Prayer Room at Taipei Airport. It is so refreshing to travel and get a glimpse of civilization away from the rancor of the lunatics, the Elmer Gantrys of cable TV and the politicians looking for votes in dark places.

Gate C3 at Taipei International Airport with a play area and piped in music that is not to everybody’s taste…unless of course you are a nine year old girl…or my daughter, who is 32.

Forget Mad Max, forget Bladerunner, forget The Matrix and all of the rest of those visions of a future of bombed out cities, leather-clad mutants and cyborgs on Harleys. I am looking at the REAL future, a tall, marble-floored tower of soft-spoken beings offering precious gifts of Gucci and Tiffany and YSL, every overpriced name brand on earth, in fact, and a grand piano that plays itself. A world sealed away from grit and random noise, stray animals and poor people.Our future is SHOPPING!More and high-quality videos on connectedtraveler.com

I have toured most of the major cathedrals of Europe, slogged up the narrow stairs of many a major-Duomo, seen enough of the glory of God and the riches of Popes to tempt me to a career change, but what would Jesus think about this place? I am in Taipei, Taiwan to teach a seminar and walk by this little Catholic church every day. Does St. Peter have a place for weird architects? The circular designs are typically Chinese, but there is something about the swoopy-doopy steeple that doesn’t quite work.