The Former Pope Speaks, Candidly and Acidly, On Abuse

By MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/pope-emeritus-benedict-letter-child-abuse-catholic-church/
April 11, 2019

Pope Emeritus Benedict has allowed the publication of a letter he addressed to bishops and cardinals who met in February to discuss the problem of child abuse. The letter is a collection of personal remembrances and acid observations about other churchmen, theologians, and recent Church history wrapped around an argument.

The Emeritus Pope’s argument is explosive. (The full text can be read here.) In summary, Benedict charges that a revolutionary spirit from the world entered the Church in the 1960s. Possessed by that spirit, arrogant theologians determined on creating “another Church” destroyed the traditional moral theology of the Faith, leading to a complete breakdown of moral discipline in the clergy and even a generalized spirit of blasphemy, which Benedict intimately and unforgettably connects with the phenomenon of child abuse. Along the way, he points out how, having abandoned a traditional understanding of the Catholic faith, bishops and cardinals felt no compulsion to protect the Faith itself, and allowed the rights of accused clergy to develop in such a way that they totally obliterated the prerogative of serving God and passing on the faith to the next generation. “The Church is dying in [people’s] souls,” he observes in a spirit that reads equally mordant and mournful.

Although he does explain his own view that abuse can be adjudicated as a crime against the Faith, the former pope tries to transcend a debate that he views as too focused on managerial or technical solutions. Benedict XVI argues that churchmen themselves must be converted into believers who fear and honor a living God. “Why did pedophilia reach such proportions? Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God.”

Benedict begins with a denunciation of “the revolution of 68,” and attributes to that time a lawless spirit that entered into the Church itself, and that would bring havoc for decades. The former pope illustrates this with stories about the lax atmosphere of seminaries, and even the wave of dissent from leading moral theologians and bishops against the intention of John Paul II to reiterate Catholic teaching that some acts were intrinsically immoral and could never “become good” by being placed in different circumstances. This may seem like the most basic understanding of moral law common to revealed monotheistic religion, but it was fiercely contested in the times. Benedict writes with a good bit of acid:

I shall never forget how the then-leading German moral theologian Franz Böckle, who, having returned to his native Switzerland after his retirement, announced in view of the possible decisions of the encyclical “Veritatis splendor” that if the encyclical should determine that there were actions which were always and under all circumstances to be classified as evil, he would challenge it with all resources at his disposal. It was God, the Merciful, that spared him from having to put his resolution into practice; Böckle died on July 8, 1991. The encyclical was published on August 6, 1993 and did indeed include the determination that there were actions that can never become good.

He also reports, “Perhaps it is worth mentioning that in not a few seminaries, students caught reading my books were considered unsuitable for the priesthood.” But he also talks about the failures of the Vatican’s furtive efforts to rectify the culture of the clergy. He says that Vatican visitations to American seminaries (investigations, for the lay reader), were thwarted in their attempt to get to the truth, or in their recommendations for reform.

“What must be done?” The former pontiff asks, before mordantly writing: “Perhaps we should create another Church for things to work out? Well, that experiment has already been undertaken and has already failed.” Benedict says that the demand for “collegial” bishops after the Second Vatican Council exacerbated the problem of rooting out abuse because it deprived bishops of their authority and responsibility to govern effectively.

In this way, Benedict has weighed in decisively and clearly in a roiling debate that is often murky. Progressive-minded Catholics tend to view the abuse crisis as a problem of “clericalism.” That is, they think the problem is the separation of the clergy from lay people, and their conception of authority that has made them high-handed. Conservatives tend to view the crisis as the abandonment of authority in the face of obvious laxity of practice and immoral cronyism, in which networks of sexually compromised priests protect each other or fail to confront one another.

By the end of his letter, Benedict reaches for another level. And it is worth quoting at length. He begins to connect the moral anarchy within the Church to a spirit of blasphemy. He critiques a certain casual or flippant attitude toward God within the Church “We Christians and priests also prefer not to talk about God, because this speech does not seem to be practical.” he writes.

And later expands on this, in a passage worth quoting at length.

The Eucharist is devalued into a mere ceremonial gesture when it is taken for granted that courtesy requires Him to be offered at family celebrations or on occasions such as weddings and funerals to all those invited for family reasons. The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. Therefore, when thinking about what action is required first and foremost, it is rather obvious that we do not need another Church of our own design. Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.

