Spirit Code

Does God have a ZIP code? 

"Deliver to the oldest Patrick Murphy first."

That's been the practice in the Irish post office for many years. If you write a letter to Patrick Murphy in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick, your message might not get to the right man. In fact, it could pass through several other guys with the same name.

Towns in many parts of rural Ireland don't use house numbers. Some addresses even lack street names. And unlike the rest of Europe, they don't have numbers called postal codes -- what we would call ZIP codes here in the United States.

So when a 40-year-old man named Patrick Murphy moved to Abbeyfeale, he became the third Patrick Murphy in the neighborhood. None were related. All had different homes. But their addresses were exactly the same.

The postman first delivered mail to the Patrick Murphy who had lived in the village for the longest time. Then he would pass it on.

"My neighbors would get it first," said the new Patrick Murphy. "They'd have a good read, and they'd go, 'No it's probably not...