that speak to niches. There will always be Christian films done for $100,000. But what you won't get is the full-on Hollywood treatment of the biblical epics."

Movies and morality

Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide and president of the Christian Film and Television Commission, said he recently completed a 10-year study that showed American audiences are more interested in wholesome, family films than in movies containing scenes of explicit sex and nudity.

"Movies of strong moral content [often] make ... four to six times as much money as movies with explicit sex and nudity," Mr. Baehr said. "The vast majority of moviegoers, which includes the 141 million Americans who go to church every week, prefer positive Christian movies with morally uplifting content."

Mr. Baehr is working to attract talented writers to the movie industry by teaming with the Templeton Foundation in offering the $50,000 Kairos Prize for "spiritually uplifting screenplays."

Now in its second year, the Kairos Prize is a way "to discover people in the hinterlands" and get people of faith to work with Hollywood studios, he said.

Rambo and religion?

One screenwriter with a renewed interest in spiritual themes is Mr. Stallone, who not only is promoting Rocky Balboa as a spiritual story but is working on a new Rambo movie with a religious twist.

In the new Rambo script, Mr. Stallone said the Vietnam-veteran-turned-vigilante goes to Burma to rescue missionaries who have put their lives on the line to spread the Gospel.

"Rambo now has taken up their cause and he becomes a crusader, in a sense," Mr. Stallone said.

Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 5, 2007

Here's a copy of The Blade story about Father Stanbery's award, which ran Monday,October 1, 2007.

Pastor is named a 'Priest of Integrity';
Stanbery honored for speaking out

By Joe Vardon
Blade Staff Writer

The Rev. Stephen Stanbery has railed against sexual abuse, parish closings, and an alleged murder cover-up involving the Catholic Church.
His fighting of these and other injustices has apparently landed him both a national award and a stern reprimand by Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair.

Father Stanbery, 57, who is the pastor of Holgate St. Mary and New Bavaria's Sacred Heart, was one of three priests from across the country picked to receive the Priest of Integrity award by Voice of the Faithful, a national organization of Catholics that works for change in the church and supports survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

In its announcement of the award winners, Voice of the Faithful said Father Stanbery has "been on a continuing crusade for integrity and transparency in his diocese since the sex scandals became apparent in 2002. He has worked tirelessly to root out the evil in the [alleged] coverup of a murder probe of a slain Catholic nun, clergy sexual abuse cases, closed parishes, and financial impropriety. He participated in the Oscar-nominated documentary Twist of Faith."

But, according to a local Catholic who is an advocate for those who have been sexually abused by priests, Father Stanbery has been silenced by Bishop Blair for publicly questioning the Toledo diocese's top clergyman on the church's scandals.

Claudia Vercellotti, co-coordinator of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Bishop Blair sent Father Stanbery a letter last month that "declares that Father Stanbery will not publicly challenge the bishop."

"He's been formally admonished and censured," Ms. Vercellotti said. "The reason he's being honored nationally as a model priest is the exact same reason the hammer has come down so hard on him in Toledo."

Sally Oberski, the director of communications for the Toledo diocese, would not confirm the existence of such a letter sent by the bishop to Father Stanbery.

Ms. Oberski said Bishop Blair and the outspoken priest have had "conversations with one another, but those discussions were private and I'm not privy to what was said."

Asked for the diocese's stance on Father Stanbery's performance as a priest, Ms. Oberski said: "He's been a priest for many years. In the community he's in down there, we've heard from those who like him and we've had those who tell us they don't, not unlike any other priest."

Father Stanbery declined comment for this article, except to thank Ms. Vercellotti of SNAP for nominating him for the Priest of Integrity award.

Father Stanbery has been a priest since 1980. Most recently he spoke out against Bishop Blair for removing the Rev. Thomas Leyland, another priest who has publicly criticized the bishop, as pastor at St. Rose's in Perrysburg last summer.

But Father Stanbery has had a history of differing with Bishop Blair on public issues: in 2005, when Father Stanbery testified before Ohio lawmakers in favor of a bill that extended to 20 years, from two, the statute of limitation for filing lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. The statutory clock for such allegations begins when the alleged victim turns 18.

The bill also included a one-year "look-back" period during which victims could file civil suits over abuses that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

Bishop Blair opposed the "look-back" amendment and urged diocesan priests to contact lawmakers and lobby for the bill's defeat.

Ms. Vercellotti said Father Stanbery also encouraged the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office to pursue a case against the bishop and the diocese for a possible cover-up of evidence in the murder case against former priest Gerald Robinson.

