Top Vatican officials ”” including the future Pope Benedict XVI ”” did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger. It is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

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In spite of high-profile efforts to improve the reading skills of the USA’s poorest schoolchildren over the past several years, their reading abilities barely improved last year compared with 2007, results of a federally administered test show.

Reading scores essentially didn’t budge in 2009, both for students overall and minority students, according to results issued Wednesday on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. Fourth-graders’ scores were unchanged at 221 points on a 500-point scale, and those of eighth-graders rose just one point, from 263 to 264.

Likewise, achievement gaps between white, African-American and Hispanic students changed only slightly since 2007, though in fourth grade, the difference between white and African-American students’ scores has tightened six points since 1992. Overall, though, average scores in both grades have risen just four points since then.

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A young man in El Salvador, Luis González, told me recently: “Monsignor Romero provided a means through which social protest could be expressed. If a poor person said that beans were expensive, they were killed. No one could talk. But he could say those kinds of things.

Thirty years on from his death, Romero’s life and murder is a challenge to the church and to all believers: are we prepared to actually put that power at the service of others, and to fight for justice for the world’s poor and marginalised, whatever the cost to ourselves?

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(ACNS) The Episcopal Church of El Salvador denounces before the general public and the international community the murder attempt that Bishop Barahona and two of his closest collaborators suffered.

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Avatars and Mad Hatters are already performing before American audiences in 3-D, and Shrek is coming soon. Now, a national Catholic television network is throwing priests into the mix.

CatholicTV debuted 3-D programs Tuesday in an effort to reach younger people and to make the faith message more vivid. The network posted several 3-D shows on the Internet, released its monthly magazine in 3-D – complete with glasses – and said it will eventually broadcast some programs in 3-D.

CatholicTV’s director, the Rev. Robert Reed, said he’d been planning to introduce 3-D well before the success of James Cameron’s movie “Avatar” or the 3-D “Alice in Wonderland.”

“It’s a way for us to show that we believe the message we have is relevant, and we’re going to use every possible avenue to bring that message to people,” said Reed, whose network reaches 5 million to 6 million homes nationwide through various cable providers.

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Under pressure by Massachusetts prosecutors, Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it would reduce mortgage-loan balances as much as 30% for thousands of troubled borrowers, in what could presage a wider government effort to encourage banks to offer debt reduction to ease the mortgage crisis.

The plan is one of the boldest moves yet to address the plight of millions of U.S. homeowners who are “under water,” owing more on their homes than they’re worth. It could make it easier for the Obama administration to move in a similar direction with its existing loan-modification program, although senior government officials and many bankers remain very wary of offering to cut loan balances as the main way of helping distressed borrowers.

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St. Paul’s Church of Visalia has chosen to fight attempts by the Episcopal Church to seize its property including the stately 60-year-old brick church complex at Hall and Main Streets.

The Rev. Richard James, pastor of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, said the Fresno law firm of Penner, Bradley and Simonian has been hired to represent the St. Paul’s congregation in court.

“This move was necessitated by legal action taken against St. Paul’s by the Episcopal Church and the Rev. Jerry Lamb Bishop of the newly formed Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. .Lamb is seeking claim to St. Paul’s property for a small group which broke away from the congregation after it voted by a large majority to remain a part of the original Diocese of the San Joaquin, said James.

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An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation’s debate over whether to soften drug laws.

The number of valid signatures reported by Los Angeles County, submitted minutes before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline, put the measure well beyond the 433,971 it needed to be certified. Supporters turned in 694,248 signatures, collecting them in every county except Alpine. County election officials estimated that 523,531 were valid.

The measure’s main advocate, Richard Lee, an Oakland marijuana entrepreneur, savored the chance to press his case with voters that the state’s decades-old ban on marijuana is a failed policy.

“We’re one step closer to ending cannabis prohibition and the unjust laws that lock people up for cannabis while alcohol is not only sold openly but advertised on television to kids every day,” he said.

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[GREG] COLLARD: It’s not just a Charlotte problem. U.S. Census figures show almost two-thirds of African-American kids don’t have a biological father living at home, and that can lead to other issues. A Justice Department report found the incarceration rate for black men in 2008 was six-and-a-half times that of white men.

Mr. WARREN BROWN (Bishop): We’re not just going to visit you in prison, we’re going to try to keep you out of prison.

