India, Dec. 29 -- The instruction came the moment I climbed into the van.

"Father, go back and change," my brother said, hands on the steering wheel. "Jeans and a T-shirt. Casuals."

It wasn't a suggestion. It was a security measure.

We were heading to the nursery school that our priory runs. There would be a quick Christmas program: gift distribution, a dance, a few carols, and a blessing. Nothing complicated.

But the ambience in the van had shifted. Joy gave way to cold calculation. My white Dominican habit-the thing that usually opens doors, that says I'm here to help-suddenly it had become something else. Something risky. Something that could draw the ire of a hostile crowd. In a country where extremist groups use religion as a pre...