Globe religion reporter Michael Paulson is in Rome blogging Sean O'Malley's elevation to cardinal.

My standard newspaper disclosure.

Associated Press: Catholic Charities to halt adoptions over issue involving gays

Domenico says Catholic Charities didn't go far enough in its statement:

We hear about the commitment to its programs and services, but nothing about commitment to the Gospel, the importance of the Church’s teachings, no effort whatsoever to use this as a teaching moment. ...

He says Catholics should continue to fight to overturn the state anti-discrimination law:

As others have pointed out, the decision by Catholic Charities in Boston to cease its campaign for an exemption from the law requiring them to allow gays to adopt from them and end adoptions altogether is not an unalloyed victory. While it is better not to participate in evil, it would be better for the Church to also stand up for good and to say that this law is unjust and needs to be repealed. ...

Steve Brady sums it up differently:

Raping children: hush!

Giving children loving homes: the Devil.

Excuse me while I go eat a big juicy piece of meat on a Lenten Friday. ...

Mass Marrier: O'Malley Takes Ball and Goes Home:

... Our POTUS-seeking governor, Willard Mitt Romney tried to gain political advantage shortly after the initial announcement. He will play to the right-wingers by filing the doomed exemption for CC -- let them break the law.

He actually said, "This is a sad day for neglected and abandoned children. It's a mistake for our laws to put the rights of adults over the needs of children."

For the rest of us, let us keep in mind who is trampling the needs of the children...to make a pro-discrimination point. ...

Sandouri Dean Bey: Martin Luther recognized half a millennium ago that the Roman Catholic Church doesn't really read the Bible:

That Massachusetts' Catholic bishops would rather eliminate their adoption program than place children in stable loving homes with gay and lesbian families demonstrates with absolute clarity their ignorance of basic Biblical teachings. ...

David on Blue Mass. Group: Honestly, this is completely insane, isn't it?

The same Church that feels so strongly about protecting unborn children that it would sooner see a woman suffer grave physical damage, or bear a rapist's child, than allow a pregnancy to be terminated, would sooner see an already-born child languish in foster care than be placed with two people who desperately want to give that child a loving home. ...

Carpundit: Further Proof the Archdiocese of Boston Hates Children.

Jay Fitzgerald says somebody should have blinked:

... The church did seek a compromise. The state refused. No counterproposals on either side. None. The word 'immoral' is being slung around a lot. It deserves to be applied to both sides if the word is logically to be used. After all, isn't this all about the kids, as so many of the self-righteous on both sides claim? ...

Eric Convey, the Herald's senior executive city editor, explains why the Herald covered the Boston Catholic Men's Conference the way it did, in a note to local Catholic blogger Domenico Bettinelli. Bettinelli explains why he wants the reporter pulled off the religion beat.

My standard newspaper disclosure.

Domenico Bettinelli attends, reports.

Carpundit provides the opposing viewpoint.