PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
Dear Cardinal Rigali,
How can I put this delicately?
Last week, you blew it.
As the highly visible head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, you had the opportunity to stand tall in support of the thousands of children who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. You had the chance to silently protest the actions of a church hierarchy that for too long protected abusers.
Before the world, you could have boycotted your colleague who epitomizes everything the Catholic Church did so terribly wrong in handling the long-running molestation tragedy.
And what did you do? Nothing.
Your chance to make a powerful statement came April 11 when Cardinal Bernard Law, a central figure in the American sex-abuse scandal, was chosen to say a Mass in memory of Pope John Paul II. A disgraced Law was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after it was revealed that he had secretly shuffled pedophile priests among parishes.
Posted by kshaw at April 19, 2005 10:42 AM