[Times photo: James Borchuck]
After much prayer and discussion, one believer makes a decision in the wake of the crisis in the Catholic Church. Story
Pay or withhold? Readers respond
Dear Readers: Thank you for the more than 300 e-mail messages and 50 letters you sent me. Even my 82-year-old mother wrote offering her advice! About a third of the messages encouraged me to fulfill my pledge to the bishop's building fund. The rest advised me to withhold it or redirect it to another charity. Here is a sample (a tithing?) of your responses.
Opportunities to give
My original pledge was to the diocesan building fund, known as "Our Journey in Faith." Bishop Robert Lynch has defended his stewardship of this fund against accusations that he has showed favoritism to the construction company of a good friend.
No Place Like Home: A driving rain
ST. PETERSBURG -- A storm is sweeping up from the south as I drive onto the Sunshine Skyway. On the Pinellas end, the low sun still glows on turquoise water just beginning to be pleated by the wind.
Genealogy
Genealogy: No universal way to spell surnames
Our immigrant ancestors were often labeled illiterate simply because they weren't proficient in English. They might have been quite capable of reading and writing in their native language, but were not bilingual. Many, of course, were not educated. After all, literacy on a national scale is a rather recent development. This lack of schooling often gets blamed for spawning the spelling variations in surnames. Fact is, there has never been and never will be a universal way to spell any name. You'll find Smith, Smyth and Smythe in the latest phone book.
