Been there since yesterday, I forgot

Very interesting responses to recent objections to the US Sexual Abuse norms made by canonists, how the Vatican and the US government are trying to make nice, and an interview with a young Catholic man, which leads to Allen’s reflection:

I’ve spent considerable time talking to Catholic young people, whether delegates to World Youth Days or seminarians at the North American College and various institutions in the States. They tend to share with Barras a hunger for a rich devotional life, a deep affection for John Paul II, and a tendency to take traditional stances on doctrinal and moral questions.

What Barras adds is optimism, generosity, and an infectious warm personality. That these qualities have been augmented rather than dimmed by the recent trauma in the American church says something potentially good about the church – and unquestionably good about Barras.