The National Catholic Reporter (click) is one of my favorite Catholic publications, and it has been reporting the sex abuse crisis almost weekly since 1983. It has an interesting collection of articles that follow up on the recent summit on sexual abuse of children. I think the summit was meant to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive policy, and I expect a "zero tolerance" policy to come out within the next few months. If the end of the year comes and nothing has happened, then I think Pope Francis will have lost all credibility.

I don't put much stock in the attempt to get Roger Cardinal Mahony barred from speaking at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress late in March. Since the 1970s, Mahony has been one of the most eloquent spokespersons for immigrant workers here in California. I have a ticket to hear his presentation, and I'm looking forward to it.

In the early days of the sex abuse scandal, Mahony dragged his feet and was reluctant to release personnel records and such. But he was one of the first to change course and assist in the criminal prosecution and church punishment of priests who were sex offenders. I think he's a good guy, although the conservatives have worked hard to smear him during his entire career.

-Joe-