By Dave Wedge
Boston Herald
June 1, 2010
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1258566&srvc=rss
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| Cardinal Sean O’Malley. |
sBoston Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s appointment by Pope Benedict XVI to probe the Irish sex abuse scandal is drawing both praise for his expertise on the issue and criticism for the church’s insistence on having clergy oversee the cleanup.
“He’s the ideal person that the Holy Father could have picked,” said former Hub Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. “I feel very confident he’ll go over there and deal with it respectfully and restore credibility.”
O’Malley, 65, who took over the Boston archdiocese in the wake of Cardinal Bernard Law’s disastrous tenure, will be part of a nine-member church team to intervene in Ireland, which has been rocked by sex abuse scandals similar to those that scarred Boston earlier this decade. O’Malley was assigned to head up the probe into the Archdiocese of Dublin.
O’Malley is seen as one of the most credible church leaders on the sex abuse issue. In 1994, he was appointed bishop in Fall River in the wake of the serial molestation case involving ex-priest James Porter. A decade later, he succeeded Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as the Boston clergy abuse scandal boiled over.
But David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized the pope’s selection of O’Malley, saying, “We’re troubled by this choice. We frankly wish the pope had chosen someone else. We’re not optimistic about internal efforts by a largely complicit church hierarchy to clean house. Ultimately, the real solution is to enable secular authorities to deal with clergy sex crimes and cover-ups.”
Clohessy said he’d rather see lay people lead the effort, and said O’Malley fell short of expectations in Boston, failing to implement widespread abuse training demanded by SNAP.
Of his appointment, O’Malley said in a statement yesterday, “The Church must be unfailingly vigilant in protecting children and young people. Our ongoing efforts in the Archdiocese of Boston to ensure their safety will be helpful for the (Ireland) visitation.”
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said, “Cardinal O’Malley’s experience and personal commitment render him particularly suited to bring ecclesial solidarity to the faithful and the clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin at this moment, in which the Church in Dublin addresses the truth of a dark moment in its history.”
Three Irish bishops have stepped down since December amid a string of abuse cases.
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