From Newsday:

A convicted abusive priest tells of the abuse he received as a teen at the hands of a priest and, in a detailed interview with an attorney that has found its way to print, describes how diocesan personnel (Rockville Centre, LI) dealt with it

Archbishop Dolan moving on the abuse issue; supports mediation

Somehow, I missed this excellent essay on Catholic writers by Paul Elie, who is coming out with a book on the same subject in April called The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage

Sounds fab.

For a change, Joseph ate an excellent dinner...(his interest in meals usually peaks with his breakfast oatmeal and steadily descends from that point on)

You can see why:

A fellow can really work up an appetite shoveling the driveway:

For friends and family, who should be the only ones interested, a few more photos from today here. (scroll down)

I hadn't heard that an adminstrator at UNC-Chapel Hill had threatened to disallow the InterVarsity Fellowship because, well, it has this policy of only allowing Christians to be leaders in the organization, and that smacks of blatant discrimination, of course.

The president of the university has, mercifully, come out in favor of sanity

Cardinal Maida mentions life issues at Granholm prayer service

One of the most controversial issues along Michigan's political trail -- abortion -- was raised during the service by Adam Cardinal Maida, Roman Catholic archbishop of Detroit, who was critical during the campaign of her pro-choice views. As anti-abortion demonstrators picketed outside the cathedral, Maida said the most fundamental of all rights is "the right to life, from the first moment of conception to the last gasp of breath." Asked later how she reacted to the cardinal's pointed remarks, Granholm deftly replied: "I very much respect his opinion," as well as those of "other faith leaders."

An interesting story from Chicago about one of the 100 consecrated virgins in the United States

Riddick’s religious journey began when she was an 18-year-old student attending Northeastern Illinois University. She had started to pursue a degree in music, but felt drawn to a more religious vocation. Although her family was not religious, she decided she wanted to live a life of prayer, simplicity and poverty, like St. Francis of Assisi, she said. “That year I left school and visited 20 convents in the Midwest and the East Coast, but none of those religious communities interested me,” Riddick said. “I was looking for a life of simplicity and poverty.” Unfortunately the religious orders she visited did not fulfill her idealistic viewpoint. Many of the convents had older sisters who weren’t living a communal life, she said. And these convents did not fulfill her idea of living a simple and prayerful existence.

No surprise there...

Good stuff Catholics do:

A small Catholic hospital in rural Kentucky serves the poor