VERBATIM.

"Organized religion is a sham and crutch for weakminded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

--Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in a Playboy magazine interview (quoted in the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 30, 1999)

"In my own life-time I have seen how the labor movement lifted millions of working people into the middle class; how it won the minimum wage, the paid vacation, health coverage, and pension plans, and how it widened the circle of human dignity beyond skilled craft workers to ... many, many other workers who were once consigned to a lifetime of labor at low wages. And, even more important, I saw how the labor movement pioneered and pushed for every advance in social justice in our times."

--Msgr. George Higgins (quoted in National Catholic Reporter)

"I am told we are making a lot of money for the archdiocese selling flowers.... This has been a truly marvelous funeral, rye enjoyed every bit of it."

--Cardinal John O'Connor talking about his cancer surgery (quoted by ZENIT, Sept. 13, 1999)

"If you die immediately after receiving a plenary indulgence, you go directly to heaven. It is a great gift that people should know about"

--Vatican theologian Father Ivan Fucek, S.J. (quoted by Catholic News Service, Sept. 7, 1999)