"Honestly, it's like hearing your grandmother swear"

That's how one blogger described his feelings when he discovered that the English edition of Pope Benedict's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, contains the American slang term: "downsizing."

I can kind of see his point about "downsizing" being an infelicitous translation of the Italian riduzione and the German reduzierung. But then, never having heard either of my grandmothers swear, I have nothing to compare it to.

What do you make of it?

Rabbis Alarmed By "Converts" to Judaism Who Are Stealth Christian Missionaries

(IsraeINN.com) The Chief Rabbinate has been given a list of more than 60 recent converts to Judaism who continue to believe in Jesus — and are active missionaries.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, chairman and founder of the anti-missionary and anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization, met in recent days with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and provided him with the list. Rabbi Amar was reportedly “shocked” at seeing that the Chief Rabbinate had authorized the conversions.

An immediate solution was found for the future, however. Rabbi Lifshitz presented Rabbi Amar with a list of 17 questions that should be asked of any prospective convert. Under the assumption that the missionaries will either not lie straight out, or that the specific questions will help detect the lies, it is hoped that missionaries will be spotted and weeded out from the conversion rolls.

Yad L’Achim had prepared the list of names, ID numbers and addresses of more than 60 people who were active in missionary groups before, during and after their long conversion process to Judaism. The "converts" were then accepted as members of religious communities, and their children were accepted into religious schools. . . . (continue reading)