I was watching last night's baseball playoffs between my favorite team, the Cleveland Indians, and the dreaded New York Yankees, with one of the most formidable offensive lineups I've ever seen -- 5 guys with 90 rbi or more!
And despite the Yanks' firepower, last night's battle was an incredibly close pitchers' duel in Cleveland between Andy Pettitte of the Yanks and Fausto Carmona of the Tribe.
The Yankees were holding on by their fingertips to a 1-0 lead when manager Joe Torre replaced Pettitte with Joba Chamberlain. This young pitcher has been unhittable, throwing 95-mph plus fastballs, sinkers that drop off the table, and balls that squiggle and squirm all over the plate while they zip toward the batter's knees. He makes good hitters look like Little Leaguers. Some brazen Yankee fan (are there any other kind?) held up a sign last night in Cleveland reading, "Tribe fans, meet Joba". Unbelievable. And then of course the team's veteran closer, Mariano Rivera, the all-time playoffs leader with 34 saves and an ERA of 0.80, was looming in the wings to shut things down in the ninth.
But then... well, suddenly a few bugs started circling around Joba's head. Then more bugs. Then hundreds of them. Then a cloud of the aerial pests, also swirling around the batter, catcher, umpire, and fielders. It turns out these flying ants are midges known as "Canadian soldiers," which came out because of the unseasonably warm weather this week. They were annoying to all but especially to Joba Chamberlain, who seemed to be so distracted that he couldn't throw a strike anymore. He ended up walking Grady Sizemore, then letting him score on a wild pitch.
That tied the score and eventually, in the 11th inning, Travis Hafner slammed a single to right field with the bases loaded to knock in the winning run.
The moral of the story is that God must be an Indians fan. The Man Upstairs sent these little midges into Jacobs Field like he sent a plague of locusts to Egypt.

The Indians are now up 2-0 in the best-of-5 division series. I have tickets to game 5 in Cleveland but as much as I'd love to go to that game, I'd rather see the Indians win it all tomorrow or Monday night in New York.
If it comes down to a final game, I'll be there, and I'll be a nervous wreck. Maybe God will intervene again.

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I was expecting a lot of nasty emails and phone calls today for putting a big photo of Hillary and Bill Clinton on the religion page. But so far, not one complaint. It may be too early to say this, but perhaps the readers think it was a fair job of reporting. I usually don't dive into politics on the religion page but this one was too good to pass up and not newsy enough for the news section.
The story is about how Hillary has hired a consultant to work with religious groups to spotlight her religious beliefs, and he admits it is a "tough sell." Here's a link.
Toledo, Ohio
October 6, 2007

Here is the latest innovation in prayer: a digital rosary. Press the button and hear a woman's voice recite "Ave Maria" and "The Lord's Prayer," in Italian. (It probably will be produced in English eventually.)
Somehow I think this defeats the purpose of seeking God through meditative prayer. But if you think this is something you want to get your loved ones for Christmas, it sells for a mere 29.99 Lira (not sure what that equals in U.S. dollars). Check it out at www.prexcompany.com (the site is all in Italian, however.)
I'm hoping to run the Associated Press article on the religion pages this week.
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As expected, I have gotten a few complaints about my story on Hillary Clinton's faith. One interesting caller and writer is Robert Morrow of Austin, Texas, who has compiled thousands of quotes and anecdotes about the Clintons over the years, has collected a Clinton library of 205 books, and describes himself as a Clinton expert and anti-Hillary activist. If Mr. Morrow is accurate, Mrs. Clinton has used some of the most vulgar words in the English language, with alarming regularity, in barking orders to and criticizing the secret service agents and other people who work for her. I don't know if it's accurate but I would never post some of those purported quotes on this blog, they are so foul. Let's hope that if it was true, Hillary has cleaned up her act. If not, somebody needs to wash her mouth out with soap.
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The day I left for San Antonio, I got a few unpleasant phone calls.
First, my best friend from high school and my college years, Peter, was hospitalized and scheduled for quadruple bypass heart surgery the next morning.
Next, my youngest daughter was stopped at a traffic light and someone plowed into her vehicle from behind, going an estimated 45 mph.
Not good news, and both calls caused me a great deal of stress. So what do you do at times like that, when you're a thousand miles away from where you want or need to be?
All I could do was pray. And make a few phone calls.
Well, Peter sailed through the six-hour surgery quite well. And my daughter, Cara, is fine, just a little sore. The Jeep was totaled, however. We are now dealing with the other driver's insurance company. It's a shame because we are not going to get enough money to replace the Jeep, which was a very handy vehicle especially when we needed to haul large items around town, which we often did... banquet tables, chairs, a big-screen tv, etc.
But then again, Cara was not hurt seriously and that was the main thing. Finding a decent car for the insurance settlement for the Jeep will be a challenge, but it's part of "the vicissitudes of life," as my father used to say.
If you know of anyone with a Honda civic for sale, cheap, let me know. That's what we're going to be shopping for, for Cara to drive.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 8, 2007

