Bread upon the Waters

Father Edmund Nadolny lives by the Bible, though he does not always know which part. Two years ago, he thought he was testing the "Parable of the Talents" when he borrowed $20,000 and gave it to 50 investors who would share their profits with the church. In the Bible, two servants return with profits and a third is hurtled into "outer darkness." In Father Nadolny's case, only five came back with earnings. Loss: about $18,000.

Father Nadolny's losses got publicity -- not surprisingly, for he oversees radio and television for the Hartford archdiocese and has his own radio call-in show -- and the parable changed, to the story of bread cast upon the waters. He received 23,000 sympathetic letters fat with checks. Father Nadolny's deficit became a surplus of about $190,000, given to the diocesan radio and television fund.

Now all he has to do is re-enact the story of the loaves and fishes. Thousands of other letters asked Father Nadolny to share his talents again. Said he: "I got $210,000 in donations, but I got requests for more than $10 million."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.