Making Mary Cry . . .

Jack Chick's crusade to proclaim the true faith to Catholics has infiltrated New York! -- these fundamentalist tracts are found in abundance down South and were a regular staple of my childhood in North Carolina. It's such a rare occasion to encounter them here in New York city that I felt compelled to report the occasion.

This past week on my usual subway commute I noticed a woman walking from car to car, distributing tracts in a most diligent fashion. She had a wide variety in her possession, suitable for all kinds of recipients (atheists, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, etc. -- we're all in the same boat). Perhaps she noticed me reading De Lubac's Catholicism, but it took her all of a minute to size me up and decide that I ought to learn why Mary is crying.

Now, while I'll admit to find out that Mary is not the Queen of Heaven but rather the ancient pagan goddess Semiramis of Babylon provided a great deal of comic relief, it was not as amusing as learning about THE DEATH COOKIE.

(Perhaps we can all say a "Hail Mary" for her and Jack Chick in return?)