Pity poor 12-year-old Misha Boldt. His father wants him circumcised. His mother objects. Theyre divorced. The father, James Boldt, converted to Judaism and has custody of the boy. The mother, Lia Boldt, is Russian Orthodox and came from
Russia where non-religious circumcision is rare.

Misha is 12 years old a very problematic age for anyone to be told to have a sensitive and personal part of his body excised. Whether his foreskin stays or goes has been fodder for a trial court in Oregon, then a states appeal court, then the Oregon Supreme Court.

And last Friday, the states high court opined that the issue goes back to the trial court where all parties must find out what Misha wants. Repeat: What Misha wants. Can Misha say what he wants and still have parents treating him the same?

The obvious and reasonable solution is to let Misha reach 18 years old and make his own decision. By now, were sure, he has learned that the foreskin is a structure with real purpose and value.

First off, boys that age arent likely to want that part of their bodies cut off. But the boy is under the custodial care of his father, who insists he will raise the boy Jewish and believes circumcision goes with that. The mother asserts that their son does not want the procedure and that the family turmoil surrounding it and the fathers pressures are harmful for their son. With all that, she says, custody should be transferred to her.

The Jan. 25 ruling of the Oregon Supreme Court said, In our view, at age 12, Ms attitude regarding circumcision is a fact necessary to the determination of whether mother has asserted a colorable claim of a change of circumstances sufficient to warrant a hearing concerning whether to change custody. That is so because forcing M at age 12 to undergo the circumcision against his will could seriously affect the relationship between M and father and could have a pronounced effect on fathers capability to properly care for M.

In the finale paragraph of the ruling (http.www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/supreme.htm#jan08), the court said, If the trial court finds that M agrees to be circumcised, the court shall enter an order denying mothers motions. If, however, the trial court finds that M opposes the circumcision, it must then determine whether Ms opposition to circumcision will affect fathers ability to property care for M. And, if necessary, the trial court then can determine whether it is in Ms best interest to retain the existing custody arrangement, whether other conditions should be imposed on fathers continued custody of M, or change custody from father to mother.

Just think of this. This kid not only has to deal with all the conflict over the fate of his foreskin, but about its ramifications on who will care for him. That pressure is unfair. The father needs to back off and leave his son the way God made him.

Amicus briefs were filed for both sides — Jewish forces siding with the father and human rights and genital mutilation forces with the mother. This is the clearest case of a parents claimed religious beliefs trumping a childs right to an intact body that I have seen in 26 years of practicing law, said John Geisheker, an attorney and executive director of Seattle, Wash.-based Doctors Opposing Circumcision. With the Supreme Court decision, J. Steven Svoboda , founder of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, was declaring it a victory because the Oregon Supreme Court did not order circumcision.

But the Anti-Defamation League was hailing the decision as affirming the right of parents to circumcise their children. The American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the ADL and the Union of Orthodox Congregations of America joined in the brief supporting the father.

The Jewish case for circumcision has been so weakened through the centuries, especially as it steadily abandoned many harsh laws and practices of the Hebrew Bible out of common sense and humanizing. Any reading of Jewish history shows circumcision was not always practiced and that males are Jewish through their birth from Jewish mothers, not by being clipped in a ceremony. Unless a real bris ceremony is performed, the renewing of a covenant with God doesnt take place, such as in the case of Jews who have their boys cut in hospitals. Some Jewish parents hold alternative bris ceremonies (bris shalom) where nothing is cut and their sons remain whole. The Humanist Jewish movement, for example, does not embrace circumcision. Some of the most prolific writers of books, papers and newsletters opposing the practice are Jewish, for obvious reasons.

In his book, Question Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective, Ronald Goldman, a Jew in Boston, noted, Jews value human rights but have not yet addressed the issue of Jewish male infants having a right to physical integrity, a right recognized by Amnesty International as apply to all individuals.

Goldman, whose first book on circumcision was The Hidden Trauma: How An American Cultural Practice Affects Infants and Ultimately Us All, states, Those who would deny that an infant has a right to physical integrity must answer the question: Does anyone have this right? And if so, at what age does one acquire this right? What happens to fundamental principles and support for them when we make exceptions?

Heres hoping Misha Boldt can remain whole. Judaism will have moved one step forward in its otherwise brilliant march to the fullness of what it means to be truly human and humane.