In conversations with victims of pedophilia, I have been made acutely aware of this first and foremost requirement. A young woman who was a [former] altar server told me that the chaplain, her superior as an altar server, always introduced the sexual abuse he was committing with her with the words: “This is my body which will be given up for you”. It is obvious that this woman can no longer hear the very words of consecration without experiencing again all the horrific distress of her abuse. Yes, we must urgently implore the Lord for forgiveness, and first and foremost we must swear by Him and ask Him to teach us all anew to understand the greatness of His suffering, His sacrifice. And we must do all we can to protect the gift of the Holy Eucharist from abuse.

Benedict’s intervention in this debate is powerful and a sad one. The very fact of this letter — its lucidity and depth of thoughts — can’t help but inspire a question from Catholics. Why did this man resign from the office of the papacy? The stated fears were ones of incapacity, but in this letter, he demonstrates an acute view of the Church. For many Catholics who disagree with Benedict’s diagnosis of the problem, it will occasion the question about Benedict’s supposed commitment to retiring into silence. What does it mean to have a former pope who is so loquacious and opinionated?

And yet, reading this occasionally acerbic and aggrieved letter, this writer felt gratitude for Benedict’s papacy and for a God who, in this time of exile, preserves one righteous man as a living promise of many more saints to come.

The Open Borders Agenda Rears Its Ugly Head

Ben Shapiro
https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2019/04/10/the-open-borders-agenda-rears-its-ugly-head-n2544536
April 10, 2019




This week, President Trump fired his homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen. Nielsen was, according to media and the Democrats, a monster of the highest order. She was allegedly the force behind the caging of children (that practice began under President Barack Obama and actually ended under President Trump); she was supposedly a barbarian focused on keeping innocent brown children out of America.

And Trump dumped her because even she was not cruel enough to please Genghis Trump, the left claimed. Stephen Colbert joked, "Sure, she put kids in cages, but Trump was upset. ... So he just needs someone who can be crueler to children than Kirstjen Nielsen." Jimmy Kimmel made nearly the same joke: "Goodbye, Kirstjen, and whoever replaces you permanently is going to have some very big cages to fill." Trevor Noah quipped, "Basically, the only job she can get now is working with R. Kelly."

In reality, Trump fired Nielsen because he believed she hadn't properly taken measures to rein in the humanitarian crisis at the border. That was half true -- she didn't react with alacrity to change the necessary Homeland Security regulations, for example. But it was also a result of Trump's changing whims with regard to border strategy. Trump was in favor of a no-tolerance border policy that necessarily resulted in family separations; then he was against it; then he was for it; then he was against it.

Most of that vacillation resulted not from brutal bigotry, however, but from a simple fact: Democrats have simply not provided Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the resources necessary to properly control the border. Federal courts have ruled that families cannot be held together in custody for longer than 20 days; children must be released to guardians outside detention. This means that the Trump administration, like the Obama administration before it, was left with a choice: Either release parents along with children, or separate parents from children.

The federal courts have made the situation even less tenable. They have stated that the Trump administration cannot work with the Mexican government to house potential asylum claimants on the Mexican side of the border to keep families together; they have stated that the Trump administration cannot separate families for prolonged periods of time. A series of conflicting lower-court rulings has left the general policy in limbo.

This means that Congress ought to act. Everyone should be on the same page with regard to those crossing the border illegally. We should have an expedient system for determining the validity of asylum claims; we should give families the option of staying together in detention pending such determination.

But Democrats in Congress refuse to act. They won't change the regulations to allow families to remain together in custody, and they won't provide the funding necessary to keep detained families in some level of comfort. Instead, they snipe at the supposed cruelty of the Trump administration, which simply seeks to end the policy of "catch and release" that results in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants remaining indefinitely in the country.

This week, Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, revealed the truth about the Democratic agenda: It's not about compassion at all, but about politics. "Tough doesn't equal smart," Perez stated. "Tough equals dumb." The only truly dumb thing is continuing to play politics with the lives of people crossing the border illegally and American citizens being forced to cope with the price of illegal immigration.

Ben Shapiro, 35, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller "The Right Side Of History." He lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles.