I am taking a class at the University of Toledo on "Religion and Postmodern Culture," the first college class I have taken in nearly three decades. It has been tremendously helpful to my understanding of the American religious landscape of the 21st century.
At the same time, I am in a book club that is studying Dr. Tony Campolo's book, "Letters to a Young Evangelical."
In my class readings, I learned that the group that was known as "fundamentalists" in the first half of the 20th century tried to influence modern culture -- from calling for morality and decency in Hollywood to becoming involved in politics -- and failed miserably. Fundamentalists were considered by most of the country, especially the power elite, to be poorly educated, narrow-minded, simplistic dolts.
After WWII, the American public became better educated in general, and the group known as fundamentalists began to catch up with the mainline Protestants in college degrees, economic earnings, and social status. A new group of leaders emerged from this fundamentalist subculture who purposely tried to distance themselves from their fundamentalist predecessors in name and in strategy.
They started calling themselves evangelicals -- same concept, new label. This time, their efforts succeeded, including founding influential political groups like the Moral Majority, running global media empires such Pat Robertson's CBN, and becoming key players in the political sphere, so much so that the evangelical vote is considered crucial to virtually every national candidate.
But Dr. Campolo believes that the word evangelical has been "kidnapped" by the religious right. He is trying to create a new reference point for Christians who essentially believe in a literal translation of the Bible, i.e., fundamentalists, but who do not automatically align with the Republic party.
He and others, notably Jim Wallis of Sojourners, are calling this group the "Red Letter Christians," people who want to follow Jesus's teachings and his example of how to live. The term comes from the Bibles that print all of Jesus' quotes in red ink.
Here's a link to their web site.
I agree that labels carry more weight than most people realize. I also agree that the word evangelical, when used in political contexts, has become almost synonymous with the Religious Right.
But it's also hard to create a new label and have people catch on to it. The public will latch onto terms as it wills, and ignore even the most carefully crafted phrases and labels.
Only time will tell if "Red Letter Christians" earn a niche in the American lexicon. But I think Dr. Campolo's efforts are admirable. Christianity is not monolithic by any means, and there is room even among the "fundamentalist/evangelical/Red Letter" Christians to disagree when it comes to politics. Diversity is good for a country, both politically and culturally.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 9, 2007

I watched last night's heroics with mixed feelings. If the Indians beat the Yankees, they advance to the next round of the playoffs. If they lost, they would have to face the Yanks in a do-or-die match tomorrow night in Cleveland.
I had 5 tickets to tomorrow's game and would have loved to go. But as last night's game progressed, I found that what I really wanted was to knock off the Yankees as soon as possible. This is a very powerful, experienced team with a lot of weapons. So I was thrilled when the Indians built a big lead and then hung on to win, 6-4.
Next up: The Red Sox, another formidable adversary. But I think this is the Indians' year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, God is an Indians fan. He sent a plague of gnats to confuse the Yankees on Friday night, so it's pretty obvious that the Man Upstairs will take care of any obstacles the rest of the way.
;-)
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 9, 2007

A couple of funny things happened this week...
First, I went to the Toledo Masjid of Al Islam Islamic Center on Wednesday night when I was invited to an iftar, or fast-breaking, for Ramadan (the Muslim holy month that ends today, by the way).
This is a very small mosque in the central city with about 50 members, but only a dozen who regularly attend services. I have met the spiritual leader a number of times, Imam Ibrahim, but have never been inside the building.
So I walk in and see a film crew with lights and boom mikes and all the heavy gear of a network team. Yes, it's CBS News' religion unit, with producer Ted Holmes, filming for a half-hour broadcast about Toledo's Muslim community. Ted said the idea was to spotlight a group of Muslims in middle America who are integrated into the community and live normal lives. The show, to be broadcast in December, will seek to show Americans that Muslims are normal citizens and not "all terrorists" as too many people believe.
Who would have expected CBS News at this obscure little mosque in Toledo? The religion beat never ceases to amaze me.
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Second, I went to Third Baptist Church yesterday to interview the new minister of music, the Rev. Glenn L. Jones, a charismatic guy from L.A. who was hired to modernize the church's worship music. He's bringing in drums, bass, Hammond organ and more to a 139-year-old church that previously had only used piano and pipe organ.
The funny thing is we were sitting in Third Baptist's beautiful sanctuary for the interview and afterward Rev. Jones was asking me if I sing, and I told him I used to be in a choir. He sat at the piano and started playing some old hymns, very beautifully, and told me that this was my part to sing.. and so I started singing as he played. We did a duet on "How Great Thou Art." I've never sung a hymn after interviewing someone! I kind of wish I had it on video so I could put it on this blog. You'd have been amazed -- I sure was!
Reverend Jones is a very charming and obviously persuasive minister. I have a feeling Third Baptist will really grow under his leadership.
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One more thing: This Is Tribe Time! The Indians open their series against the Boston Red Sox tonight in Fenway. Let's go Tribe!

Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 12, 2007

Two short news blurbs caught my eye today.
First, the sad AP story of a homeless man, Felix Najera, who was sleeping outside a church in Harlem, NY, and was set on fire. He suffered burns over 40 percent of his body and died Oct. 9. A 29-year-old man has been arrested and charged.
Second, after Dallas police began "removing" homeless people they found sleeping in public places, the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas started letting homeless people sleep in the church's parking lot and hired a security guard to watch over them. So far about 150 homeless people are using the parking lot. It's a "temporary solution," the pastor said, but a very compassionate response to the situation.
It's a tragedy that so many people are homeless in this land of abundance. I realize that many of them brought the problems on themselves, usually through drugs or alcohol abuse, but there are some who just had too many bad breaks. And even those who are substance abusers are human beings created in the image of God.
My friend Ken Leslie is organizing a Tent City in downtown Toledo Nov. 2 & 3 to raise awareness and hopefully some money to help the poor and needy in our hometown. I am going to help out however I can, including playing guitar with the praise and worship band on Nov. 2.
Let's give this problem some thought instead of trying to ignore it, and maybe we can find a way to deal with the tragic situation of men, women, and children in our land of plenty having nowhere to go at night. This becomes even more urgent as the weather turns cold in this sometimes brutal Midwest.
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Blade business writer Jon Chavez raises some interesting points in his article published today about local pharmacies providing birth-control pills for the discount price of $9, compared to the usual $30 cost. Most of the store p.r. people didn't even give any thought to the possibility that there were some moral issues involved. They were simply making a business decision to follow Wal-Mart in offering low-cost birth control pills.
So the question becomes: What about the Catholic Church's ban on such pills? None of the pharmacies wanted to address that issue. The Toledo diocese's director of communications was quoted as saying: "The Catholic Church is about natural family planning, but we also realize that people have to make choices."
I'm scratching my head over this, but maybe it's just me. Does it make sense to you?
You can read Jon's story here.
* * *
Just a quick note about the Cleveland Indians as the postseason drama continues: I went to bed Saturday night with the Tribe losing 6-5. Manny Ramirez, a former Indian who jumped ship as soon as he was eligible for free-agency, hit a 2-run dinger for Boston to tie the game and then Mike Lowell followed with a solo shot to put the Red Sox up 6-5. It was already around 11:30 p.m. and only the 5th inning, if I remember correctly, so it was a loooong, slow, and very late game. I had been up since 6 a.m. and knew I'd never make it to the 9th inning, so I hit the record button on my DVR and went to sleep.
Around 2:45 a.m., my daughter Cara comes home from a trip to Cedar Point and inadvertently woke me up. Once I was awake, lying there staring at the ceiling, I just had to check the score. I used my cell phone's internet connection (dontcha just love modern technology?) and up pops the news on the little screen: Cleveland 13, Boston 6 F/11. I did a double take. The translation is that the Indians won 13-6 in 11 innings, which meant Cleveland must have scored 7 runs in the top of the 11th! Amazing! I went back to sleep with a smile on my face. In the morning, I turned on the DVR to watch the fireworks but, alack and alas, I only recorded 9 innings -- I didn't set it to record past the scheduled broadcast time, and the game went into extra-innings. Oh well... I watched what I could and am thrilled that the end result is the Indians won, tying the mighty Boston Red Sox at 1 game apiece in this best-of-7 series.
Those 7 runs in the 11th set some kind of postseason record, I heard an announcer say, but I'm not sure exactly which one.
You've got to love this Cleveland Indians team... which is looking like a team of destiny.
* * *
One more little observation: The only shows I really watch on TV, besides sports and movies, are Survivor and Amazing Race. I actually applied to be on both shows, but never got the call (I think it's because I don't have any tattoos or piercings....Jeff Probst or Phil Keoghan, if you're reading this, how about giving this religion journalist from Holy Toledo a shot?) The new Survivor: China has been pretty good so far but I was disappointed in last week's show (which I just watched yesterday on DVR...glad to be able to skip the commercials) when Dave, a bartender and former model, was voted out instead of Sherea.
Granted, it was a lose-lose situation. Dave is obnoxious and overbearing; Sherea is insultingly lazy and thinks her tribe mates are too stupid to notice. Not that I care much, it's just a bit odd. The good news is that even though Dave was booted out before Sherea, it's seems clear that Sherea will be following Dave out the door pretty soon.
At least I hope so.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 15, 2007

The following is an Associated Press report that one local Catholic called "an all-time low" for a Vatican official. I don't know about that, there are plenty of lows in the 2,000 year history of the church, but it definitely is an outrage that this monsignor would do such a thing and then blame it on "research." It reminds me of two reporters I know who, many years ago and in separate cases, were arrested for soliciting prostitutes and claimed that they were working on undercover investigations for a newspaper. One worked nights writing obituaries and the other was a political reporter, so the excuses didn't exactly ring true ... much like this Vatican incident. It would be better if the monsignor would just admit he has a problem and get professional help -- or find a new vocation. The Vatican did the right thing in suspending him while it investigates.
Here is the scoop from Vatican City:

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

Stenico was suspended by the Vatican after he was caught on tape making sexual advances at a young man.
In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst.
He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.
"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work," La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the monsignor had been suspended pending a Vatican investigation.
Stenico is a top official in the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy.
The Vatican acted after officials recognized Stenico's office in the background of a television program on gay priests that was broadcast on Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian TV network.
Stenico was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful. In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality "to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people -- among them some priests -- is doing so much harm to the Church."
He said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy.
Italy's Sky TG24 said Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defense. Calls to Stenico's home and Vatican office went unanswered Sunday.