Church sanctuaries are spaces where those who occupy them feel they have some kind of sovereignty of what can take place there. I recently watched teens gingerly toss a football inside a sanctuary during a mission minute to tout a homeless project fund-raiser tied to Super Bowl XLII.

Sometimes cheerful kids run lickety-split through church aisles looking for parents or when they are dismissed to go to a childrens group. Banging drums, dance and worldly demonstrations may offend some people who gather in sanctuaries. A sanctuary suggests sanctity of space a place where things that go on there should be with respect and grace.

Then there is flash photography something commonly controlled by church rules because they can come across as intrusive. There is an unwritten rule that church sanctuary activities must not be disturbed by a blaze of flashes.

A former Tribune colleague, Greta Huls, now the communications officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, shares, on her blog, the details of a recent incident while she was just doing her job, but with some personal importance. But she wasnt using flash.

Her mother, Patricia Pat Taylor Huls was among seven ordained as deacons at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Phoenix. She serves St. Stephens Episcopal Church in
Phoenix.

In Greta Huls blog Episcayune, she says attendance was high for the special service. For the event, she pulled double duty, as both a presenter for her mom and as communications officer of the diocese. Once my duties to her were done, I was to wander and take photos of the service and the seven new deacons as the service went on, Greta Huls explained.

Imagine my surprise when a woman (lightly) whacked me with her rolled-up order of service and told me not to take photos! she said. It came as a surprise because Huls has been taking photos for the diocese since high school and a professional journalist since 1989. I never dreamed that my first assault of the press would happen within church, she observed.

I told her that I had the bishops permission he is my boss, after all and she nodded and said, Sorry, but it was still all I could do not to fall on the cathedrals floor and die laughing. Huls went on to explain in her blog that she carries a quiet camera and walks softly and does not use a cameras flash in such circumstances.

Im the first to grind my teeth when I see flashes going off in services, Huls said.

With some sarcasm, she said next time for events at the cathedral shell have the staff print this statement for visitors: Please refrain from both the use of flash photography and whacking the bishops communications officer with your order of service.

Years race by, but the debate over whether American Christianity can accommodate gays and lesbians is never ending. Yes, some major denominations have largely settled the issue, most notably the United Church of Christ, whose maxim is God is still speaking.

In the past week, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) have experienced two events that would appear to be steps forward to permit gay pastors. On Saturday, the Rev. Jennifer Nagel, a lesbian with a partner for nine years, was ordained and installed as the pastor of Salem English Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minn. It was labeled an Extraordinary Ordination, meaning it was outside the Lutheran rules that ban non-celibate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from serving as pastors.

What gave it extraordinary character was that three retired bishops from the
Minnesota area gave their authority to the event by taking part in the ordination service. Said the Rev. Roger Livdahl, a retied ELCA pastor and member of the Salem congregation, Jen has insights and gifts which make her uniquely qualified to give
Salem leadership in our location of the city. We are inspired by her passion for ministry to poor and hungry people and others who are regarded as on the fringes of society.

Another church member, Sarah Kunze, called the event a bold call for change in the church, and she underscored Nagels qualifications and ability to lead the church in honest, Spirit-led transformational ministry. The 5 million-member denomination passed a resolution last year recommending bishops to refrain from or show restraint in the discipline of homosexual, bisexual and transgendered pastors and their congregations. Yet, it did not change its policy. Any action awaits completion of a study this year. If the ban is lifted, it could not come until the Church-wide Assembly in the summer of 2008. She is the 13^th extraordinary ordination through Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.

Meanwhile, progressives Presbyterians in the Presbytery of San Francisco took action Jan. 15 to advance the candidacy for ordination of Lisa Larges, 44, who has been working 23 years to win the right to be an ordained pastor and to live openly as a lesbian. Twice before Larges, who is a Lesbian, has seen her path blocked. Following a debate that went into the night, the San Francisco Presbytery voted 167 to 151 to support Larges application for ministry. Traditionalists say it could violate the churchs constitution. Larges case is seen as the first national test of a 2006 policy change by the church.