Bibi Scores Another Big Win

BY P. DAVID HORNIK

https://pjmedia.com/trending/bibi-scores-another-big-win/

April 9, 2019

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompanied by his wife Sara waves to his supporters after polls for Israel’s general elections closed in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Left-wing Israeli TV broadcasters had stars in their eyes last night at 10 when the initial election results came in. They told us breathlessly that former chief of staff Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party—the challenger to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s center-right coalition—had done phenomenally well and the elections and the leadership of the country were up for grabs.

But by Wednesday morning, with 97 percent of the votes counted, the same broadcasters had tired, glum faces. It turned out that Netanyahu—a providential leader who has done more than any other individual to turn 21st-century Israel into a phenomenal success story of economic growth and diplomatic and military weight on the world scene—had scored yet another dramatic win in his long, volatile, but essentially triumphant career.

True, Gantz’s Blue and White—a none-too-coherent assemblage of three smaller parties that included right-wingers, centrists, and left-wingers and tried the tack of vagueness and ambiguity in its election campaign—came through with 35 of the 120 seats in Israel’s Knesset (parliament). But Netanyahu’s Likud had tallied 35, too—up from 30 in the previous Knesset—and with the balance of the smaller parties clearly in the right's favor for a total of 65 seats, Netanyahu had come out decisively on top. And that’s despite corruption charges hanging over him and a predominantly hostile media.

Blue and White, moreover, could only reach its 35 votes by siphoning off mandates from two parties to its left, Labor and Meretz—which, according to the morning count, did miserably with 6 and 4 votes respectively. In the case of Labor—the historic party that led the country in its first decades under legendary figures like David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and Moshe Dayan, and by the 1990s was engaging in a delusional “peace process” with the terrorist PLO—the depth of the defeat is unprecedented and resounding.

Another important point is that, if the right-wing bloc got 65 seats (and the total could still rise) to the left-wing bloc’s 55, even those figures are deceptive. As of the morning, 10 of the left’s 55 mandates came from two Arab parties. Those two parties, though—not because they’re Arab, but because they virulently oppose Israel’s existence as a Jewish state—are not relevant to any realistic calculation of Israeli coalitional strengths, and there was no chance that Gantz’s Blue and White would have included them in a coalition if it could have led one.

In other words, among the politically relevant voting public, the real results come out as another (like in the 2015 elections) landslide for the right. It’s made even more dramatic by the fact that Gantz, who called himself a “security hawk” and a “moderate capitalist,” tried to distance himself from the left and reassure Israelis that he was tough and realistic.

As for Netanyahu’s emergent coalition, two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, UTJ and Shas, had done well so far with 8 mandates each; the nationalist-Orthodox, strongly pro-settlement URWP had scored 5; and two secular-right parties, Israel Our Home and Kulanu, had 5 and 4 respectively. Still hanging in the balance was another pro-settlement, mixed religious-secular party, Naftali Bennett’s New Right—which, if it climbs to the required minimum of 4 seats, will make the governing coalition overwhelmingly big and stable.

What does it all mean? It means that the right-wing/religious sector of the Israeli Jewish population remains predominant and invincible. It means that the socialism of Israel’s early decades has been relegated to two none-too-relevant fringe parties. It means that with Gaza—fourteen years after Israel withdrew from it—remaining a serious security challenge of rocket fire, border riots, and incendiary balloons and kites, sane Israelis are not even contemplating withdrawals from the vastly larger West Bank that abuts Israel’s airport, capital city of Jerusalem, and heavily populated coastal plain.

And it means that a solid majority of Israelis appreciate Netanyahu’s strong and dynamic leadership and want to keep him at the helm—and that’s despite the unresolved corruption charges and an often viciously adversary media that is one of the last bastions of the old left. No doubt he faces significant challenges. A growing budget deficit needs to be tackled. Hamas and Hizballah remain security threats on Israel's borders. Most serious of all are their patron Iran's ongoing efforts to entrench itself in Syria and continued development of ballistic-missile and nuclear-weapons capabilities. But given his nonpareil energy, resolve, and skill, most Israelis know that Netanyahu is the right leader to contend with the challenges and overcome them.

Meanwhile, he faces a hearing on the corruption charges in the summer. The charges look dubious, and Israel has a long history of such allegations being quashed as the result of a hearing.

