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• Can a church go broke? | Probably not. But the cascade of sexual-abuse lawsuits is moving Catholic officials to devise innovative ways to shield their vast assets (Time)
• What will they do? | The bishops: looking for salvation (U.S. News & World Report)
• Price of broken vows | Four years ago, Paul Marcoux accepted $450,000 in exchange for his silence about what he says was sexual misconduct by Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee decades earlier. On Thursday, he was on national television discussing his claims and the settlement itself. Legal experts say the archbishop is entitled to get his money back. Yet as a practical matter, they say, that will never happen (The New York Times)
• Clergy exchange plan stirs security worries | A State Department-sponsored exchange program to bring foreign Muslim clerics to the United States and send American clerics to Muslim communities overseas has some Middle East experts worrying that terrorist groups could use the program to slip into the country. (The Washington Post)
• Church seeking scapegoat, gays say | Officially, the church's hierarchy has avoided blaming homosexuality for the scandal, but it has been unsuccessful in preventing some of its members from doing so. (The Washington Times)
• Don't end celibacy for priests | Catholic priests have a dual devotion to God and parishioners — there simply isn't room in their lives for families of their own. (Joel Mowbray, The Washington Times)
• More coverups, more shame | This time, the American church's liberal stalwart falls from grace (U.S. News & World Report)
• Can lawsuits dismantle church? | Before the courts move in for the kill, we ought to ask whether a legal system devised to punish and deter evildoing corporations was ever meant to bring a religious institution to its knees. (Tony Mauro, USA Today)
• A gay culture in the church | Maybe celibacy will be changed some day, but if you make a vow to stay celibate, you ought to keep your word. (John Leo, U.S. News & World Report)
• Pay the victims, protect the church | Exacting punishment for criminal acts ought not lead to the bankruptcy of institutions on which so many communities still depend (Dirk Olin, The New York Times)

• Bush raises scandal with Pope | President voices concern about Catholic Church's standing in U.S. (The Washington Post)
• Also: Bush voices concerns to Pope about U.S. Catholic Church | The president, in a 'gentlemanly' way, raises the issue of the institution's standing in the aftermath of a pedophilia scandal. (Los Angeles Times)
• Also: Bush tells Pope church scandal worries him (USA Today)
• Also: Bush wraps up meeting with Pope | "God bless America," pontiff says at end of meeting (Associated Press)

• John Paul, hemmed in at twilight of his papacy | John Paul has not given up the keys of St. Peter, but his is beginning to look like an emeritus papacy (The New York Times)
• Ailments may force pope to cut trip to Latin America | Only Toronto trip is certain for planned Canada and Latin America visit, says papal spokesman (The New York Times)
• Pope donates a fragment of forerunner | Mutilating a corpse and discreetly packing a piece in your luggage before boarding a plane is the sort of thing that gets people arrested. But not if you are the Pope. (The Guardian, London)

• Researcher dismisses 'crisis' in shortage of priests | Catholic University sociologist says Catholics attend Mass less often, so priests aren't needed as much (Religion News Service)

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May (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46