The San Francisco woman coordinates the national project, That All May Freely Serve, which advocates for gay Presbyterian clergy candidates. It was in 1985 as Larges began training at San Francisco Theological Seminary that she was selected for ministry by the Minnesota presbytery where she grew up, according to the Los Angeles Times account. At a certain point in her training, she decided she could no longer pursue the ministry and keep her sexual orientation secret. Her candidacy in the Twin Cities Presbytery went forward but in 1992, the churchs highest body denied Larges candidacy. Then she moved to San Francisco and started a new bid. Beginning in 1997, she met annually with a committee overseeing candidates for ordination. In 2004, the committee voted against her ordination but with a view toward a possible shift in church-wide policy. It let her continue to be a candidate.

In 2006, the General Assembly voted to give some flexibility for local and regional church bodies to approve the ordination of gays on a case-by-case basis a departure from a long established law that clergy and lay leaders be either married to a member of the opposite sex or be single and chaste. But candidates would have to declare a conscientious objection to provisions and put that in a statement. In her words, Larges said she could not abide by the churchs requirement that she be married to a man or to be celibate in order to be a pastor. She said the provision is a mar upon the church and a stumbling block to its mission and was not essential to Presbyterian faith.

The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which advocates for allowing gay pastors and church leaders, issued a letter calling for support for Larges and saying attention turns to April when Larges is scheduled to under her trials of ordination. But that could be delayed if there are challenges to the presbyterys recent actions.

In June in San Jose, Calif., the General Assembly meets again and will deal anew with the controversies over homosexuality that has already caused congregations to leave the denomination and, in some cases, cause battles over whether departing groups can retain their campuses.

Maybe when you visit another house of worship, you pay special attention to the way its leaders put out information for visitors and members to pick up and take with them. How thats done varies widely.

The entry way typically has tables, racks and material holders to display what the church or temple has. What is put out are brochures, devotional guidebooks (often commercially or denominationally produced)or flyers that promote upcoming events or ongoing causes. Some of it is supplied by the denominational regional office. But having sat on regional committees striving to inform congregations, I can tell you that what goes to member churches is somewhat like sending things to a black hole. Whether handed out at meetings to be taken back and distributed to your congregation or sent through the mails, there is no certainty that ANYTHING will be put in front of people.

Ownership is the problem. Getting material into the hands of congregants through the maze is like the proverbial one sperm out of millions that gets to the egg to fertilize it. For materials intended for members, there are too many waste cans in between. Too often campus staff winnows what looks important and shuffles that stuff into staff and volunteers church office mailboxes where it may sit and sit, then may be too old when it is finally examined. Its an inexact process sorting mail and materials for the right committee chairman or volunteer.

Pastors may be well-intentioned to deliver what they are given for their churches at meetings, conferences or contacts of this or that program. But their minds are on other things, and manila envelopes and packets have a way of getting covered up on their desks or tucked away in the darkness of briefcases. Or they may give materials to administrative assistants with little or no instructions on who it should go to. Bottom line, again, is ownership. Get something promoted and distributed to many people must fall to those who champion it and care about it.

Churches and temples are inundated with mail most of it promoting security systems, seminars, traveling choirs, youth education resources and how pastors/spouses can get free trips to the Holy Land by hosting tour groups, as long as they care scare up the travelers.

Often numerous constituencies in a church prepare and print their full- or half-sheet flyers to be stuffed into the worship bulletin. But that stuff commonly spills out as they find a place to sit, turning people in contortionists to retrieve the slips of paper from under pews or chairs. Some churches ban such stuffing and required information be printed in the bulletin only.

Church pew racks may or may not contain promotional materials. If they do, they may well be battered brochures with childrens crayon marks. Some churches confine the racks to hymnals and Bibles, some kind of worship registration pad and cards for telling about prayer needs. Once in a while youll find some kind of foam lining the bottom of the racks to cushion the sound of heavy hymnals all being dropped simultaneously back into the racks on the back of the pews in front of them at the end of congregational singing.

Most churches urge worshipers to take their printed bulletins home with them, especially to heed the coming weeks campus schedule and to pray for people whose names are listed in them. But give folks a bin by the door to recycle them, and you are encouraging them to be tossed immediately.

Assaulted by so much information, worshipers are hard-pressed to methodically consider all the flyers, brochures and folders competing for their eyes. On Sunday mornings, people are more prone to turn to friends to visit in settings where materials are available.