The phone rings at work. I pick it up. "You the religious writer?" I have a bad feeling about this one. (My title is religion editor but people often call me the religious editor. While I am religious, personally, my job is to write about religion, not to be religious. But that's no big deal, just fyi). Anyway, this caller tells me she has written a book called The Book of Revelation Revealed. It's not been published. She needs help getting it published. Wants me to write a big feature story about it.
I'm thinking to myself there's no way I'm going to write about someone's unpublished book about Revelation, which is a tough topic even for the best scholars, but I ask her if she's from Toledo. "Yes, I'm born and raised in Toledo and I'm a visionary. And the Toledo police have been abusing me. And the Toledo police have also been abusing my heirs who are mentioned in Revelation."
OK, I'm outta here now. I tell her, "I'm sorry ma'am, I don't think that's something I could write about."
"Why not? You don't want to help a black person with a big book that could help the whole country? You just want to die? Goodbye."
Click.
Now I've doomed the whole United States. Nice way to start the day, don't you think?
* * *
I have a lot to do so I can't get into great detail at the moment but here are a few things I've done this week:
1. Tuesday morning, interviewed Mark Lowry, Christian "comedian." A real gem of a person, a deep thinker and very funny. He rattled my cage a little bit and I am grateful. He called himself a "recovering fundamentalist -- I used to know, now I believe. I'm really a Christian agnostic."

Lowry hamming it up: how can you not laugh at this face?

2. Tuesday night, I attended the Holy Hour of Prayer for Peace at Queen of Peace Chapel in Sylvania. Met several nuns and sat through the prayer hour in a most beautiful "chapel" -- which is bigger than most church sanctuaries. It was a beautiful experience.
3. Had lunch with Dr. Yongjin Kim, a personal hero of mine who moved from Toledo to Malawi, Africa, to run a Christian program for prisoners. Things are worse in Malawi than he realized before, he said. People are so poor that if God does not provide rain for their crops, they die. No refrigerators, no stockpiles of food, just enough to get by from day to day. He saw the prison warden's pay stub, he gets $80 a month. And that's a warden, considered a high-paying job! Dr. Kim is a modern day saint for what he's doing. He said he studied the words righteous and wicked and found that in the Old Testament, righteous means self-sacrifice and living for others, while wicked means being self-centered and not caring about anyone else. Substitute "selfish" for wicked in the proverbs and it suddenly makes sense.
4. Went to a Zen Buddhist dojo last night and sat through a zen meditation, then a walking meditation, then a Dharma talk. Another eye-opening experience for this religion editor. The people there were wonderful. Sincere, thoughtful, peaceful. They find their needs fulfilled with Zen Buddhism but some say they are Christians, that it is not in conflict with their Christianity. And get this: The zen teacher is a jazz guitarist who teaches at the University of Toledo.
5. Wrote an article that ran on Page 1 today about a group from a closed Catholic church in Junction, Ohio, near Defiance, who blocked the doors to their church when the diocese sent 2 workers to remove the stained glass windows. Here's a link.
* * *
Today is the 27th anniversary of Janet's and my wedding. We were married in a little Catholic Church in Tampa, Fla. We had breakfast with Dana and Matt and with Cara this morning. Only one missing was Lisa, but she's in Rockford, Ill.
* * *
I saw in today's paper that Teresa Brewer died at age 76. I interviewed her a couple of times in the 1980s and 90s and was quite taken by her, she's a very sweet and humble person. I have a photo of the two of us sitting together during an interview, taken by Herral Long. Teresa was one of the most famous entertainers ever to come from Toledo and is best known for her song "Music, Music, Music," which my parents used to sing when I was a kid ("Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon..."). Her second husband, Bob Thiele, who died in 1996, was a legendary jazz producer and he and I often got into long talks about some of the great artists he had worked with including Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 18, 2007

I attended a one-day conference on religion and the environment, Friday at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This is a fascinating subject to me, and one that I have not written much about.
So when U of M's Erb Institute brought in several leading experts on this topic, plus two panel discussions, I thought it was a perfect opportunity for me to plunge into it.
The most compelling speech was given by Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker of Yale University. I am going to write about it for next Saturday's religion section, 10/27, but basically Dr. Tucker said that in the last few years, the world's religious communities have begun to put more emphasis on the moral obligation of preserving the environment. The issue has "traction" now and she is excited at the prospect of religious groups getting involved on unprecedented levels.
Her keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion involving representatives of evangelical Christianity, mainline Protestantism, Roman Catholocism, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism-Jainism-Buddhism (one guy for all three of those).

We all want our world to be in good shape for our children and our children's children. Global warming is not some scare tactic by liberals, it is scientific fact. This is not a partisan issue, it is a human issue. I want to do what I can to raise awareness of this. As a friend said today, she can't believe how many times she has seen a Hummer with a "fish" symbol on the bumper, and almost always with one person in the vehicle. We do not have an unlimited amount of "fossil fuel," which one panelist pointed out is quite a misnomer.

A person in the audience, a psychiatrist, made the point that people do not fear distant threats, only immediate threats. Hence the popularity of smoking -- they are not worried that in the long term tobacco will likely cause cancer. So the threat of global warming seems far off to many people, and it's hard to get them concerned.
Also, the term "global warming" does not sound like an urgent threat. The questioner said he lives in Milwaukee and people there are glad for the few extra degrees of heat. We need a name for this crisis that doesn't sound so warm and fuzzy.
* * *
Below is a photo of my 18-year-old nephew Matt's car... He lost control in a turn, rolled it over 4 or 5 times, and was thrown through the sun roof. Miraculously, he is alive. Banged up, cut up, with rods and pins in his arms, he's home recuperating. It could have been a lot worse, as you can see!

