I found the article Polish Priest Checks Fingerprints For Mass Attendance (January 29) to be quite humorous.

I was intrigued that one female student interviewed said it was convenient and "more comfortable" than standing in line to get the priest's signature in notebooks to verify their attendance at Catholic Masses in that devoutly Catholic country. I suppose that is one advantage to it.

I feel that verification of attendance at church is OK so long as it doesn't go beyond that. What's next: Eyelid sensors to detect whether someone is distracted or falls asleep? Nasal monitors to detect snoring in public?

I personally believe that humans must have a sphere of freedom and that includes breathing-room to thrive or to fail on their own merits without fear of being under a microscope continuously 100 per cent of the time.

A fidgety child is not necessarily a bad child. Technology can be helpful in aiding clerics, but I think that if priests and bishops utilise their own eyes and take needed souls "under their wing" instead of looking for faults and failings, everyone will benefit without the unfeeling and artificial number-counts of scanners and monitors doing a headcount.

Faith lies deep within the human heart... and, so far, no scanner can detect it with absolute certainty.