CLEVELAND (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Religion Reporter
He had been an auxiliary bishop only a little more than a year. But Richard Lennon did not hesitate in December 2002 when the Vatican asked him to lead the Archdiocese of Boston while it sought a replacement for embattled Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in the face of an explosive clergy sex-abuse scandal.
When Lennon was put in charge of overseeing church closings in Boston, he not only agreed to the thankless task but also accepted that one of those churches would be his home parish, St. James the Apostle, built with the physical labor of his uncles.
So when the call came from the Vatican two weeks ago asking if he would become the next bishop of Cleveland, Lennon answered the only way he knew how.
"I've always said yes since I've been ordained as a priest," Lennon said Tuesday.