For some, El Salvador was a shameful episode, in which Washington backed the perpetrators of a death squad bloodbath in a failed attempt to militarily defeat a homegrown leftist insurgency.

This is not a history we Americans like to ponder.

Deep inside Syria, a bishop worked around the blurred edges of international law to save the lives of more than 200 people.

"Despite all divergences, we believe a political compromise is still possible," the bishops said in a Dec. 2 statement.

A crucified God is not the status quo, and it is isn’t made into the acceptable, the intellectually palatable, by the proclamation of the resurrection.