VATICAN CITY
The UW Daily
By Carol Eisenberg / Newsday
April 08, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The naming of Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston, to preside over one of nine Masses that will memorialize Pope John Paul II, stunned and angered many American Catholics on Thursday.
"For better or for worse, Cardinal Law is the poster child for clergy sex abuse," said James Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, a national lay group formed in Boston at the height of the scandal to demand accountability and reform. "Any role for him is a visible reminder of the complicity of the hierarchy in the clergy sex abuse crisis. I'm bewildered that the cardinals would deliberately select him, knowing it would simply remind people of this terrible, terrible scandal."
Law, 73, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 amid accusations that he knowingly shielded priest molesters, will preside over the fourth of nine days of Masses, called Novemdiales, to memorialize the late pope.
That service will be held Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston. A Mass is said for the pope every day during the mourning period.
Posted by kshaw at April 8, 2005 04:32 AM