COLLARD: That’s Bishop Warren Brown speaking this month in Columbia, South Carolina, at what was billed The Great Gathering. Almost 7,000 people attended a meeting of the major black Methodist denominations: the AME, AME Zion and CME.

Mr. BROWN: We recognize that oftentimes we feel that we will deal with our young black men in the eighth or tenth grade. That’s too late. We’ve got to work with them out of kindergarten.

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Since Oaktree Development, the co-developer of the St. James property, does not anticipate starting construction until after the 2009-2010 school year, the Kesher School will have until then to relocate to between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet of space that can accommodate up to eight classrooms and a common area.

Esterson said they have been looking at sites in Cambridge and Somerville, specifically near bus routes for student accessibility, and more importantly, a location with natural light.

“The program deserves a better space,” he said. “Church basements are cheap, but there are none left in Cambridge.”

For the last several months, Beth Rubenstein, assistant city manager for Community Development, said Oaktree and church representatives have been seeking the necessary permits and approvals to build housing and additional office and program space at the site of the former Cambridge Car Wash and the historic church property at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Beech Street.

The city’s Planning Board has approved a special permit to build. The Historical Commission has approved the project “in principle” with a number of conditions. A hearing has been scheduled for April 1.

“We are still not completely happy with the details,” said Historical Commission Executive Director Charles Sullivan.

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Many who call themselves conservatives propose to cast aside even government programs that have stood the test of time. They seem to imagine a world in which government withers away, a phrase that comes from Friedrich Engels, not Buckley. Or they tie themselves up in unruly contradictions, declaring simultaneously that they are dead-set against government-run health care and passionate defenders of Medicare.

And while modern conservatism has usually supported the market against the state, its oldest and most durable brand understood that the market was an imperfect instrument. True conservatives may give “two cheers for capitalism,” as Irving Kristol put it in the title of one of his books, but never three.

Perhaps I have just fallen into the very trap I warned against, seeking a conservatism that corrects, but doesn’t oppose, progressivism.

But to my mind, conservatism has always made its greatest contribution as a corrective force that seeks to preserve the best of what we have. As our long and bitter health care debate winds to a close, might proponents of such a conservatism find an opening? Are they still there?

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Poor Bart Stupak. The man tried to be a hero for the unborn, and then, when all the power of the moment was in his frail human hands, he dropped the baby. He genuflected when he should have dug in his heels and gave it up for a meaningless executive order.

Now, in the wake of his decision to vote for a health-care bill that expands public funding for abortion, he is vilified and will forever be remembered as the guy who Stupaked health-care reform and the pro-life movement….

Stupak, too, knew that the executive order was merely political cover for him and his pro-life colleagues. He knew it because several members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explained it to him, according to sources. The only way to prevent public funding for abortion was for his amendment to be added to the Senate bill.

Clearly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the president didn’t want that. What they did want was the abortion funding that the Senate bill allowed.

Thus, the health-care bill passed because of a mutually understood deception — a pretense masquerading as virtue. No wonder Stupak locked his doors and turned off his phones on Sunday, according to several pro-life lobbyists who camped outside his office.

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In diplomacy, no news is usually bad news. On Tuesday Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, met President Obama in talks that stretched over a period of three and a half hours. But Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu failed to pose for a single photograph afterwards, or provide even a cursory joint statement. What had made it impossible for the two men to present even a mask of optimism and agreement? The silence fuelled suspicions that relations between Israel and its closest ally are at their lowest ebb for decades.

The cause of the impasse is the Israeli settlements in Arab east Jerusalem. Mr Netanyahu’s position has been that the settlements are nonnegotiable, setting Israel on a collision course with Mr Obama. Israel’s timing could scarcely be worse. In January, Israel sparked a row with Turkey over a diplomatic snub. And this week Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat in the belief that Mossad had forged British passports to effect an assassination in Dubai. So Israel has snubbed the world’s most powerful nation, alienated its closest Muslim ally and infuriated Britain. After three own goals in quick succession, how many more simultaneous problems can Israel handle?

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We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that we who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 131

O God, who by the example of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ hast taught us the greatness of true humility, and dost call us to watch with him in his passion: Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

On a related note, the bishops did not formally discuss the Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to the scheduled consecration of the Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool as a Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles. That statement was not on the bishops’ agenda, said the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Price, provisional bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh and secretary of the House of Bishops.

Nor did the bishops discuss a statement by bishops and rectors within Communion Partners who dissociated themselves from the election and scheduled consecration of Canon Glasspool.