In the end, perhaps, paper materials are just lest alluring in a computer age.

A mom, son and daughter from Paradise Valley continue to get expanded publicity for their quick-read, 132-page guide, The American Muslim Teenagers Handbook. On Jan. 3, the Christian Science Monitor published a lengthy feature on it.

I met teens Yasmine and Imran Hafiz and their mom, Dilara Hafiz, early last October for an interview and article about the book, which was published on Oct. 13 in the Spiritual Life section of the Tribune. TV stations and other newspapers have interviewed them about the project. The guidebook came about when the teens found their friends giving them a cold shoulder after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, because they were Muslims.

Yasmine, a senior at Phoenix Xavier College Preparatory with plans to enter Yale
University next fall, and Imran, a sophomore of Brophy College Preparatory, collaborated with assistance of their mother, Dilara, who does weekend teaching at an Islamic school in Scottsdale. They produced a richly illustrated book with straight-forward information about basic Islam.

Imran told the Christian Science Monitor, I went to bed on Sept.10^th an American, and on Sept. 11^th, I became a Muslim in peoples minds. Then only in fourth grade, he recalled how his friends abruptly told him they were not playing soccer with him anymore. When he pressed them for a reason for their hostilities, they told Imran because youre a Taliban. His family soothed him with the explanation that their reaction came from ignorance, not from hate.

For five years, they worked on the book targeted to teens and not intended to be academic or the final source on Islam. I wanted to dispel negative stereotypes and show we are normal Americans like anyone else, Yasmine told the Monitor. Their book was published in August.

Sprinkled with humor, the lively paperback describes the essential beliefs and practices of Islam and includes questions and comments for Muslim teens across the United States, the Monitor explained. Material came from their own research and a survey of students at 44 Islamic schools. From 150 returned responses, the Hafiz trio realized how varied Muslim teens are that not all pray five times a day, nor do young women and girls necessarily wear the traditional hijab, or head scarf.

The article quoted Cynthia Berg, a Jewish mother in Phoenix, who saw the book after meeting Yasmines and Imrans parents at an event. The book shows moderation in the Muslim religion and answers a lot of my questions. It thought it was ingenious. My sister-in-law in San Diego showed it to her rabbi, and they are thinking about using it in their studies.

Even the ministry of education in Malaysia is said to have ordered a copy, and the book was to be translated into other languages, including French, Dutch and Chinese. Other languages could follow.

The handbook is meant to provoke discussion, not be the definitive guide to Islam, Yasmine said in the Monitor. Its something you work out with God. No one on the outside has a right to judge that.

The book is available at Barnes & Noble stores for $11.95 and on the web. For more information on it, see www.theamth.com.

Your state Capitol could use a hug.

It has been promoted for months, and on Sunday, it happens if there are enough hands and long arms to encircle the buildings of the Arizona state Capitol complex, 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix. Or parts thereof.

Arizonans are about to give love to the state and its leaders as they gather anew for the second session of the 48^th State Legislature, which convenes next week. It is mean as a symbolic hug for the state. Its to envision the year 2008 as one of peace, prosperity, bipartisanship and cooperated for all elected officials, constituents and all Arizonans.

Organizers of The Arizona Embrace 2008 say they would like to have 1,000 people to stand hand in hand and make a big unbroken circle that would surround not only the old Territorial Capitol, but the Executive Tower and the two buildings of the legislative branches. Short of that they may have to choose what buildings they actually have enough bodies to do a hug.

Colleen ODonnell Pierce, District 3 coordinator of the Department of Peace Campaign, and executive director Terri Mansfield recently stepped things off to determine what the need was. Terri is 5-foot-2 and Im about 5-foot-8, and we counted out steps around a building and figured that one pace is about a persons width, she said. If we stretch out the arms, it takes even less people to get all the way around.

We figured out that if we are to form a circle around the historic building (Territorial Capitol, dating to 1901 and made a museum in 1981) and the Tower because they are connected, it would take about 700 people, PIerce said. To get around either the Senate or House building would take 200 to 250, so it just depends on how many people we get down there. We are expecting at least a couple hundred, Pierce said. With our publicity, we hope to get a lot more than that.

