"I know of nothing else in the U.S. Church that was built precisely to do what it does, nothing that has its long-established journalistic culture and the competent personnel to carry on that culture."

Exactly!  NCR published Jason Berry's breakthrough articles on the priest sex abuse crisis back when the bishops were sweeping it under the biggest rug they could find.  What are the chances that a newspaper  controlled by a bishop would have printed those articles.  That's right: zero.  

We need an independent Catholic press to tell us what really goes on in the Catholic Church.  NCR is just the paper the Catholic Church needs to save it from corrupt and inept bishops.