The Philadelphia priest on trial for protecting child sex abusers says he thought he was doing a good thing. “I thought I was helping priests, and in those circumstances, I thought I was helping victims, as much as I could,” said Msgr. William J. Lynn.

Jesus as an 8-year-old? Coming to a theater near you, courtesy of Anne Rice. And Joel Osteen takes a step even further back in time: his first movie producing gig will focus on Mary before the baby came along.

Film is causing trouble for a senate hopeful in Montana, specifically the anti-Semitic video he posted.

The bishops all oppose the birth control mandate, but they do not agree on the strategy for changing it.

Muslims are uniting to defend their religious freedom.

Go figure: New York City is barring congregations from renting school property for weekend services but New York City is happily renting or converting church property for classes even though it is often festooned with religious symbols.

The head of the committee investigating the ethics of Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land has resigned 10 days before a verdict on Land is due to spend more time volunteering at his church.

Reactions are mixed – yes, “mixed” – on that North Carolina pastor’s rant about gays and lesbians. “He said he would feed them!” some church members told CNN, referring to Pastor Charles Worley’s idea for corralling homosexuals and penning them up.

Even as former backers of a “gay cure” repudiate the idea that gays can be made straight, one Mormon group is doubling down on reparative therapy.

President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage doesn’t seem to be affecting the race. Can anyone say “economy”?

Maybe we should just be having arranged marriages anyway. They seem to work just as well.

Atheist or Heretic? The debate you never heard of continues.

Enter the “1st Annual ‘Pontius Pilot’ Awards for Unintentional Theological Comedy”! A sample of the competition from the work of students in theology classes:

“Jesus wrote a book called Christianity, and he needed an editor and chose Paul.”

Hey, I know how He feels.

And an award to the folks at “First Things” for posting a send-up of story pitches to the magazine. Pretty good stuff.

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David Gibson

Photo: The Blessed Virgin Chastises the Infant Jesus,” a controversial 1926 painting (at the time) by Max Ernst.