BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - Updated: 02:15 AM EST
Pope Benedict XVI yesterday appointed a controversial Boston Archdiocese official as bishop of Cleveland.
Bishop Richard G. Lennon, who became the archdiocese’s interim head at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis, will replace retiring Bishop Anthony Pilla effective May 15, church officials said.
Lennon, 59, was ordained in 1973 and became an auxiliary bishop in 2001. The following year, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned amid revelations he had transferred priests who had molested children from parish to parish without notifying parents or police. Lennon had been one of the cardinal’s top aides, and his 14 months heading the archdiocese were frought with discord.
Critics accused him of being complicit during the crisis, pointing to a January 2000 letter in which he certified that Paul Shanley, a priest who has since been defrocked and convicted of child rape, was in good standing when Shanley applied for a transfer.