NCR Editorial Staff

We say: Investigations will continue but are unlikely to result in impeachment. There remains the opportunity presented by the 2020 elections. Yet even that is foreboding, as Mueller noted during his testimony that Trump will be eligible to be indicted after he leaves office.

We say: If Christ is in all and informs all we do, the act of creation and the consequences of our actions upon that creation should rivet our attention in this time of crisis.

We say: That so many conservative Republican loyalists — despite the silence today from members of Congress — are among the most relentless critics is an indication of how distorted the political arena has become.

We say: It took this photo and a statement of lament by the pope about the image to move the US bishops to the kind of language that begins to gather in the horror of this national moment along our southern border.

We say: Support for the dignity of migrants can only begin once the bishops as a group stop hedging their language and openly confront the inhumane immigration policies flowing from the U.S. administration.

We say: The Supreme Court justices' opinions about the World War I memorial cross in Bladensburg, Maryland, show why culture warriors should be careful of what they wish for.

We say: Many of us have perhaps paid limited attention to the regular reports about rising numbers and deteriorating conditions for fellow human beings being held by our government. It's time to stop looking away and to start calling these "centers" or "facilities" what they really are: concentration camps.

We say: The continued awareness of law enforcement and journalism, as well as the vigilance of the laity, is the best guarantee we have that this scourge of sex abuse and cover-up may finally be lifted.

We say: The fact that a hostile power "launched a concerted attack" on our democracy should raise extreme alarm. Yet barely a "What are we doing about it?" creeps into the national conversation.

We say: John Paul II established the church as a global force in a new way, but he left the institution divided and at odds with itself. Francis bears the burden of effecting interior change

We say: State legislatures have busied themselves enacting laws to either restrict abortion rights or expand them, with extreme results in New York and Alabama. There is a reasonable compromise. 

We say: There's no rationale at all for inviting hate speech into our sanctuaries. Fr. Michael Pfleger went over the edge into ugly territory when he handed over St. Sabina's sanctuary to his longtime friend, Minister Louis Farrakhan, who unleashed — unchallenged — a hateful invective against Jews.

NCR Editorial: Weigel's discredited narrative about the causes of the scandal and his illusory ideas on dealing with it do a great disservice to the Catholic faithful in this moment when so much of the church is finally squaring up to the awful truth.

We say: Former White House advisor Steve Bannon is setting his providential magic on the Vatican, taking a shot at the pope, with the help of wealthy American and European friends. His populist nationalism remains an uneasy concept to fit into a Catholic framework

We say: Benedict XVI's current meddling is neither sound analysis nor helpful to a pope making unprecedented efforts to reform the clergy culture. Benedict had his opportunities to call the church's hierarchical culture to account, but he failed.

We say: There is a humanitarian crisis brewing at the border, but it has nothing to do with dangerous criminals and drug dealers. It has to do with a yearning by a lot of oppressed and frightened people for the same opportunities that drove our ancestors to these shores, many of whom did not first study U.S. immigration law.

We say: No perfect bishops exist, but there are reasons to feel positive about how Wilton Gregory will approach his tough assignment to the scandal-wracked Washington Archdiocese.

We say: Rep. Adam Schiff reminded his colleagues and the country that whether special counsel Robert Mueller found evidence of criminal wrongdoing or not, there are lots of things we have learned about the president's campaign that remain suspect and require a full airing. 

We say: The crashes of the two Boeing airliners may represent, particularly depending on what investigations show, one of the most graphic and horrifying examples of extreme capitalist ideology. Abundant evidence paint a picture of serious oversight concessions to an industry giant willing to cut corners in a rush to beat global competitors to the marketplace.

We say: While the report says nothing about the president's often despicable politics, the absence of evidence of collusion at least shows that our president is not a traitor. Democrats as well as Republicans should celebrate this finding because the constitutional crisis that a contrary finding might have provoked would be too ugly to even contemplate.