Don't Run to Barnes & Noble Just Yet

The question most frequently asked here at the Café these days is: do I have to read the entire McCarrick Report on my computer? Where can I get a bound copy?

Unfortunately, no hardcopy is presently available unless you download the report to a ream of paper. All the links at various news services take you to one place, the Vatican’s copy. I would imagine at some point the text will get a hard cover and a gift box, but for the moment its availability is limited to an on-line pdf file. There is no arguing the cost: this link is free. I can say from years of Church ministry that the most economical way to obtain a church document of any type is by downloading the file to your Ipad or tablet. You can store the report on your Ipad in the handiest app; in my case, I downloaded it to Kindle, and Voila! Rest assured that when the published form is released in hardcopy, it will not be cheap. The Warren Commission Report on the assassination of Present John Kennedy runs $19 on paperback and $30 hardcover as of this morning on Amazon, and that text is over 50 years old.

If you would rather read published descriptions and analyses in online newspaper or magazine format, here are some suggestions:

National Catholic Reporter has the best and most detailed journalistic investigation and analysis of the content and reactions to the McCarrick Report. Reporter is a national lay-operated Catholic newspaper begun in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1964. Reporter has many enemies who consider it slanted left and even heretical, but this publication was printing serious analysis of the clerical abuse scourge twenty years before the Boston Globe breakthrough in 2002 and serves the Church well.
  
The National Catholic Register was founded in 1927 and is probably the first choice of priests and bishops. At its website, the Register describes its work: “Our mission is to provide a perspective on the news of the day as seen through the eyes of the Magisterium [i.e., Teaching Church]. We assist Catholics in engaging the culture with confidence in the saving and sanctifying Gospel of Jesus Christ.” But the paper has not pulled its punches on coverage of the McCarrick Report. It is owned by EWTN.

Crux describes itself as “a news site dedicated to offering the very best in smart, wired and independent coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.” Crux was founded by the Boston Globe in 2014 and became totally independent in 2016. I respect and consult it in large part because of its editor, John L. Allen, one of the most respected Catholic journalists across the full spectrum of the Church. Crux is particularly respected for its Vatican coverage.
 
Catholic News Service or CNA, founded in 1920, is the official journalistic arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or USCCB. Generally, its focus is aimed at issues of importance to the bishops in American life, and its news stories are subscribed to by many local Catholic diocesan papers.

 
All the above have generous online presence as well as weekly or bi-weekly mail editions. I much prefer the on-line services. Crux is free though a donation is requested for regular use. Reporter is $53/year for immediate on-line news and U.S. mail delivery. Register is $50/year, but it does offer a free email Church news service update for free. CNA requests a donation if possible.