I'm listening to Jewel Kilcher, Sarah McLachlan and the Indigo Girls singing Silent Night ...they sound totally divine.

You know, I went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and the only thing I can call it is a farce. Guys standing just outside church smoking cigarettes, women in outfits that left nothing to imagination - no reverence, and quite obviously, no faith.

I wonder what will happen to the Catholic Church in the next hundred years. Will it even be around? We hear so many stories of young priests falling in love and leaving the priesthood to get married; or leaving for other reasons - dissatisfaction with the system being the primary one. When there is no one to lead, who will follow?

And what about other religions? I've been following the news on the arrest of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi for his alleged role in a murder of a temple employee. My Hindu friends tell me he is an important figure; you have some sections (mostly politically motivated) who believe he is above the law. But I'd like to know how ordinary followers of the faith feel? Do they feel cheated, betrayed ...or just very angry?

With this being the state of affairs, you begin to wonder if organised religion, as we know it, will continue to serve the purpose it has for thousands of years. Or has it already gone and hit the self-destruct button? ...and when it is finally destroyed, will that be the end to all the world's problems?

Peace, love, and a guiding star.