c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) After Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston in December 2002, many in the Catholic reform movement were angry when he was later transferred to an important position in Rome.
On Thursday (April 7), the announcement that Law would celebrate one of nine official Masses to mourn Pope John Paul II introduced a bit of negative press to what has been a week of worldwide adulation.
The anger was the rawest in Boston and in the broader community of sex-abuse survivors, who blame Law for protecting predators and contributing to the parade of victims.
“Out of respect and compassion for the victims, he should have disqualified himself from these important Vatican committees he sits on and, at this juncture, he shouldn’t be actively seeking the limelight,” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It just rubs salt into these deep wounds.”
The cauldron actually started bubbling on Sunday, when Law was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC. But it reached a fever pitch Thursday, when the announcement was made about the Mass, scheduled for Monday (April 11).
Suzanne Morse of Voice of the Faithful, a reform group founded in the Archdiocese of Boston in the wake of the clergy abuse scandal there, said many members are incensed.
“It’s a useful reminder that a lot of work needs to be done to heal the church and address these underlying causes,” she said. “It puts a spotlight on the lack of accountability in the Catholic Church.”
Theologians and others connected to the church were quick to point out that Law is archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major, where the fourth special Mass will be celebrated.
“Given the fact that it’s the Holy Father’s death, the head guy will celebrate the Mass,” said John Farina, a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “It’s not something you pass the buck on.”
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., seemed to agree that critics were reading too much into it.
“I’m sure the choice was not made for any reason other than to honor the church of St. Mary Major, which is the great church of Our Lady in Rome,” McCarrick said Thursday at a news conference at the North American Pontifical College in Rome, noting that the leaders of at least two other Roman basilicas also had been tapped.
Such explanations didn’t satisfy critics weary of what they see as the church’s refusal to acknowledge the problems with pedophile priests.
“We were extremely disappointed” when Law was moved to Rome, said Mary Louise Hartman, a Princeton, N.J., resident who is a leader in the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church. “He was given refuge when he should have stayed here in this country and faced up to his failure of responsibility.”
(Steve Chambers is a staff writer for the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Jeff Diamant contributed to this story from Rome.)
KRE/PH END CHAMBERS
