Converting the bear

A Catholic Priest, a Baptist Preacher and a Rabbi were all serving as Chaplains in northern Ontario. They would meet frequently to talk shop. The comment was made that preaching to people was fairly easy; the real challenge would be to preach to a bear and try to convert it! They decided to experiment. All three would go into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it to their religion. A week later, the three men met again. Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches and had bandages on his body, began: "Well," he said, "I went to find a bear. When I found him, I read to him The Sermon on the Mount. Well, that bear began to slap me around, so I grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and made the sign of the cross on his head and he became as gentle as a lamb." Reverend Billy Bob spoke next He was in a wheelchair, and had his arms and legs in casts. He exclaimed, "Brothers, I went out and I found a bear; then I read to him from The Old Testament, but that bear wanted nothing to do with me. I took hold of him and we began to wrestle, until we fell into the creek. I quickly dunked and baptised him. He became as gentle as a lamb. Hallelujah!" The Priest and the Reverend looked down at the Rabbi, lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction - IV's and monitors running in and out of him, in really bad shape. The Rabbi looked up and said: "Looking back on it, circumcision may not have been the best way to start."