In the Feb. 21 issue of Time, Calvin Trillin answers "the campaign questions that readers have been itching to ask." He posted the following fascinating question: "There are only three rich Episcopalians in this country who are fervently anti-abortion, and every one of them ran for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. Is this a coincidence?"

The equally fascinating answer: "Sort of. Although it's true that George W. Bush, Steve Forbes and John McCain are all from what students of comparative religion call the boarding-school wing of the Episcopal Church, Bush now belongs to a Methodist congregation. He apparently underwent a denominational transformation after a spiritual encounter with Billy Graham, an evangelist preacher whose vision of hell is a world in which he does not get to play golf with the president. It's unclear whether Steve Forbes will continue his financial support of an effort to persuade members of his own congregation to abandon Planned Parenthood and blockade an abortion clinic with their foxhounds."

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Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana has had some notable visitations in his diocese recently. In his journal, published by Churchwork, the diocesan newspaper, Bishop Jenkins recounts those events:

"Listen, I have had people snooze during sermons before, but never like this," he wrote. "Two acolytes did not only doze off, they stretched out in the sanctuary."

And when visiting another congregation, Bishop Jenkins recalled a brunch following the service.

"That was briefly interrupted by a man who burst into the hall screaming obscenities and claiming to be the Klan," he said. "He was ushered right out by women and men, who would have no part of it."

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At the funeral of the Rt. Rev. Joe Harte, retired Bishop of Arizona [TLC, Jan. 16], Bishop Robert Shahan of Arizona used his sermon to tell some interesting tales. After describing the late Bishop Harte as "a true believer, an enthusiastic believer, a contagious believer," he acknowledged "there are hundreds of Joe Harte stories floating around here today."

Bishop Harte corresponded with me on occasion about things he liked, or didn't, in the magazine. It was no surprise when I read this story Bishop Shahan told:

"I will remember Joe as a man who left a wide track in the road called The Church. I actually played golf with a Roman Catholic gentleman recently who asked me if I knew Bishop Harte. He went on to tell me a story of how Bishop Harte was asked to address a group of 30 men who shared a Catholic fellowship years ago. The meeting was in the Westward Ho Hotel, and Bishop Harte stood at the door introducing himself to each man. This was not so remarkable. What was remarkable was that this man saw Joe about two months later in the airport and when they passed by Joe said, "Hi, Matt."

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The behavior of some Anglicans becomes curiouser and curiouser. The Very Rev. Rowan Smith, dean of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa, is pictured in the Sunday Times of Cape Town in full eucharistic vestments with a "devil's tail" protruding from beneath his alb. The photo appeared with an ad for the Out-in-Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In the ad, Dean Smith is shown preaching that "they say homosexuals are the devil's spawn but I don't believe that."

Dean Smith has apologized to cathedral parishioners and to Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and said he had made "a serious error of judgment."

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Note to Bob in Corpus Christi: The parish you visited in Baltimore probably was observing Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on the Sunday you were there. "We shall overcome" is not standard fare in the Episcopal Church.