Virginia's redemption story becomes one for the ages

By Pat Forde

https://sports.yahoo.com/virginias-redemption-story-becomes-one-for-the-ages-064736995.html

April 9, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS — Ty Jerome had just descended the ladder after cutting his souvenir strand of national championship net. He was asked a few questions by a reporter, gave a few answers. Then, when he was about to walk off and sit down and watch himself play a starring role in "One Shining Moment," he tapped me on the arm.

"You're going to have to write a different article now," the Virginia guard said with a smile.

Yes. Yes, I am.

Here's an article on the greatness of Virginia. Here's an article on one of the most remarkable one-year journeys a program has ever made. Here's an article on a group that wouldn't be denied, beating Texas Tech in a game that far exceeded its aesthetic premise, 85-77 in overtime Monday night.

From worst (loss) to first, the Virginia redemption story is one for the ages. From laughingstock to last team standing is the stuff of legend. From the historic nadir of March Madness to its zenith — in the most dramatic manner imaginable — is a profound example of what makes sports so irresistible.

When the Cavaliers gagged against No. 16 seed UMBC last year as the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, I broke out the bayonet and ran it through Tony Bennett's team. In a regrettable flourish of overstatement, I ended the column with this declaration: "A team cannot win it all this way. It cannot come close."

Welp. So much for that opinion.

I found out Sunday afternoon how much that column dug under Jerome's skin. The starting players do individual breakout interview sessions on the day before the championship game, and I sat in on Jerome's session for a while. Right when I was leaving, he figured out who I was and made mention to the remaining reporters of reading my rip job the day after the UMBC loss while sitting in a doctor's office, waiting for an appointment to check an injured toe.

I heard about Jerome's anecdote 30 minutes later, then happened to see him as he was walking to the U.S. Bank Stadium exit. I stuck out a hand and introduced myself, saying, "I heard you were looking for me." He shook my hand and laughed.

I told him I regretted some of the tone of the column. Jerome shrugged and said, "It's nothing personal." And he's right about that — none of it was personal.

Sometimes teams play poorly. Sometimes columnists write poorly.

Fortunately, both Virginia and I got another shot at this thing. And, man, did they deliver some material. I thank the 'Hoos for that.

The details of this heart-pounding run are ridiculous. Try to wrap your head around this: Virginia trailed within the final 15 seconds of regulation in its final three games of this tourney. And still won them all.

The Cavaliers were all but dead until a buzzer-beating basket to end regulation against Purdue in the regional final, then won in overtime. They were all but dead Saturday night in the national semifinal against Auburn, until a controversial foul call sent Kyle Guy to the foul line to win it in the final second. And Monday night, they trailed Tech by three when Jerome came flashing upcourt and drove into the lane, then fired a pass to De’Andre Hunter in the corner for a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to force OT once again.

As was the case against Purdue and Auburn, the opponent made a small but crucial error that Virginia exploited for big returns. A missed Ryan Cline free throw came back to bite the Boilermakers. A missed Jared Harper free throw did the same to the Tigers. And Monday night, the Red Raiders' defensive tenets became a problem when they collapsed on Jerome's drive.

At that point, letting Jerome score a layup and staying out on all 3-point shooters would have been the wiser play — Texas Tech would have been inbounding with the lead and Virginia would have been forced to foul. But an entire season of muscle memory and instinctive response can be hard to undo in the heat of the moment, and so Tech star Jarrett Culver dropped in to contest Jerome and left Hunter wide open for the tying shot.

Thus the final three games of this Virginia season ended regulation with a combined score of Cavaliers 201, opponents 200. They walked the precipice like few champions ever in the 80-year history of this event.

Virginia becomes the sixth NCAA tourney champion to endure two overtime games on the way to winning it all. (The others: North Carolina 1957, Texas Western '66, UCLA '75, Louisville '80 and Arizona '97). When you throw in the Auburn escape — and an oh-god-not-again, 14-point deficit in the opening NCAA game against No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb — this is arguably the most near-death experiences survived by a champion since North Carolina State '83.

Yet for all the escapes, there also were the blown leads, too. As if Virginia had to make this journey as difficult as humanly possible. The 'Hoos were up six with 5:52 to play against Purdue, then needed the Mamadi Diakite jumper at the buzzer to extend the game. They were up 10 with 5:24 left against Auburn, then went scoreless for five minutes. They were up eight with 6:35 left Monday night — and up four with 1:44 to play — before giving away those advantages.

Still, they persevered.

"We were built to last, and built to outlast," Guy said. "We were built to win in overtime."

