Cardinal Bevliacqua has finally been allowed to retire. I think the hierarchy has lost one of its most talent individuals. I met him once at Toronto during World Youth Day. He was a great person to work with, made my job a lot easier. He also gave me a blessed pendant for my daughter.

The very interesting thing about him was the kids absolutely loved him. I still cannot get over how they were literally hanging all over him like he was their grandpa or something. I had just never pictured him that way.

There is what I think may be a disturbing trend given the recent scandals, which is probably acceptable to many, it seems that the Vatican is looking to fill Cardinal spots with Vatican bred prelates and not home bred, O'Malley being the exception, but Egan and Rigali fall into this category and then Maide and Keehler will be retiring relatively soon.

I just don't think that Vatican types are good fits in the US. Rigali seems to have a good reputation, and wouldn't be a rubber stamp for the Vatican.

Look for Bishop Gregory to go somewhere pretty high profile soon. St. Louis would not be out of the question, or they may wait a while for a Baltimore or Detroit to open up.