NCR Today

Barbara Blaine of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) writes on the Ms.Blog the church should not be allowed to conduct an investigation into sex abuse allegations by clergy. She says church investigators can't be trusted.

Read More.

NY Times: Munich Archdiocese was Warned on Priest

Pope’s Letter to Irish Church to be Released Saturday

Catholics Key in Health Care Homestretch

New Allegations Surface in Ireland

Human Rights Groups Protest Release of Guatemalan Colonel who Killed Bishop

Priest Bond Request Denied

Catholics and health care reform came up during the press corps briefing by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today:

Munich Archbishop's residence getting a face lift
Munich
I walked over to the what the local guide book describes as the "Archbishop's palace" this afternoon and saw a crowd out in front. A demonstration, I thought as I approached the group, it's leader speaking into a hand held microphone.

"And if you look up at the third floor, you will see some beautifully carved..."

... Nope, not a demonstration, an Irish tour group and in a moment they were walking on.

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, Reinhard Marx, speaking at a hilltop pilgrimage site north of Nuremberg, expressed “deep shame” today for cases of sexual molestation that have shaken the home region of Pope Benedict, and said he was in favor of changing German law so that church officials would have a greater duty to report suspected child abuse to prosecutors.

But Marx defended the overall integrity of the church, in a give and take with reporters, saying it would never be possible to ensure there is no abuse.

Congressman Dale Kildee, a lifelong pro-life Democrat from Michigan, gave an impassioned defense of his decision to support the final health care bill pending before Congress on a conference call with reporters sponsored by the progressive group Faith in Public Life. “I have always been pro-life,” Kildee said. “I am going to be eighty-one in September and at this stage in my life, I am not going to change my position on abortion and risk my eternal salvation…. I am absolutely convinced that the original intent of the Hyde Amendment is in the Senate bill.”

Kildee supported the Stupak Amendment when it was voted on in the House of Representatives in November. That Amendment failed in the Senate. Kildee noted that the entire health care bill is pro-life insofar as it will help provide coverage to those who currently lack it. “I am a pro-life member of Congress, both the unborn and the born,” Kildee said.

Read the NCR editorial here.

Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida has put up a blog post that shows the ambivalence many bishops feel about the health care bill. His moderate and thoughtful tone is to be applauded. You can read his post here.

Those who have watched Bart Stupak (D-MI) over the years know that he is more a "workhorse" than "showhorse." That's why Rachel Maddow's claims that Stupak is opposing the current health care bill because he wants the publicity strike anyone with any knowledge of the man as ludicrous. (If you click on the link you'll have to endure a short advertisement.)

But I didn't realize, according to this report from The Hill, that he "has never signed up for federal health benefits because he promised voters in 1992 that he wouldn’t until universal healthcare was enacted."

Experts, including some frequent NCR contributors, provide perspective on the German abuse crisis and Benedict XVI.