India, Oct. 26 -- "Have you taken permission to believe?" I can almost hear an official asking, adjusting his spectacles and searching for the appropriate form. "God may have called you, but has He submitted the necessary documents? These heavenly communications must come through the proper channel, preferably in triplicate, with two passport photographs."

Jesuit deacon Basil Hadde's planned ordination in Chhattisgarh was reportedly postponed after officials demanded documents concerning his family's conversion to Christianity in 1995. Imagine preparing to become a priest, only to discover that somebody has reopened your spiritual admission file from thirty years ago. Even universities usually lose interest sooner.

But beneath the pape...