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Kim Dong-Shik was evangelizing in the northeastern Chinese city of Yanji City, Jilin, when he disappeared. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul speculates he was kidnapped and taken to North Korea.

Is there an Episcopalian leader who hasn't commented on this yet? The search is on, as the Associated Press and New York Times issue extensive and excellent reports on the latest developments—and why it's happening. (The NYT article, "Consecrations of U.S. Bishops by Episcopal Officials Overseas Challenge Church Hierarchy," by Gustav Niebuhr, has expired, but is available at the paper's archives area if you're willing to pay $2.50.)

Mixed marriages should be examined "more rigorously," Monsignor Ennio Antonelli, spokesman for the Italian Bishops' Conference said in a statement Wednesday. Parish priests should be more reluctant to marry such couples, he said, and should focus more on "converting Muslim immigrants to Christianity." There are about 600,000 immigrants from Islamic countries in Italy.

Alfredo Barrago, a professional illusionist acting on behalf of the Italian Committee for Investigation of the Paranormal (ICIP), made a statue of Mary in Rome weep on command. The statue has been crying tears of blood off and on for the last five years., attracting thousands of devotees. Giovanni Pannunzio, a member of ICIP, says the group did so because "we are trying to show that tricks like this devalue religion, making it look like a cheap form of superstition." The Times of London story lists five ways to fake a statue's tears of blood.

Almost every media outlet noted that George W. Bush used the word conservative six times in less than a minute. But less similar were their identifications of Bob Jones University: "a fundamentalist Christian college that prohibits interracial dating" ( Los Angeles Times), one of the best-known fundamentalist Christian venues in the state ( Boston Globe), "conservative" ( Washington Post), "a bastion of Christian conservatism" ( New York Times), "a school where women can't wear pants and interracial dating is banned," ( New York Post, which notes, "Bush said he disagrees with that ban."), Most complete goes to the Associated Press: "The Christian university lost its tax-exempt status in the 1970s for refusing to admit blacks. It now accepts black students but still bans interracial dating." The wackiest moniker comes from The Financial Times, which calls Bob Jones University "spiritual home of Christian conservatives." Uh, not quite.

Remember a couple years ago, when Maryland State House opening prayers came under attack for being too Christian (ending with "in Jesus' name," for praying for forgiveness against abortion, etc.)? Apparently those days are long gone. Here's how Finance Committee Chairman Thomas L. Bromwell prayed on Thursday, according to The Washington Post: "Lord. God. Yahweh. Jesus. Buddha. Allah. Whatever your name is. Whatever color you are. Whatever gender you are. You know these people. You know that they are good. Pray for 'em. Thank you." Actually, they prayer is online, if you want to hear it.

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January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44