Heidi Schlumpf

Morning Briefing: Pope asks Chinese Catholics to trust him, a longtime bishops’ advisor reveals abuse and a strange government choice for the Romero canonization

A liturgical canonist and teacher who had admitted abusing a minor while serving as an associate pastor in the United States is no longer teaching at the Canadian pontifical university where he had been a full professor.

Morning Briefing: Brooklyn Diocese part of $27.5 million sex abuse settlement, scandal hits Pope Francis’ popularity, Chicago priest burns a rainbow flag.

In tackling clergy sex abuse, the "Authentic Reform" schedule includes such topics as "Humanae Vitae as a Charter for Reform," "Purifying the Clergy" and "The Problem of Homosexuality."

John Huels, who has admitted he abused Michael Bland as a teenager, continues work as a liturgical canonist and a full professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. 

Morning Briefing: Vatican visits about sex abuse, who’s not evacuating for Hurricane Florence and a surprising letter from Pope Benedict XVI

Morning Briefing: Trump comments on sex abuse scandal, Kavanaugh hearings continue today and U.S. accepting record low numbers of refugees.  

With surveys showing increasing numbers of young people leaving the church, it would seem recent abuse revelations would prompt a greater exodus. But young Catholics who spoke to NCR are not giving up.

Morning Briefing: Updates on news about the unfolding sex abuse crisis in the church

Chicago -- Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich urged his fellow bishops to hold one another accountable and accept leadership from lay people on issues related to clerical sex abuse, while also praising Pope Francis' response — or lack thereof — to accusations by his former ambassador to the U.S.

Reaction to an explosive letter from a former Vatican ambassador to the United States has been swift and predictably partisan, leaving many Catholics wondering whether the letter's uncorroborated allegations against high-ranking church officials — including Pope Francis — are true or not.

Morning Briefing: Trump’s “Watergate moment,” voices Pope Francis won’t hear in Ireland, controversy over a retreat for gay priests and more sex abuse reaction, including two statements to sign

More than 3,000 theologians, educators and lay leaders have called for all U.S. bishops to submit their resignations to Pope Francis, much like Chile's 34 bishops did in May after revelations of sexual abuse and corruption, as a public act of penance and a "willing abdication of earthly status."

The U.S. bishops' call for an apostolic visitation and lay-involved investigations into abuse and cover-ups was called a "good start," but at least one former National Review Board member called it "too little, too late."

"I want the people of God to hear from bishops that we are taking this moment seriously," Archbishop Paul Etienne wrote in a recent blog post where he offered a seven-point proposal for responding to sexual abuse by bishops.

Morning Briefing: Promising primary election results, what to do about sexual abuse of seminarians, and Catholic sisters call for communion at LCWR meeting

Former members of the National Review Board are calling for an independent investigation of sexual abuse of seminarians and other vulnerable adults, including allegations against one of the country's most prominent church leaders, retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C.

The Catholics on Call program brought together about two dozen young adults, mentors and others July 25-29 in Chicago, for discussion and community about finding direction in life.

On an American Bar Association panel, Chicago cardinal praises Pope Francis' decision, announced hours earlier, to revise church teaching to forbid the use of the death penalty.