* * *
One other important note: Go Tribe! I hope the Cleveland Indians will wrap up the series with Boston tonight, and avoid a dreaded 7th game showdown in Beantown. Let's get it done tonight, guys!
* * *
Speaking of tense, nail-biting moments like watching the Indians in action, Janet and I went to see the movie The Kingdom the other night. I know it did not get the best reviews, but I thought it was a gripping film. I was grabbing the arms of the chair all night, stressing out, caught up in the drama. One thing for sure, Saudi Arabia is not high on my list of countries to visit!
Toledo, Ohio
October 20, 2007

I received an email last week saying that Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, has converted to Christianity. Yousef is being held in the Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., that houses some of the most notorious criminals.
According to a report on 60 Minutes, broadcast Oct. 15, Yousef had refused for years to leave his cell, for the 1 hour allowed each day for exercise, because it was against his Muslim beliefs to strip naked in front of the guards.
But now he is a Christian and leaves his cell daily. I looked it up on the CBS News web site and found some contradictory remarks. Yes, Yousef is now leaving his cell daily and said he has converted to Christianity. But a former Supermax warden interviewed by Scott Pelley said he does not believe Yousef is sincere, and that he is playing some sort of trick. So who knows. Here's a link to the online version of the story, which is a good read about life in Supermax, no matter what the case is with Yousef.
Along these same lines, I went to a church yesterday where Safia Mirza spoke. She is of Indian heritage and was raised a devout Muslim, but in 1978 converted to Christianity. A petite woman, probably in her late 60s, she had gray hair, glasses, and wore a blue sari.
Mirza apparently has given this talk about her spiritual conversion a million times, she had it down to a T. And she forbade any advance coverage of her talk because she fears reprisals from local Muslims, wherever she goes. Converting to Christianity is still an outrage among Muslims and it's a shame someone has to be fearful over a personal decision to make a spiritual conversion.
In her talk yesterday, Mirza said she was one of 10 children in a Muslim family and was raised to be reverent and respectful of Allah and the Prophet Mohammed. She worked at a Catholic school which brought in a Charismatic priest for a 3-day retreat. Ah, three days of pay with no work, sounded good, she said. Also, she had met a born-again Christian two years previously at the school, who prayed for her daily.
During the retreat, while the people were singing the old hymn, "There's Power in the Blood," a drop of blood appeared on her thumb. Later, she found she could not wash it off. She went to the priest for advice and he said God has a plan for you... She also had a Bible tucked away at home, given by the Gideons 9 years previously. She started reading the Bible and it touched her heart, and changed her life.
Now she speaks in churches around the world but keeps a low profile so as not to arouse the ire of Muslims. Sad, isn't it?
* * *
Another sad note is that Father Stephen Stanbery did not go to Providence last weekend to pick up his national award as a Priest of Integrity. The Toledo diocesan priest was honored by Voice of the Faithful for being a priest with character and integrity.
But for whatever reason, he had to accept it in absentia.
* * *
Well, the Indians lost to the Red Sox. My team was up 3 games to 1 and only had to win one of the last three games but it didn't happen. Life goes on. Maybe their pitcher, Jon Papelbon will get to do another Irish jig. That's sort of an inside joke but you can see what I mean by clicking here.
* * *
I had a chance to get out and play some golf yesterday on the magnificent and challenging Red Hawk Run in Findlay. What an incredibly beautiful fall day in Ohio! Sunshine, trees changing colors, and a whopping 76 degrees, sooo mild for late October.
(What's the problem with global warming anyway? Just kidding.)
I played OK, for not playing much this year. My son-in-law, Matt, broke 80 and drove the ball 360 yards a couple of times -- seeing someone hit a golf ball so straight and long is a wonder to behold. I'm very happy to hit it 260 yards and stay in the fairway. I'm going to have to take lessons from Matt!
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 22, 2007

