By Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Lez Get Real
November 21, 2011
http://lezgetreal.com/2011/11/cardinal-law-resigns-from-post-still-avoids-sex-abuse-responsibility/
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| Cardinal Bernard Law's Coat Of Arms |
Cardinal Bernard Law has been avoiding responsibility for the sexual molestation of dozens of children in Massachusetts decades ago. Benedict has accepted Laws resignation as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica and named Monsignor Santo Abril y Castello as his replacement. Law’s appointment to this job has been a major bone of contention with advocates for those abused by priests. He was appointed there in 2004 in the middle of the scandal over child sexual abuse. This left Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley to deal with the fallout from the whole thing.
Mitchell Garabedian, a boston attorney who represented numerous victims, praised Law’s retirement saying:
“With all due respect, society has not lost a great protector of children. Bernard Cardinal Law should return to Boston and address the clergy sex abuse victims who he let be sexually molested while he was cardinal. Bernard Cardinal Law turned his back on innocent children, acted immorally, and should be held accountable.”
Boston archdiocese spokesman Terry Donilon referred reporters to the Vatican regarding questions about Cardinal Law’s retirement. The Vatican is telling reporters to wait until Tuesday. They may push it back until Thursday so that they can hide it in the middle of the American holiday of Thanksgiving.
Law is not going to be just going off to retire to some villa. He will still be at the Vatican, and still have some work to do. He will be remaining as a member of a half-dozen Vatican congregations, including one of them that helps to select bishops.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stated that:
While Cardinal Bernard Law has been replaced as head of one of Rome’s most prestigious churches, the AP reports that he “remains a member of a half-dozen important Vatican congregations, including the office that helps the pope select bishops.”
So a full ten years after his repeated deceit, callousness and reckless was laid bare, Law is still honored and influential with the church hierarchy. Can there be a clearer sign that top Catholic officials just don’t care about suffering adults and vulnerable kids? Can you name or even imagine another institution where a similar scheming CEO would be afforded such power and prestige?
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: When wrongdoing is rewarded, wrongdoing will be repeated. That’s one key reason why there’s been so very little reform within the church on child sex abuse and cover up. Those who ignore and conceal heinous crimes keep climbing the church’s corporate ladder.
When the Penn State scandal erupted, several university officials were ousted within days. When the Boston archdiocese scandal erupted, Law clung to his post for almost a year, was essentially promoted, and now, a decade later, still wields considerable power, while living in the literal and figurative power center of Catholicism.
Bishopaccountability.org founder Terry McKiernan welcomed the news of Law’s departure from that post by saying that “It’s a long time coming, but we are certainly glad his influence is finally, for all intents and purposes, over in Rome.”
Law, who is 80, is not suppose to be part of any of the conclaves voting for new pontiffs or bishops, but it appears that he will be part of those anyway. This is disturbing because he tends to reward those who have worked for him on sex abuse cases or in helping to cover those up.
Carmen Durso, another Boston attorney handling these cases noted that Law’s resignation from his posts has more to do with his age and nothing to do with punishing him. This is not surprising. Durso stated:
“He shouldn’t have had that position in the first place because he didn’t merit it, given how he handled the sex abuse cases in Boston. … All this does is call to mind once again the fact that he wasn’t punished. No bishops have been punished by the Vatican for the failure to supervise priests who abused kids. The real tragedy is that he was awarded. They made show of removing him and then they give him a prestigious position. He should face a lifetime of penance to account for the lifetime of pain that the victims will have to endure. If I were Cardinal Law, I would get up every day and beg God’s forgiveness. It’s tragic that the church operates more like Enron than a church.”
Law’s resignation is not likely to impact anything to do with the way that the Church handles child sexual abuse by priests given that it was little more than just a changing of the guards. You know, like replacing Grand Moff Tarkin as head of Imperial weapons of mass destruction development.
Update:
The Rainbow Sash Movement has issued the following statement:
We are pleased that Cardinal Law has resigned, and will be replaced. The Cardinal brought nothing but shame and harm not only to the victims of clergy sexual abuse in Boston, but also the Catholic laity, His resignation in 2002 and later promotion to head a major Roman basilica in Rome by the Vatican was continuation of the scandal.
Law’s 2004 appointment as the archpriest of one of Rome’s most important basilicas ,only shows how systemic clergy sexual abuse is in the Church. The Rainbow Sash Movement called for justice for victims of clergy in sexual abuse in 2004, and we continue that call. Those bishops who covered up for pedophile priests should be punished, not rewarded.
Hopefully he will now return to the United States where he can be held responsible by a court of law.
Via Boston Globe
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