Said Jerome: "We just play until that buzzer sounds."

When the buzzer sounded Monday, Hunter hurled the ball skyward. Guy sprinted nearly the full length of the court before being hug-tackled by a teammate, then tore back to midcourt to jump on Hunter. Meanwhile, the Texas Tech players filed off in various stages of grief — fifth-year senior Brandone Francis bent over and heaved sobs, stomping his right foot as he bawled.

Bennett, eternally classy in victory and defeat, sought out Culver to console him. Shortly thereafter, he came face-to-face with the most reluctant man to set foot in the stadium — his father, Dick.

The old coach, who took Wisconsin to the 2000 Final Four and largely pioneered the plodding playing style that his son now teaches, couldn't bring himself to come Saturday night. He's a stress case, and sitting in the stands watching Tony's teams play is a form of torture he largely avoids.

Dick forced himself to go to the South region final against Purdue, to see Tony's Final Four breakthrough. And he forced himself to go Monday night.

"I had to be here," Dick Bennett said. Not that it was easy.

"I can't let the game go, and I tend to look on the negative," he said. "I was always on edge, worrying about what was coming next."

What Dick Bennett has never had to worry about is how his son would handle the extreme highs and lows of his profession. The UMBC loss was devastating for many, but not so much for the head coach who took the most blame. He's just not wired to let the outcome of a game crack his worldview.

Now, that doesn't mean regrouping post-UMBC — Virginia's fifth straight ugly ouster from the NCAA tourney — was a joy ride. When your players are getting death threats and have to be escorted by law enforcement to their hotel rooms, that's a lot to process. Bennett has been open about how that loss led him to deepen his religious faith.

So, too, did the game fundamentally change his players. Guy, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, publicly posted a couple of long and candid missives after the UMBC game, disclosing his struggles with anxiety in one of them.

Eventually, and somewhat incredibly, Virginia began referring to the UMBC debacle as a gift. The individual and collective growth from it was profound.

"I knew what we were capable of," Jerome said. "I watched us take our work ethic to a new level."

Monday night, the fruits of that labor were all on display. There was Guy, playing all 45 minutes and draining so many big shots on his way to 24 points. There was Hunter, exploding out of an extended offensive funk during this tourney for a career-high 27. And there was Jerome, racking up 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists while navigating his way through what was the No. 1 defense in America, according to Ken Pomeroy.

That junior nucleus had been the fall guys a year ago. On Monday night, they were the heroes.

"It don't feel real, bro," Guy said to Jerome on the dais in the postgame interview.

"It still don't feel real," Jerome responded. "Still doesn't feel real. Come on, bro. Talk properly."

There were laughs all around. Only one team gets to end this enthralling, three-week competition with laughter, and at long last it was Virginia.

That's a different article. And a fun one to write.

How extraordinary was Virginia’s title run? Just count up the miracles.

By John Feinstein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/how-extraordinary-was-virginias-title-run-just-count-up-the-miracles/2019/04/09/1522e2a0-5a87-11e9-842d-7d3ed7eb3957_story.html?utm_term=.1764bd042d1f

April 9, 2019

De’Andre Hunter and Kyle Guy embrace after winning the NCAA title game in overtime.

MINNEAPOLIS — Virginia saved its best for last. If they hadn’t, the Cavaliers would not have won their first national championship here on Monday night.

Trailing Texas Tech 73-70 early in overtime, Virginia went on an 11-0 run to finally take control of the national championship game and walk away with an 85-77 victory — a score that didn’t begin to reflect the extraordinary drama of the game.

Once again, they survived, having trailed a tough and talented Texas Tech team 68-65 with less than 20 seconds to go in regulation. It was a familiar script for a team that will now be known forever as the team of redemption.

The way they redeemed themselves was something straight out of a Disney movie — except if you attempted to sell the story line to Disney you would probably get laughed out of the pitch meeting.

Consider: Team becomes the first No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament. Not only that, it loses by 20 points, a complete humiliation.

Then it puts together a 29-3 regular season to again become a No. 1 seed. And what happens? It falls behind another 16 seed, Gardner-Webb, by 14 points in the first half in its first game of the tournament.

“I remember thinking, ‘We can’t go through this again,’ ” Coach Tony Bennett said earlier this weekend. “At halftime, I told them I could accept losing, but I couldn’t accept anything less than every single thing they had to give.”

