Scary things. From a reader:

An alarming experience I thought you’d appreciate: I am taking the "Education for Ministry’ class offered by the Diocese of XXXXX.  Last week, as I was waiting patiently for the Old Testament teacher to arrive for our first class, I couldn’t help overhearing the woman in the chair next to me telling another student that she had to finish reading "Angels and Demons" soon so she’d have time to read the Bible and Catechism for our class. I assumed she was reading the book to educate herself about Dan Brown so she could, you know, refute the claims of the books when they came up in an RCIA session or something, since most of us are training to be catechists. But, no, It turns out she’s a HUGE fan…She went on to recommend DaVinci Code to this other student, saying ‘Oh, Catholics who complain about these books just don’t want their faith challenged" and then proclaiming, "I, for one, want to know the truth."

Some folks still think that this is a silly issue. As I related before, sometimes before I start a talk on it, I think it’s a silly issue and wonder how long I’m going to have to keep addressing this stupidity.

But there ya go. And let’s not think this is unique. It’s one of those great underground issues that I’ve decided is just gnawing away at authentic Christian faith, because what it’s doing is delegitimizing the gospels and early Christian witness. It’s reinforcing the idea that many gained from their religious education that the Scriptures are not particularly reliable and that, in the end, what story you buy into is a crap shoot.