The wonderful Laurie Goodstein has documents (redacted, just like the politicians’!) and a great story showing a dismally sad state of affairs in the Vatican when reports of a priest abusing 200 deaf boys came to Rome’s attention. And, depressingly – but not surprisingly, since he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time – the current Pope was involved. Read her story here.

Remember how Pat “I call myself a Christian but just can’t act like one” Robertson blamed the tragedy in Haiti on a pact with the devil? Well, Lily Coyle took offense and decided to pen a response in the personal of Satan. She sent it to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and it’s starting to go viral on the Internet. You can read the whole thing here, but for myself, I’d like to say thanks to Ms. Coyle for using the letters to the editors page to correct Roberson’s really horrible theology. Here’s a tidbit from Satan’s screed:

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher.

Other thoughts this Monday: It was curious to read that Barack Obama said the following at a black Baptist Church over the weekend in celebration of Martin Luther King day:

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated “when folks just don’t want to see that even if we don’t get everything, we’re getting something.” (Full text of his speech here.)

Taken just as it is, it sounds like Obama – who is biracial but self-identifies as black and is accepted as so by most folks – is asking the black community to settle for baby steps instead of pushing hard for greater equality. That wasn’t the case of course, but he was emphasizing the need to celebrate (instead of bemoan) progress on our way to what we hope would be perfection.

It is true that some black advocacy groups deny any progress has been made among blacks simply because there is still inequity. And it is even truer still that some individuals use the lack of complete equality as an excuse to join gangs, drop out of school, and blame white society for their own poor choices. So, I agree with Obama that the excuse-making has to stop – among people of every color, every race, every age. We are, in most ways, masters of our own destiny. (For a cinematic illustration of that point, go see Precious or Invictus.)

Still, the road is much harder for some due to little more than the circumstance of their birth, the color of their skin or what sex organs they possess, and I admit to wondering if there will ever be full equality for minorites in a society where power is primarily focused in the hands of white, middle-class males. Then again, every time I read the words “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,” I get chills. We are making progress … it just seems so slow if you are part of a minority. and speaking of minorities…

Two of my favorite newspaper columnists did what they do best last week when pointing out the truth. Leonard J. Pitts Jr. wrote a column saying that Sen. Harry Reid may have been impolitic and out-of-touch when he used the word “Negro” during the 2007-08 presidential campaign, but he was also right. Yes, you read correctly, a black man said that a white man saying Barack Obama could get elected because he was “light-skinned” and didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect” was absolutely right. Read more here.

Also tackling a minority issue, Kathleen Parker had a fabulous (although painfully sad in a way) discussion last week about how people (and the press) treat male candidates one way and female candidates another – more hostile, patronizing – way. Because of that treatment, Parker mused, we may be a lot further away from having a female president than some would hope. Everyone should read it, but especially if you are the parent of daughters.

Apparently televangelist Pat Robertson is blaming the natural disaster in Haiti on a decades old pact he says Haitians made with the devil to get out from under French colonial rule. What an embarrassment for thinking people, especially thinking evangelical Christians. Read about it here.