"A labyrinth is a very serene place made for spiritual meditation," Murez said. "The neighborhood needs some healing. The site looked like a scar." After months of plotting and planting, the Oakwood Labyrinth at 6^th and San Juan avenues was officially unveiled on Saturday   World Labyrinth Day.

Although passers-by and many neighbors are delighted by the change, the dozen or so elderly churchgoers (oldest member: 94) remain divided on the merits. "My neighbors told me it was a pagan-type thing," said Carol Powell, a member who lives a few blocks from the church. "My concern is you don't walk in a circle. You come inside the church to worship."

Moore and Smith said they have done their best to explain to the congregation the concept of a labyrinth as a path for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. After all, one of the most famous prayer labyrinths, dating from about 1200, is embedded in the floor at Chartres Cathedral near Paris.

Alyson Horn, who lives across the street, said the labyrinth "creates a feeling of community and     actually ends up making the area safer. It changes the energy."

But several European officials attending a high-level meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Council countered by saying that the market, not politicians, would determine what currencies countries would keep on hand for reserves.

"The dollar has proved not to be a stable store of value, which is a requisite for a stable reserve currency," the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 said.

The report supports replacing the dollar with the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset that is used as a unit of payment on IMF loans and is made up of a basket of currencies.

"A new global reserve system could be created, one that no longer relies on the United States dollar as the single major reserve currency," the U.N. report said.

The report said a new reserve system "must not be based on a single currency or even multiple national currencies but instead, should permit the emission of international liquidity -- such as SDRs -- to create a more stable global financial system."

Russia and China have also supported the idea.

Following the 373 to 323 vote on Thursday, General Assembly moderator Cynthia Bolbach said in a press conference that the action they took "is just part of an ongoing conversation Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been having for the past 15 years" or so.

Bolbach, who supports the "full inclusion" of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) persons, drew parallels between the debate on homosexual ordination and the debate from 70 years ago on women leaders.

She noted that society has now moved on to pretty much full inclusiveness while the church continues to try to decide how it feels about the role of gays and lesbians in ordained leadership.

"The standards that the governing bodies will be held to is to evaluate the totality of a candidate's life, to interview them and see what their gifts are, what their talents are, what their whole life is about rather than one aspect of their life and ... all of this to be done under the Lordship of Jesus Christ," she contended. "I think that is an incredibly high standard."