"Prayer is a waste of time." She sniffed.

There is something about the acoustics of this particular Indian restaurant that makes it almost impossible not to hear the details of the conversations going on around you. Perhaps it is the octagonal shape of the room. Or the wooden floors and glass walls. Whatever the case, it seems that Nguyen and I are always seated next to extremely loud conversations, and try as I might, I can't not listen.

She is a teacher at a Catholic High School in Providence. The same high school my niece attends.

And she is planning to use the Da Vinci Code for a text book next semester. And announced to her father and boyfriend (who never got a word in edgewise...) that none of her students would end up practicing Catholics.


"Prayer takes up valuable class time when they could be learning something important."


What could possibly be more important than prayer, I wonder?

Check, please...