LAS VEGAS

Many people are surprised that "sin city" Las Vegas is really quite a conservative place. There is a Mormon church on almost every corner, and there are more Catholic churches there than casinos. Not so surprising, however, is the fact that some worshippers at Sunday services will give casino chips rather than cash when the basket is passed. Since they get chips from so many different casinos, the churches have devised a method to collect the offerings. The churches send all their collected chips to a nearby Franciscan Monastery for sorting, and then the chips are taken to the casinos of origin and cashed in. This is done by a chip monk.