Thursday we report on gay Italian priests who are protesting the Vatican document on homosexuality. Stacy Meichtry writes from the Vatican City: Describing their sexuality as an asset to the Catholic priesthood, a group of gay Italian clergy has issued an open letter that criticizes a recent Vatican document on homosexuality. Signed by 39 priests, the letter is a rare demonstration of open dissent in a country where public debate over the new Vatican guidelines has been relatively muted. The letter was posted late Wednesday (Dec. 14) on the Web sites Gaynews.it, a gay advocacy news outlet, and Adista, a leftist Catholic news agency that originally leaked the guidelines days before their official publication in late November. According to Ludovica Eugenio, an Adista staffer, the identities of t hose who signed-26 diocesan priests and 13 others from religious orders-were not made public out of concern that doing so would jeopardize their standing in the church.

As we approach the 200th birthday of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on December 23, Adelle M. Banks reports on the diversity of the expanding church: An interracial team of Mormon teenagers and men presents the sacrament of bread and water, passing the elements to congregants in silver trays. The congregation sings “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” with blacks joining in with Latinos and whites. The scene illustrates how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, celebrating the 200th birthday of founder Joseph Smith, has expanded far beyond white Utahans to include-and some say embrace-people of color. While the church doesn’t keep statistics by race, there are now more Mormons abroad than in the United States, highlighted by growth over nine years of 133 percent in Africa, 64 percent in the Caribbean and 51 percent in Central America.

Rachel Pomerance looks at the game of dreidel traditionally played by children during Hanukkah, and the concern raised by some about its potential link to gambling: Is Hanukkah a gambler’s holiday? Well, it has the potential. Among the festivities associated with the holiday is the children’s game of dreidel-a penny-betting game involving a spinning top. Innocent enough. But at a time in American culture when gambling is increasingly popular-with poker matches online and on television and increased venues for legalized gambling-some say the holiday could provide a window into abuse, and a key moment for examining the issue of gambling. Others in the Jewish community see the connection to pennies wagered over dreidels as an overreaction at best.