A crash course in rending red tape

Forget about the parting of the Red Sea. Sister Joanna O'Meara is getting a crash course in the parting of red tape.

You might remember O'Meara, a native of England who came to Minneapolis to become a nun but was forced to leave the country before she was done with her training. At issue was three months: After five years of volunteer work and training, she needed 90 more days to meet the criteria for her order, but her visa was good for only five years, and the government denied requests for an extension.

Rejecting offers by Rep. Keith Ellison, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and then-Sen. Norm Coleman to intervene on her behalf, she left the country on Dec. 4, 2007. She returned to the Twin Cities this week, still battling an ever-changing myriad of rules and regulations and still determined to persevere.

The whole time she was gone, "I knew that I was meant to come back," she said. "Once you commit yourself to something, you must believe and trust that it will happen. That belief and trust will carry you through."

She almost came back in December, but just as her paperwork was about to be finalized, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, changed its regulations. She called the setback "devastating," but -- as she did in 2007 -- she took the news gracefully.

"A lot of people were using religious visas fraudulently," she said. "They'd use it to get into the country and then vanish. So they [the government] added requirements about proving employment."

Immigration officials verified her position at the Visitation of Holy Mary in north Minneapolis in early February, but by then she had lost her place in line at British immigration. "That extended it another six months," she said.

Now even more months are being added. Because of the extended break in her training, her order has asked her to repeat the last two years. But she doesn't mind because she's where she wants to be.

"This is home to me now," she said, "and it's good to be home."

The hand-written Bible project, which included a stop in the Twin Cities in November, has wrapped up. For those of you waiting to see your handwriting published, plans are to have the sheets photocopied, printed and bound in time for Christmas.

Officially known as the Bible Across America Tour, the nine-month project involved 31,173 people in more than 100 cities, with each person writing one verse of the New International Version of the Bible. The tour was organized by Zondervan Publishing House, which has started prepping the book for publication.

It will be bigger than most Bibles. Not only do the pages need to be large enough that the handwriting is legible, but the publisher is adding an appendix that will list the names of all the contributing writers.

Traffic reports and religious news rarely overlap, but that's going to change this afternoon. In what is apparently the first time ever, the city is allowing Broadway Avenue in north Minneapolis to be closed for a block party that is sponsored by Shiloh Temple International Ministries.

From noon to 4 p.m., the street will be closed between Girard and Fremont Avs. N. for Traffic Jam on Broadway. The party, which not only will take over the street but spill into the temple's parking lot, includes food, music, speakers and kids' entertainment.

Things don't end this afternoon. Every day through July 13, the temple is hosting a community fair that includes everything from job-search help to free haircuts for the homeless. The hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily in the parking lot. The temple's address is 1201 W. Broadway.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392