Sorry I've been virtually incommunicado for a few days, I was in New York City for what was described as a "press briefing" for journalists about religion and homosexuality. The event was sponsored by the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture and held in midtown Manhattan.
It was an incredibly helpful and informative meeting in which leading scholars from around the country discussed what their religious groups' stances are on such issues as ordination of gays and blessing of same-sex unions. These experts not only explained their faith's position, but also why and how they reached such a stance. The sessions were meant as informational, not as news stories, and I certainly learned a lot and made some great connections for future coverage.
I am fairly sure that this information will be the catalyst for a series on religion and homosexuality. It's a project that will take a lot of time and effort, but which I sincerely want to research and report.
* * *
A few little observations about New York City:
The people are genuinely friendly, quite the opposite of prevailing wisdom. A number of times I opened a map to try to figure out just where to go and the locals came up to me, unsolicited, and asked if I needed directions.
Near Wall Street, I saw a guy in a suit hail a cab, and next to him was a woman on crutches, also trying to hail a cab. The cab stopped and the suit guy started to get in, then noticed the woman on crutches. He stepped aside and gave up the cab, and even helped her get in.
We visited the site of the World Trade Center, and even six years after the attack it is still highly emotional. Walking down the street to Ground Zero, I recognized buildings that I had seen so many times in the videos but almost subconsciously, as all your attention is riveted on the Twin Towers and the jets. But this week, looking down the street toward the site, those buildings aligned with the memory to create a particularly eerie and sad feeling that is hard to describe.
Walking through Greenwich Village on Wednesday night, we came across several blocks with movie-studio trailers lined up from end to end. I saw a woman standing on the steps of a building and asked what was going on, and she said they were filming the "Sex and the City" movie. I have never seen the TV show but the woman was so nice, we chatted for 15 minutes or so. Her name was Jehira, not sure how to spell it, and she's hoping to be a star someday. She was incredibly friendly, personable and very cute. I hope she makes it to the top. I'll have to look for her in the movie. A security guard there was also very nice. He said he works 3 or 4 months on a movie, 16 hours a day, saves his money, then when it's a wrap he spins a globe and picks a place to visit for a month. Interesting work schedule, don't you think?
One cab driver was from Bangladesh. Felt so bad for him. He explained that he pays $115 a day to use the cab, plus pays for fuel. He keeps anything above that. It's hard, so hard, he said. He's a young guy but also has back pains and other ailments. I gave him a $10 tip, I felt so sorry for him.
I perused the postings in the windows of real estate firms and was astounded at how many apartments/condos/townhouses in NYC are renting for $5,000 or more a month. I saw at least 4 or 5 listings that were $12,000 a month! Unbelievable. I always had this idea in the back of my head that I'd love to live in N.Y. for a few years... but at those prices, I don't think it's gonna happen. I do hope to get there more often, like once a year.
We saw "Hairspray" while there, that was a real blast. I didn't know who Ashley Parker Angel was, the actor who played Link, but my daughter Cara sure did. She screamed with excitement when we told her he was in it...he was on MTV's "Making of the Band."
My one small regret about this trip was that I did not eat a knish. And I was so looking forward to it -- it's a real New York delicacy, a pastry filled with mashed potatos. But I just couldn't find a knish when I wanted one.
I did have an egg cream, however, and a pastrami and corned beef "samwich", sitting on a patio watching the crowds walk by. That was a real New York moment.
* * *
I got back to work on Friday and was not only slammed with finishing Saturday's religion pages, and reviewing the 250-or-so legitimate emails, stack of snail mail, and dozens of voice mails waiting for me, but also two court filings involving Father Gerald Robinson.
I wrote about them for today's paper, you can read it here.
Survivor Doe's civil suit against Robinson being reinstated by the appeals court is major news. I have some observations to share when I get a chance. Also, there is a lot of interesting information in the 92-page motion seeking Robinson's release on property bond...
For example, one friend of the priest said the Sisters of Mercy sent Valentine's Day cards to Robinson and that Sister Margaret Ann Pahl signed them. This same Robinson friend said he and Sister Margaret Ann went to Cedar Point together.
Another Robinson supporter said the priest has only one fault, he doesn't take a good photo.
Numerous letters of support claim the jurors had their minds made up ahead of time and didn't listen to the evidence. They say Robinson is the scapegoat for all the bad priests out there, that the jurors are taking it all out on him.
Of course, they are not looking at things objectively but are so biased in the priest's favor that they can only see things the way they want to see them. That's true about much of life, isn't it.
* * *
Got a glimpse of Fred Rosen's true-crime paperback book about Robinson. The title is "When Satan Wore a Cross." A friend had a copy, and promised to loan it to me when he's done. It's not been released yet officially.
* * *
The world series is moving along, and it is looking bleak for the Colorado Rockies. (what kind of team name is that? As one columnist said, it's not a name for a baseball team, it's more like a flavor of ice cream.)
The Red Sox are prolific hitting machines and tonight appear to be on their way to another rout and a 3-0 lead in the series. Even the pitcher, Dice-K, knocked in two runs tonight with a single. Since Boston knocked the Indians out of the playoffs, I am rooting for the Red Sox for two reasons: one, I follow the American League and don't care too much for any National League team, and two, the logical extrapolation that if the Sox win, at least the Indians lost to not only a good team, but the best team in baseball in 2007.
* * *
One other sport I follow is Formula 1 racing and finally got to watch my Tivo of the season finale in Brazil. Quite an exciting season... The championship was rookie Lewis Hamilton's to lose, and that he did, driving off the course briefly and apparently damaging the low-lying electronics, and finished seventh, just enough to let Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and his Ferrari take the title. Ferraris rule!
Toledo, Ohio
October 27, 2007

Here's an interesting story from the Associated Press... Instead of laughing at Britney Spears and mocking her in her misery, these people from Lexington, Ky., are offering her their love. I hope they find a way to get the letters delivered into the hands of this young and troubled soul...Fame is a weird thing and can cause all kinds of problems... Spears is a mess and the public is all giddy over her embarrassing behavior. We should be more like these Kentuckians.

The congregation of Southland Christian Church is being asked to send letters of love and support to troubled pop star Britney Spears, described by the pastor as having made "devastating life choices."