The hand-holding is slated for 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and will be preceded at 1:30 p.m. by speeches and prayers. Mansfield and the Rev. Paul Eppinger, executive director of the Arizona InterFaith Movement, will be co-hosts. Among speakers will be Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix. The First Institutional Baptist Church Choir will provide music. (www.interfaitharizona.com or www.azdopcampaign.org).

With so many problems confronting Arizona, this is a way for folks to rise above party, race, religion and other differences, Pierce said. It conjures memories of May 25, 1986, when I was organizer of my churchs contingent in the Hands Across America effort. That Sunday, about 7 million Americans joined hands from New York City to
Long Beach, Calif., for 15 minutes. Its purpose was to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness through the solidarity of a human chain from coast to coast.

We got assigned a stretch along Interstate 10 west of Phoenix (empty space then but developed today). Ours was near mile marker 117 between Goodyear and Buckeye, and we got 80 church members and friends there via a chartered bus. At 1 p.m., we joined hands. We had little clue at the time whether our chain was unbroken from coast to coast. It wasnt.

There ended up being huge gaps in the chain along the 4,152-mile stretch, but organizers said that if all the people taking part were put in straight line, it would have spanned the U.S. Nearly $20 million was raised, far short of the $50 million goal.Compared to finding people to stretch from coast to coast, getting enough Arizonans to embrace the Capitols buildings seems simple. As far as we know, it has never been attempted in Arizona or in any other state, Pierce said.

Iowas senior U.S. senator, Sen. Charles Grassley, was born in, then and grew up in, New Hartford, Iowa, the next town over from where I was reared. Our farm was south and east of Parkersburg or just 7 miles by gravel and blacktop road from New Hartford where we had our meat locker and where we went for farm equipment repairs.

When Chuck Grassley first went to the Iowa Legislature in 1959 as our state representative, he was just a 26 year-old kid who had graduated from nearby
Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa). He worked at now shut-down Rath Packing Co. in Waterloo where he was an assembly line worker and did some farming. Much was made of his youthfulness. He was big stuff in the weekly paper that spans the two towns. Grassley stayed 15 years in the Legislature, and our paths crossed a number of times, as I began my newspaper career in that area in 1972, and hed come to speak with us editors at the newspaper in Waterloo..

Grassley, a Baptist, would be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and to the U.S. Senate in 1980 and re-elected four times. Now 74, he chaired the Senate Committee on Finance when Republican were in power and is still his partys ranking member. A fiscal conservative, he was once ranked as the third most powerful
U.S. senator, and he has been notably a supporter of whistle blowers and their freedom to speak out without recrimination. He had condemned government waste. Even though he comes from a major farm state, last July he released a commissioned report that more than $1 billion in farm subsides were going to dead people. Its unconscionable that the Department of Agriculture would think that a dead person was actively engaged in the business of farming, he said. He has often condemned fleecing of the taxpayer.

Now Grassley has turned scrutiny on televangelists and megachurch ministers who seemingly live lavishly as they ply millions from people for their ministries. Their multiple homes, huge estates, jets and wide travel seem to run counter to what Jesus spoke regularly about serving the least. When the probe began in November, six major figures were identified. Quickly tabbed as the Grassley Six were Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer and Randy and Paula White. They are noted for their preaching the so-called gospel of prosperity, speaking from their own prosperous worlds to low-earning people in TV Land who scrimp together dollars to send them with the hope that they, too.

Some have labeled these pastors pimps in the pulpit. Calling their donating listeners partners, the TV ministers strive to get them on a ready donating schedule with dire predictions of going off the air if certain million-dollar levels are not met. But even in tough times for the TV ministries, the pastors dont seem any more threadbare.

At any hour of the day on cable TV, it seems, one of them is preaching in front of a large congregation usually forcefully and with an animated congregation and a phone number on the bottom of the screen to call to make a donation. Grassley wonders about excessive compensation to the preachers and whether money raised is really related to ministries performed. Grassleys probe came amid the scandals at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., where its president, Richard Roberts, stepped down under pressure for a string of issues including expensive travel and money helping family members.

Charles Grassley was seeking financial records from the ministries, including information about spending practices, costly things like jets and the perks that go with their mega-ministries. The evangelical community regards it as unfounded because ministry is difficult, high-profile pastors accomplished much to get to where they are at and how can the wasteful government really point fingers at anyone?

