Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Health & Body

Death without dignity
When a physician-assisted suicide goes wrong, the end can be brutal. But nobody is teaching doctors how to do it right.
By Jacob Goldstein
[04/19/00]

Urge: Naked World
Sex with boys
A pedophilia scandal touches Latvia's highest officers.
By Jack Boulware
[04/19/00]

Column
Dr. Comfort and Mr. Last Night
Rereading Alex Comfort's "The Joy of Sex" on the morning after.
By Virginia Vitzthum
[04/18/00]

Urge: Naked World
Teenagers storm red-light district
Sixty Scottish schoolkids in kilts get lost in Amsterdam; seeking monuments, they find half-naked whores.
By Jack Boulware
[04/18/00]

Urge: Naked World
Women are suckers for smelly armpits
But only at certain times of the month, guys.
By Jack Boulware
[04/17/00]

Complete archives for Health & Body

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Besides eyeing a potential john for telltale signs like a hidden gun or a police radio, prostitutes should also now watch out for a crucifix, maybe even one of those Christian fish bumper stickers.

Why? Because a Roman Catholic parish has gone undercover, talking up the gospel to sex workers and hoping to convert them into God-fearing citizens.

Visit the Naked World archive send e-mail to Jack Boulware

Two or three nights a week, 25 to 30 members of St. Sabina's Church split up into teams to cover the city. (Some might say it's an uphill battle, especially on the South Side.) Working in groups of three, the volunteer crusaders offer prostitutes their usual rates, for up to an hour, to hear about Jesus and the Bible (a titillating read in and of itself).

But unlike many police vice squads, members of this group wait until they are formally propositioned for sex before making their moves.

"We ask them how much they charge, and then we tell them we don't want sex," says the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's. "We want to buy a little of their time for sharing our faith."

According to the International Herald Tribune, Pfleger's battalion from the pope's army chalked up 37 "concrete interventions" in its first week of operation. A potpourri of street hustlers, prostitutes and drug dealers took the time to listen to the streetwalking Bible thumpers. Of this motley crew, St. Sabina's says, 10 actually showed up to celebrate Mass and six others are taking steps to change their lives.

Pfleger is known for his unorthodox campaigns against crime and drug use. Three years ago he successfully pushed for City Council bans on tobacco and liquor billboard advertising.

Next thing you know, he'll try to rehabilitate the Chicago Cubs. Somebody should.
salon.com | April 20, 2000

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

  Get a printer-friendly version

  E-mail a friend about this article

  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon