The settlement is the largest ever reached in a bankruptcy case related to clergy sex abuse.

Among both listeners and staff, one can find those who were born and raised in the United States or moved here at a young age and those who are new to the country; those who have papers and those who do not or whose parents do not.

Ross Douthat on the future of the Catholic Church

At issue is a long-standing practice of CSS not to perform evaluations of the homes of same-sex couples wishing to care for foster children.

There is no way to meet the present challenge without a significant degree of real loss. But that does not mean these decisions have to be pitched as zero-sum battles.

“They want to know who they’re talking to,” Father Forge said of police. “Well, we already issue our volunteers with ID cards, so we jumped on that.”