FLORIDA JUMPS THE GUN
FLORIDA'S state parliament has jumped the gun in the drama over the US presidency.
It gave Mr George W Bush the 25 electoral college votes he needs to take the top job.
The move blatantly ignores the US Supreme Court, which is to rule on whether votes should be recounted manually in Florida - the only chance for Mr Al Gore to become the President.
You've heard about disputed chads...
Now, read about St ChadBY LIM LEE CHING
Dec 13, 2000THERE is a new patron saint for disputed elections and his name is neither Gore nor Bush.
This Chad has more to do with those bits of ballot papers at the centre of the disputed US presidential elections than just sharing the same name.
St Chad's sudden popularity came about after the Washington Post reported his story, finding parallels with the current constitutional crisis in the US.
The paper also declared, jokingly, that St Chad would be the perfect patron saint of disputed elections.
St Chad was born in the 620s in a place called Northumbria in England. He later went to Ireland as a monk and was also ordained as a priest there.
In 665, Wilfrid, the Abbot of Ripon, was summoned to be consecrated as the Bishop of Northumbria. When he went missing, St Chad was summoned to be consecrated in his place.
Wilfrid re-appeared in 667. When Theodore of Tarsus became the Archbishop in 669 and discovered that Northumbria had two different Bishops, he declared St Chad's consecration invalid.
In true humility, St Chad was reported to have said: "I willingly resign the office, for I never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, in obedience, submitted to undertake it."
According to St Chad's website, the Archbishop was so moved by St Chad's reply that he completed his consecration anyway and St Chad was sent in the same year to become the Bishop of Lichfield where his parish still remains today.
St Chad died on March 2, 672.
And in true enthusiastic fashion, the American people have embraced him as one of their own.
Since the Washington Post report, the website of St Chad's church in Lichfield in central England has reported a surge in hit rates.
While it used to get five to six hits a day, the site now registers as many as 16,000 visitors on some days.
As for Vice-President Al Gore and Governor George W Bush, they should perhaps stop haggling about those paper chads and start meditating on the saintly one.
For more information, visit the website of the Parish of St Chad, Lichfield, at: http://www.saintchads.org.uk/.
