The Question: E-mail: Blessing or Curse?

It would be glib to say that every blessing brings a hidden curse and every curse a hidden blessing. But I saw that since the beginning of the Iraq war, cell phones in that country skyrocketed from 850,000 to 1.6 million in a single year's time, 2004 to 2005. The real battle for the Middle East could be between the imams and the iPod. the hope being that exposure to technology will cause a new generation of moderate, progressive Muslims to evolve beyond ancient tribalism into expanded globalism. If that were to happen, e-mails would be a blessing indeed.

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The Resurrection is a second-hand miracle, and for that reason a bit disappointing. Spirituality is about first-hand experience, while organized religion is forced to begin with the second-hand. How strange that the literal fact of the Resurrection remains controversial. This country was founded in the Age of Enlightenment, when a new, more rational religion -- the kind typified by Thomas Jefferson -- was supposed to replace archaic superstition and church dogma. Spiritually, throwing out the bishops was as American as throwing out the King politically. The revolution took hold, and now as children of the Enlightenment, our society is overwhelmingly secular and scientific. But this didn't heal an aching wound, the longing for redemption that the Resurrection symbolizes. For the Resurrection to be real, it must be the key to salvation.

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The Question: In his speech to U.S. bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted . . . To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul." Do you agree or disagree? Why?

The Pope was on a mission to do more than inspire. He came to stop the steady sinking of a leaky boat. Faced with declining membership and widespread disgruntlement, the Catholic Church in America shows every sign of emptying out its parish churches and cathedrals. They are already empty, more or less, in Europe. Therefore the phrase "private matter" means, "Don't go off on your own." And faith losing its soul is code for a familiar theme to lay Catholics: without the Mother Church you are lost.

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