Many outside the evangelical movement are puzzled by the apparent lack of outrage, wrote Mark Pinsky of the Orlando Sentinel. He quotes Quentin Schultze of Calvin
College in Michigan, a deeply conservative school. Within conservative media ministries, criticism from outsiders often is seen as a badge of honor that validates a ministrys righteousness, said Schultze, author of Christianity and the Mass Media in
America.

Some recall Evangelist Billy Graham who lived reasonably modestly and used donations for transparent programs. Others point to Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of huge Saddleback Church in California. He has been outspoken about pastoral high living. Success in any area often creates a spirit of entitlement I deserve this that is the exact opposite of servant leadership, he said. It is evidence of insecurity and low self-esteem. Insecure people show off. Secure people serve,
Warren is quoted in Pinskys article.

Grassley’s efforts probably won’t go anywhere.

Christmas and the holidays are often long over before we hear about some of the thoughtful and kind acts of kindness that people do for others. We credit St. Joseph the Worker in Phoenix for sharing the story of Joanne Pfeiff and Family in Phoenix.

Each year, the Pfeiff family finds a worthy cause to support instead of wrapping presents, reported Amy Caffarello, executive director of St. Joseph the Worker. Rather than coming up with gifts for each other, the family seeks out strangers.

With eight children and 21 grandchildren, Pfeiff has a large family that went to work getting together $3,500 to give to the Phoenix agency that provides employment services to the homeless. Some of the funds will go for St. Joseph the Workers Hike for the Homeless March 1 at Estrella Mountain Regional Park in Goodyear.

The family will be recognized as a sponsor, but the family really doesnt even want that. We dont want our name on the event materials to be boastful, said Pfeiffs daughter-in-law, Sarah. We hope it might offer inspiration for other families. Joanne Pfeiff explained that she prefers to instill a sense of generosity during Christmas.

Though the family enjoys cookies and good foods of the holiday, their celebration does not focus on gifts under the tree. Instead, Caffarello of St. Joseph the Worker said, They open their wallets and contribute to the community.

I want my children and grandchildren to know how good it feels to help others and to understand that we all have a responsibility to give back, Pfeiff said. Those of us who have the benefit of education, health and other resources have so much. We need to give something, too. The greatest gift I have received is the gift of faith, and I believe we are here not to be served but to serve.

St. Joseph the Worker is a privately funded, non-profit organization that has been serving the Valley for 20 years and relies on support from the community. (www.sjwjobs.org). Added Caffarello, We are grateful for the support of the Pfeiffs. Teaching children early about philanthropy and service is a wonderful gift to give them. For more information, call her office, (602) 417-9854.

On Saturday, I spoke to the monthly gathering and breakfast of the mens group of
Dayspring United Methodist Church in Tempe. I addressed them several years ago, and they wanted me back to pick up where I had left off in talking about on the world of religion and faith from a newspaper writers vantage point.

I sat next to the groups leader, Rick Garza, retired Phoenix police officer who now works with the street homeless through the Tempe Police Department. Our table conversation ranged over a lot of terrain and common ground. Then I learned he was married to Kim Garza of the Tempe Public Library.

That conjured 1999 when Kim, who was then the librarys collection management librarian, carried out a project for National Library Week called Best Books of the Twentieth Century. She solicited community leaders and others, plus library staff and members of the librarys advisory board, to come up with their own lists of the greatest books. It appears that people could nominate up to 10 books. The 18 pages of book titles that were chosen can still be found on line: www.tempe.gov/library/books/adultbibs/bestbook.htm

I was one of 22 people responding to an invitation to submit a list of titles of favorite and transforming books from my life of reading. In Garzas cover page, explaining the project, I was one of three people quoted about presenting my list: I have always been a rousing cheerleader for the Tempe Public Library. I wish I could just live there. The library has brought untold hours of joy Lawn Griffiths, Tempe Tribune. All books were in the librarys collection, with reference numbers for finding them on the shelves listed. The contributor of the title got to write a couple sentences on why the book was important. Some did not.