"Take a few minutes and write a note to Britney Spears," pastor John Weece said in a sermon and in a blog on the church Web site. "No preaching. No criticizing. Just love. As a church, let's love Britney the way Jesus loves her."

Weece said the idea came as he watched repeated reports of Spears' reported problems with drugs and alcohol and the loss of custody of her children.

"If she were your next-door neighbor in the same situation without the money and success, wouldn't you care about her problems? Wouldn't you pray for her and offer her support and encouragement?" he asked members of the church.

Cindy Willison, the church's director of communications, was still collecting the letters on Friday and looking for the best way to get them directly to Spears.

"This is an opportunity for us to reach out to someone who probably doesn't have a lot of people in her life that care for her as a person," Willison said.

The second book about the Robinson case was published today; I received a copy in the mail. It's titled "When Satan Wore a Cross" and was written by Fred Rosen, a very accomplished true crime writer (see his website here).
After thumbing through it, all I want to say at this point is that Mr. Rosen's approach to the book and his writing style are about 180 degrees opposite mine.
One thing I will criticize is the inclusion of an autopsy photo of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, the priest's victim, showing her bare breasts. I really find that unnecessary and insulting to Sister Margaret Ann. He included a diagram of the wounds drawn by the assistant coroner so that makes the photo even more unnecessary. But it also tells a little bit about the book's approach.
When I met Mr. Rosen outside a courtroom in Toledo, he was quite nice. He asserted that the success of one book raises the awareness of other books on the same topic. In other words, we can only help each other out, and are not in competition. A third book on the killer priest is being written by John Glast and is due out sometime in January.

Here's what the book cover looks like:

So, knowing this little bit about the book, what do you think? Do you want to read this book? post a comment and let me know!

* * *
I took a quick trip to Rockford, Ill., to see my daughter, Lisa, who is on staff at a church there. She's a licensed minister but is not employed as a pastor. I miss her so much but it is always reassuring to see her in her new hometown and to see how much she is loved by the people who attend the church and who work there. She is truly where God wants her to be, and that gives me a sense of peace.
They showed a video during church in which Lisa played the part of Fergie in a parody of the hit song "Glamorous," done as a "sermon tool" to show that life is more than acquiring material things. The church is planning to put the video on youtube, and i'll include a link to it when they do.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 30, 2007

One of my "guilty pleasures" in life is playing a PlayStation boxing game by EA Sports called "Fight Night," in which you control a boxer's moves using the PS2 controller.
I play it in spurts, not touching it for many months and then playing it a bit too much for brief periods of time. Once I actually injured my thumb playing this stupid game, putting a little too much "body English" into my right cross. I had to put myself on the DL for a few months while my wounded thumb healed. My wife gets a laugh over my videogame injury.

I say all that to explain that I am NOT categorically opposed to violence in videogames. But I think computerized boxing is way different than shooting or stabbing someone in a videogame. And I believe that some videogames get disturbingly graphic and/or too realistic in presenting their violent scenarios.
I've played the incredibly popular videogame "Halo" a couple of times, but older versions, not the newest "Halo 3" version. It's your basic shoot-em-up game where you have to shoot the enemy before they shoot you, but set in a futuristic scenario.
I've always feared that the potential problem with such games is the way endless, two-dimensional onscreen shootings can desensitize people to the potential of such violent actions in real life. For normal people, this is not a concern. But for people who are already in fragile mental, emotional and spiritual shape, this can push them over the edge.
Such appears to be the case in Wellington, Ohio, where a 16-year-old boy fatally shot his mother and critically wounded his father when he shot them in their home with a 9mm pistol. The boy, Daniel Petric, killed his mother, Sue Petric, 45, by shooting her in the back of the head, and shot his father, the Rev. Mark Petric, in the face. The father, an Assembly of God pastor, is alive but was in critical condition last time I checked.
Police only would say that the boy had "some kind of reason" for the shootings, but did not elaborate on what that reason might be. News reports have said Daniel played Halo 3 online frequently, and I've heard unofficially that the reason for the tragic attack was that his parents had banned him from playing the game.
The fact that a 16-year-old boy would shoot his parents is unbelievably tragic to begin with. If it turns out that he shot them in retaliation for being banned from playing Halo, it makes this bizarre tragedy even that much harder to fathom.
It's a strange world we live in today, where computer games have the potential to cause real-life horrors.
* * *
I went to the doctor's office this morning for a physical. The entire staff was dressed up in costumes, except, fortunately, for the doctor -- now that would have been too much.
Thank the Lord, I received a clean bill of health except for the usual concerns (in my case, anyway) of slightly elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which can be controlled by medication.
I've had too many friends lately who have either died or been diagnosed with serious health problems. I admit I had been a bit lax about going to the doctor, but the death of Blade sports editor Mike Goode and family friend Kathy Lucio, and the quadruple bypass surgery that my close personal pal Peter Owens underwent a few weeks ago have snapped me out of my lethargy.
As the good doctor said today, you don't wait to change the oil and filters in your car until the engine breaks, do you? And even if you do, you can always get a new engine. It's not so easy to get a new heart or a new brain... We all need to keep up with those "oil changes."
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 31, 2007