The Cavaliers didn’t have to go through it again. They rallied to win. Then they won a routine second-round game against Oklahoma and a tight game against Oregon in the round of 16.

After that began the story even Disney couldn’t possibly believe.

There was the escape from Purdue in the region final when freshman point guard Kehei Clark miraculously found Mamadi Diakite for the tying jumper at the end of regulation.

Call it The Pass and The Shot. The Cavaliers won in overtime. That was Miracle 1.

Then came Saturday’s national semifinal against Auburn. Virginia led by 10 late and blew the lead. The Tigers led 62-60 when Guy was fouled with less than a second to play. Or maybe he wasn’t fouled. Or maybe Ty Jerome double-dribbled a couple of seconds earlier. It didn’t matter. Guy coolly made all three free throws and U-Va. escaped, 63-62.

The Free Throws. Miracle 2.

And then came Monday night. Virginia again had a 10-point lead, but this was a team that did nothing easily. By the time the Red Raiders had taken a 68-65 lead with 22 seconds left, the Cavaliers had the Red Raiders right where they wanted them.

To lead the Cavaliers was to simply bring out the best in them. U-Va. could have settled for a two-point basket and then fouled quickly. Instead, Jerome drove to the basket and just when it looked as if he was going to go up for a layup, he flipped a pass to De’Andre Hunter in the corner.

Hunter had been awful in the first half — 1 for 8 — but he was almost perfect in the second: 7 of 8 from the field to finish with 27 points. None were as big as the three-pointer he drilled from the corner off Guy’s pass with 14 ticks left before overtime.

“We work on that play every day in practice,” Texas Tech Coach Chris Beard said. “Three things: deny the three-point line, don’t give up an and-one and get the defensive rebound. It looked like they were going for a quick shot inside but then there was a really good pass to set Hunter up.”

Texas Tech had one more chance, but Culver missed a three. Overtime. The Red Raiders actually led 73-70 but Guy made two free throws and Hunter made a three for the final lead change of the season and a 75-73 lead. Texas Tech was gassed.

This time it was The Three. And, most important, Miracle 3. Job done. Redemption complete.

Before the game began, the NCAA decided to show the final seconds of North Carolina State’s stunning victory over Houston in the 1983 championship game. That team was known as the Cardiac Kids. These will be the Cardiac Cavs.

They were a team that never lost their poise in critical moment after critical moment. U-Va.’ s three stars all starred on Monday night: Hunter was brilliant throughout the second half — not only with his shooting but his defense, holding Culver to 5-of-22 shooting for the game. Guy, the hero on Saturday, finished with 24 points. Jerome had 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists — none bigger than the final one in regulation.

In all, the three pals — all part of Virginia’s 2016 recruiting class — scored 67 of U-Va.’ s 85 points.

To say that Texas Tech was a worthy opponent is a vast understatement. Even with Hunter making life miserable for Culver; even with their best inside player, Tariq Owens, playing on an ankle sprain that needed a pregame cortisone shot just so he could play, the Red Raiders refused to go away.

Every time Virginia built a working margin, Tech dug in and battled back and had a very real chance to win. Just like Purdue did. Just like Auburn did. In fact, they almost certainly would have won against a lesser team.

A year ago, Villanova made winning the national championship look easy. This year, Virginia made it look almost impossibly hard.

Before this final game, Bennett reminded his players that perhaps no team had ever faced more pressure than they had — especially in the first half of the Gardner-Webb game when things again looked so bleak.

“All of that is why you’re ready to play on this stage,” he told his team.

Both teams were ready to play on this stage. It took more than 43 minutes of playing time before anyone blinked. It was an extraordinary game with, of course, a fairy-tale finish.

When the clock ran out and the confetti fell, Bennett, a deeply religious man, sat on a stool in Virginia’s bench area, head bowed, giving thanks.

Bennett often quotes the Bible to his players. One of his favorites is, “Don’t grow weary of doing good.”

This Virginia team, almost miraculously, never grew weary. And it did good. Historically good.

Perhaps no team has ever done more to deserve a national championship.

For more by John Feinstein, visit washingtonpost.com/Feinstein.

[Virginia wins its first NCAA basketball championship, defeating Texas Tech, 85-77]

[Jerry Brewer: It took winning it all, but Virginia finally rewrites the narrative]