"Abuse potential"

Gold-plated garden gnomes? I'd have thought this sort of thing was more Swiss than Kraut.

At All Saints Catholic Church, here in Cedar Rapids, a hotbed of vinegary potato and three-bean salads, that particular gesture is used by parishioners to bless the eucharistic ministers chosen every Sunday to visit the sick and homebound. Older members with longer memories usually manage to spread the fingers slightly, or introduce a slight crook in the elbow.