Angel >> ANGEL Priests who face reality At the Southern Africa Bishop's Conference this month, Bishop Kevin Dowling, a South African priest, will urge the Catholic Church to rethink its preposterous ban on the use of condoms. Considering the continent's catastrophic rate of HIV/AIDS, it's an idea which is way overdue. Those in the Church who truly value the sanctity of life may finally get their voices heard. Insect > Quebec's lazy conservation efforts For the third time in 12 months, the provincial government has delayed a plan to protect wildlife areas from industrial annihilation. Nonplussed environmental groups claim Quebec, which last year committed to protecting eight per cent of its territory from industrial pillaging by 2005, has set aside less than one. The government is saying three. Even Mike "Slash and Burn" Harris's Ontario has reached the eight per cent international norm. Time to catch the hell up and see the forest for the trees.

Insect >> BAR BOOZE SUPPLY BLUES Gordana Govic of St-Denis' Bistro 2000 says she's having a hard time stomaching a decision taken by the SAQ to change their distribution system, which until recently welcomed restaurant and bar suppliers to a dedicated warehouse near the Lachine Canal. There bar and restaurant staff could find ample parking, knowledgeable assistants and industrial supplies of the sauce required by businesses trying to please their alcohol-minded clients. But four months ago SAQ administrators transformed the restaurant-supply warehouse into offices for their administrators. Bars and restaurants were advised to shop for their booze at the nearest outlet with the rest of us proles. "Now the product is difficult to get, every week there are things missing," says Goric. "Even when I call and order in, there are certain things like wine or Ricard or tequila--non-specialty items--that are not available. They're products they should have on hand all the time." Goric says restaurant and bar owners were not surveyed prior to the closing of the warehouse. She says she was told the warehouse was closed in order to quell an unresolved conflict with unionized employees. But SAQ flak Linda Bouchard says the decision to close the warehouse was based on strictly administrative questions. "All changes provoke reactions," says Bouchard. "We'd need more information on Goric's case to see if we could help her." Another pencil pusher at the fabulously profitable government booze monopoly plans to meet with Goric this week to discuss her complaints. : -- George Maddux

MUSLIMS UNITE! At a Concordia conference on Monday, Dr. Tariq Ramadan, a leading European Muslim author and thinker, called on his co-religionists to change their attitude toward Islam if they hope to bridge the divisions within their religious community.
In town as part of a two-week eastern Canada lecture tour on Islam, Ramadan urged the 400 conference participants to "take a moment in your day to think, 'What did I do good today?' Not just, 'What did I do?' If we did that we wouldn't have 60 divisions in Canada."
Many audience members agreed. "A lot of people are divided by technicalities like where you come from. Once we talk to each other we understand," says Adil Hamdouna, an IT worker.
"I thought it was exactly what was needed and many people were enthralled by the topic and the style in which it was treated," says Jean-Mathieu Potvin, 29, one of the event's coordinators and member of the Muslim Research Institute. "These are things that are not talked about enough.
"I've been a Muslim myself since '95 but from what I've observed, the spiritual side is something that is not very exploited. Many people put emphasis on the external aspects of Islam. But it's about really making an effort to internalize it." Potvin says disunity is a particularly big challenge in Montreal, which he considers "the most diverse Muslim community in the world." : --Craig Segal