J. Ron Eaker is a doctor and the author of Fat Proof Your Family: God’s Way to Forming Healthy Habits for Life (2007). He blogs at Fat Proof Your Family and can discuss women and fitness from a Christian perspective. He lives in Augusta, Ga.

David J. Scheffer is director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University and a frequent commentator on human rights issues.

Ivana Noble is an associate professor of the Ecumenical Institute of ETF UK at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. She has taught fundamental theology, systematic theology, and philosophy at The Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Protestant Theological Faculty and International Baptist Theological Seminary. Her main interests are the relationship between theology and culture, ecumenism and […]

Read the Philadelphia grand jury findings and accompanying report after the case of a Philadelphia clergyman’s sexual misconduct . The archdiocese hired a former sex crimes prosecutor to review the personnel files of all the priests named in the grand jury’s report, and in March 2011 the archdiocese placed 21 priests on administrative leave pending a final report.

Read National Catholic Reporter coverage from May 23, 2011, of the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, the priest of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph who was arrested on child pornography charges.

See a copy of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that was revised in 2011.

A “circular letter” from the Vatican to all bishops conferences around the world was released May 16, 2011, and presents guidelines for bishops in developing policies on dealing with clergy who molest children. The Vatican also released a summary of the circular letter and a note from American Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the […]

Read a copy of the John Jay College report, titled “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010.” The report’s analysis received a great deal of criticism from all sides and continues to generate debate. The report also called on the bishops to develop further uniform and transparent […]

The Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services in Addison, in suburban Chicago, is a shelter that caters mainly to Muslim women; it does not serve pork and has prayer rugs available.