Pastor Bob Book of the Church of the Common Ground in Atlanta and his wife scrub the feet of three dozen homeless men every Monday, based on the concept of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, with such pedicures including a soak, pumice-rubbing, nail-trimming and massage, topped off by a clean pair of socks. Book says his crusade makes the down-and-out feel more confident, and the “worst ongoing” threat, according to him, is not Satan in men’s minds but fungus in their toes. “It eats away and destroys the toenails and just makes it very hard for people to walk.”
The Vatican said in January that Pope Benedict XVI would soon issue guidelines to help Catholics understand which “sightings” of the Virgin Mary and Jesus are legitimate and which are phony (such as “apparitions” that seem to have been created for quick sale on eBay). When a claim occurs, the local bishop will be expected to convene a panel of theologians, mental-health people and priests who will investigate (and, if the sighting is demonic, summon an exorcist). (A 2003 Vatican paper noted that only 11 of the 295 reported apparitions during the 20th century were “genuine.”)
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2009.