Eileen Barker is a professor emeritus in the sociology department at the University of London. She studies minority religions, including cults, sects and New Religious Movements, and relevant social conditions.

Fortunate Families is an organization for Catholic families with LGBT sons and daughters. It is primarily for parents but has resources for getting youth to talk about their sexuality with their parents. It is based in Rochester, N.Y.

The Rev. Thomas J. Massaro was associate professor of moral theology at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. He wrote Catholic Social Teaching and United States Welfare Reform (Liturgical Press, 1998). He also co-wrote the article “Compassion in Action: A Letter to President Bush on Social Policy” for the journal America (2001). Massaro became the Dean of Jesuit […]

Read an April 5, 2013, article published by Reuters about Pope Francis’ first statement on clergy sex abuse. He urged the church to “act decisively” when dealing with accusations of sexual misconduct.

Read a June 18, 2013, article published by The New York Times about the release of documents that trace the beginnings of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy back to 1932.

Read a July 2, 2013, article published by The Christian Science Monitor about the clergy abuse scandal in Milwaukee. Newly released documents reveal plans to pay abusive priests to leave the church. The Milwaukee archdiocese is currently enmeshed in bankruptcy court after facing accusation of fraud from victims of sexual abuse.

Leslie Woodcock Tentler is a history professor at the Catholic University of America and the author of Catholics and Contraception: An American History.

John Brehany is executive director of the Catholic Medical Association. He says there has been some confusion about whether and when sterilization is ever acceptable at Catholic hospitals. His organization opposes the contraception coverage rule and says the revised mandate falls far short of addressing opponents’ concerns.

Read a Feb. 9, 2012, article at Slate.com on how, historically, the issue of contraceptives divided Catholics and Protestants.