BishopAccountability.org
	Law's Retirement Welcomed by Some in Boston Boston Globe November 21, 2011 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/11/21/laws_retirement_welcomed_by_some_in_boston/ Lawyers and advocates for victims of Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse welcomed Monday's news that former Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law has resigned from his position in Rome. The Vatican announced Law, 80, has stepped down as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica. "With all due respect, society has not lost a great protector of children, said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who has represented dozens of sex abuse victims in Boston. Law should take the opportunity to return to Boston and apologize, said Garabedian, who like many of Law's critics, said the cardinal didn't do enough to protect children from predatory priests, instead transferring them from parish to parish. "Cardinal Law should return to Boston, and face the victims and answer the many questions that remain," he said, while acknowledging that that is "highly unlikely." Terence McKiernan of bishopaccountability.org says Law's retirement from a position of "luxury and prestige" at the Vatican is a sign his influence is on the wane. Because he had turned 80, Law was already barred from voting, as part of a conclave, for a new pope. The Vatican announcement made no mention of Law's resignation, merely noting in a two-line statement that Pope Benedict XVI had named a new archpriest for the basilica. That was by design, McKiernan said. "The fact he was yanked without a lot of ceremony is significant," he said. "I think this is a deliberate diminishment." Law stepped down as Boston's archbishop in 2002. Raymond Flynn, the former mayor of Boston and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, said Law also did plenty of good for the city. When Law was appointed in 1984, Boston was still a city divided over court-ordered busing, Flynn said. "Religious leaders, Protestant, Jewish and Catholic, led by Cardinal Law, came together at city hall and pledged their unqualified support for racial, social and economic justice," Flynn said. The archdiocese deferred comment to the Vatican.
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