In Boston today, a priest was deposed in a sexual abuse-related civil lawsuit of another priest, admitted his suspicisions, expressed regret that he'd not acted on them and urged the accused priest to come clean about the whole matter.

Hoatson said he was not surprised earlier this year when Garry Garland and David Carney accused Ryan of molesting them and photographing them naked when they were students at Catholic Memorial two decades ago. Church authorities placed Ryan on administrative leave after the allegations first surfaced in March. At the time, Ryan was a parish priest and a vicar who oversaw 16 parishes.Hoatson, who now works in New Jersey but who was a teacher at Catholic Memorial in the 1980s, said he had misgivings over the large amounts of time Ryan -- a former chaplain at the school -- was spending with student athletes.

"I couldn't understand why a former chaplain who held a big archdiocesan job was still coming back ... to be involved in the football and basketball programs," Hoatson said. "After all, we had a chaplain in the school and I was supposed to be the moderator of the football program. Yet Father Fred continued to insert himself in the lives of the young men who played football and other sports," he said. Hoatson said he was sorry that he did not follow through on his hunch about Ryan.

As you probably already know, Mother Teresa's miracle was recognized and her beatification has been set for October 19

In honor of Katie's piano recital last night, I post this story:

Man arrested for refusing to make way for a piano recital scheduled for a church

Brunklaus said she had received a request from Comfort-Waldorf six weeks prior asking to use the church for a piano recital so that the children could show their parents how much progress they had made. Brunklaus agreed.Services at the church are over shortly before 1 p.m., she said, and Traugott often makes use of the quiet time to use the church for further prayers. This day, she said, the church had held a Christmas party downstairs and the recital was scheduled for around 3 p.m. But at 2:45 p.m., "he was still going strong," she said.Asked repeatedly to stop, or at least to pray silently, Traugott refused, she said. Delayed by the confrontation, the recital finally had to be moved downstairs, the players using a portable piano. Brunklaus called police.

The guy seems to have been protesting the fact that the Blessed Sacrament was not going to be removed from the tabernacle during the recital, which, I understand, it should be in this kind of situation....

A fascinating piece from Andrew Greeley on discoveries about the history of Christianity in China

And this is a surprise?

Foreign born Hispanics hold more traditional moral views than those born in the US

Among foreign-born Hispanics, 51 percent said they found divorce acceptable, compared with 65 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics, 59 percent of blacks and 74 percent of whites. There were similar differences among those who found abortion acceptable: 14 percent of foreign-born Hispanics, compared with 29 percent of native-born Hispanics, 28 percent of blacks and 43 percent of whites. In addition, 91 percent of foreign-born Latinos said they thought it was better for children to live in their parents' home until they were married. That was compared with 57 percent of native-born Latinos, 46 percent of whites and 47 percent of blacks."You can call it 'The Melting Pot', you can call it assimilation, call it whatever you want, but what is clear here is there is a process of change going on" in terms of Hispanic attitudes, Suro said.

At the moment, we're eating oatmeal, reading the paper, and watching the Wiggles Christmas special. Do you know what's striking about it?

Christmas is mentioned. Frequently. Jesus is mentioned. They just sang an Irish song about birds coming to visit the Holy Family, complete with children acting out the song.

Do you know how refreshing that is? Do you know that we're just about sick to death of "Holiday specials" and "Holidays With Joe" (of Blue's Clues)? Do you know how frankly shocked I was to see those radical Wiggles thumbing their Aussie noses at our American evisceration of Christmas?

Oh. So not everyone has a child under five years of age? Pardon me.

The Wiggles.

Well, I don't see the problem. Mattel has decided to make a pregnant Barbie-type doll (hey, she's married, with a 3-year old. And she's a doll, remember.)

Not everyone likes it

The pregnant Midge comes with a protruding, rounded belly. Toymaker Mattel veered from reality, however, in the way Midge delivers the baby. Lift off the belly section, and the curled up infant drops out. Because Midge's pregnant look is achieved with a detachable part and tiny magnets, her instant flat stomach returns far faster than any abs an exercise machine can deliver.While the Yorktown Wal-Mart thought it best to sidestep an issue that seemed to bother some of its customers, other Hampton Roads Wal-Marts have done well with Midge.Both the Newport News and Hampton stores sold out of the pregnant doll, store officials said....Even though the doll was a hit, several shoppers at the Hampton Wal-Mart complained, said Kitty Worley, who works in the toy section of that store. Some customers told her they wouldn't buy the new Midge dolls because they didn't want their little girl playing with a pregnant doll and that the Barbie line of dolls is supposed to be a role model for young girls.

Yeah. We're not bothered by modeling unrealistic body images, but we're bothered by a baby.

Logic strikes again.