Sen. John McCain, R.- Ariz., was a contributor to Best Books, but oddly and interestingly there are just two books submitted as favorites: Truman by David McCullough; and What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Benjamin Cramer. By 1999, McCain already was a candidate for the 2000 presidential race, and perhaps, for him, it was timely and especially worth mentioning, a book that mattered to him at the time. He would lose his White House bid to George W. Bush in 2000. Perhaps, McCain has reread Cramers book for his 2008 race and now knows better than ever what it takes.

Among the nine books that I offered were: The True Believer by Eric Hoffer; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Heart is a Lonesome Hunter by Carson McCullers; I Never Sang for My Father by Robert Anderson; The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran; Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh; William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner and The Grape of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It tossed in one maverick title: Say No to Circumcision! 40 Compelling Reasons Why You Should Respect His Birthright and Keep Your Son Whole by Thomas Ritter. I couldnt resist.

Tempe Councilman Ben Arredondo offers some great ones: Button Soup By Doris Orgel; Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy; Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey MacKay. Garza weaved in some of her favorite books: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham and Edith Whartons classic The Age of Innocence.

Altogether, there were 154 books suggested by for best of century. Many books were nominated more than once, including three each for The Prophet, All the Kings Men and The Grapes of Wrath. In a nation that seems to always enjoy seeing lists, now almost eight years later, these books make up an amazing core of important reading worthy for years to come.

A showdown may be coming between Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix and Monsignor Dale Fushek, the embattled former pastor of St. Timothys Catholic Community in Mesa, who faces trial for misdemeanor sex charges stemming from his years of leading Life Teen, the international Catholic youth movement.

The diocese continues to caution Catholics to stay clear of Fushek and his start-up worship services at Mesa Convention Center — whats called the Praise and Worship
Center. Many seem to be ignoring the bishops instruction, letting charisma of a skilled clergyman trump obedience.

They are non-denominational services that Fushek presumably feels a calling to lead with former Catholic priest Mark Dippre. Plenty of news coverage followed the first service during Thanksgiving that reportedly had about 550 people on hand. Largely featuring music and a sermon, there was no holy communion served, and Fushek did not present himself in the personage of a priest. The pair of pastors led a second service on Dec. 23 the Sunday before Christmas and there are estimates that 700 attended it. The emphasize is not even Mass-light and are services that can complement faith experience people have elsewhere, including Mass.

Fushek, 55, former vicar general of the diocese and No. 2 in the chancery, is on paid administrative leave from the diocese pending disposition of his seven charges. The Arizona Supreme Court recently heard arguments for and against letting Fushek have a jury trial. He objects to having a judge hear the case and rule on it. He wants the matter determined by his peers. Fushek believes a conviction would saddle him with the criminal identification of a sex offender in Arizona, forcing him to register as one and putting restraints on any future ministry that dealt with young people.

The bishops spokesman, Jim Dwyer, has reiterated the diocesans request to Catholics. In an Arizona Republic Friday, he said, Were actually encouraging Catholics to refrain from attending. We would hope that they dont. I think most leaders in the church would say your devotion should be to Christ, not an individual leader.

But Praise and Worship Center spokesman Brad Kulurus, identified as a Catholic, noted that people attending their new services well knew Fushek while he was at St. Timothys before his resigning in late 2004 when allegations of sexual misbehavior were raised. Peopleare looking for preaching that brings new life to ancient ideas, Kulurus stated in explaining the lure to Fushek.

Dwyer said the bishop eventually will determine whether he will begin church proceedings to discipline Fushek, a step that would involve the Vatican. Fushek had told the Tribune in November that he planned to resign as a priest. Later news stories said he indicated he had done so after that Thanksgiving service. But it seemingly it isnt that easy. The diocese indicated it never got a resignation letter.

Catholics attracted to the Praise and Worship services seemingly are getting something they are missing from Masses. They have said Fushek cannot be faulted for wanting to use his gifts in preaching and faith development, even during the waiting period of criminal case.

How ever his case comes out, look for Fushek to adjust to whatever the outcome. If he should be exonerated of the sexual exploitation of a minor and indecent exposure charges, it would seem he has burned his Catholic bridges for lack of self-restraint and an itch to continue his 30-year calling. If convicted, it appears he still has a flock of followers willing to stick with him through hell or high water.

In any event, Fushek has taken his talents to the faith marketplace and found customers.

Perhaps, the diocese needs to do a little market research to find out what motivates its wayward seekers in quest of something they arent getting in their parishes.