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As a midwife in Britain’s ever-expanding National Health Service, Rachel Voller has been one of many millions who have benefited from the Labour government’s decade-long spending boom.

Her pay has risen over 11 years by more than 20 percent in real terms, to £35,000, or $53,000. And she is due for a 2.5 percent increase this year.

As Britain confronts the challenge of reducing its deficit of 12 percent of gross domestic product ”” second in size only to Greece’s among European countries ”” Ms. Voller, 34, is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her small piece of the pie.

“We work hard and struggle to make ends meet ”” but they are the ones that get the bonuses,” she said, as she and a small group of colleagues gathered in front of Royal Bank of Scotland’s headquarters in London on Monday to sneer at investment bankers and pre-emptively protest any government wage or job cuts.

Yet despite the financial meltdown and the worst recession since World War II, Britain is showing little appetite for taking a knife to a welfare state that by some measures has become the largest in Europe.

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St. Mark’s Episcopal Church will shut its doors forever in May, bringing to a close a 180-year run of ministering in Warren.

Church officials got word from the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island about two weeks ago that poor finances were behind the diocese’s decision to shutter the church following final services on Sunday, May 2.

While not necessarily surprising, the news was sad, said the church’s pastor.

“We knew in the beginning of the year that we couldn’t pay our bills,” the Rev. James Verber said. “We’re small, we have a lot of retired people, and they don’t have the funds to pay the bills. The diocese made a financial decision.”

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While the Episcopal Church has responded to questions and requests put to it by the instruments of unity over the past seven years, it has not until now invited its theologians and scholars to tackle the theological and doctrinal issues at stake in this great debate.

—From Same Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church offered by The Theology Committee of the House of Bishops (see the post just below this one), page 84

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops, concluding its six-day retreat meeting at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas, has posted a draft of the long-awaited 95-page report titled “Same-Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church” on the College of Bishops’ website here.

“For a generation and more the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion have been engaged in a challenging conversation about sexual ethics, especially regarding same-sex relationships in the life of the church,” Theology Committee Chair and Alabama Bishop Henry Parsley wrote in the report’s preface. “The hope of this work is that serious engagement in theological reflection across differences will build new bridges of understanding.”

A notation on the report’s table of contents page cautions that the report “has been edited in several places” following a discussion among the bishops on March 20. “The responses of several pan-Anglican and ecumenical theologians will be added to this study in the summer, along with some further editing, before a final edition is published,” the note concludes.

Read it all and follow the link to the report (warning, it is a 95 page pdf).

Third, the combination of pressure and disinformation used to break the prolife witness on this bill among Democratic members of Congress ”“ despite the strong resistance to this legislation that continues among American voters ”“ should put an end to any talk by Washington leaders about serving the common good or seeking common ground. Words need actions to give them flesh. At many points over the past seven months, congressional leaders could have resolved the serious moral issues inherent in this legislation. They did not. No shower of reassuring words now can wash away that fact.

Fourth, self-described “Catholic” groups have done a serious disservice to justice, to the Church, and to the ethical needs of the American people by undercutting the leadership and witness of their own bishops. For groups like Catholics United, this is unsurprising. In their effect, if not in formal intent, such groups exist to advance the interests of a particular political spectrum. Nor is it newsworthy from an organization like Network, which ”“ whatever the nature of its good work — has rarely shown much enthusiasm for a definition of “social justice” that includes the rights of the unborn child.

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Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, who stepped aside as Bishop of Cloyne a year ago after an independent report found he had failed to respond adequately to child abuse claims in Country Cork.

It’s a miserable end to the career of a man who was once private secretary to Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II. It was Magee who was supposed to have discovered the body of John Paul I in 1978, though it later emerged that a nun had found the pontiff dead in his bedroom. The Vatican, in its wisdom, thought it was more “appropriate” that a priest should be named as the discoverer. As Magee has since put it: “I did find the body of His Holiness. I just didn’t find it first.” All theories that John Paul I were murdered are, incidentally, the most utter nonsense.

Anyway, all eyes now should be on Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh. I would be surprised if the Pope did not accept his resignation, too ”“ though it looks as if we shall have to wait until after Easter for a decision.

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Differences remain between Israel and the US, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, the White House has said.

President Obama urged the Israeli PM to take steps to build confidence in the peace process, during “honest” talks on Tuesday, said spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Mr Gibbs also said the US was seeking “clarification” of the latest plans to build homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahu’s trip came amid the worst crisis in US-Israeli ties for decades.

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