By Natalie Sherman
Boston Herald
November 21, 2011
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1382737&srvc=rss
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| Cardinal Bernard Law |
Cardinal Bernard Law has stepped down from a plum post in Rome, where he has presided as head of a major basilica since leaving the Hub in 2002 in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal, but victims of abuse and their advocates say the former archbishop of Boston still hasn’t been held to account for his role.
The Vatican announced the resignation of Law, 80, today in a two-line statement that said Pope Benedict XVI had named Spanish Monsignor Santos Abril y Castello as the new archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica.
“It’s unfortunate that Bernard Cardinal Law was not held accountable for allowing innocent children to be sexually molested,” said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented several clergy sex abuse victims and has said Law oversaw the shuffling of accused priests between parishes.
“Cardinal Law should return to Boston, face the public and discuss why he allowed pedophile priests to abuse children,” Garabedian said. “Victims feel he was actually promoted instead of punished for his negligent acts. Such a promotion was an insult and re-victimization of clergy sex abuse victims.”
“With all due respect, society has not lost a great protector of children,” he added.
Barbara Dorris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said bishops are required by church law to submit their resignations when they reach a certain age. Benedict could have kept Law, 80, on longer — the dean of the College of Cardinals, for example, turns 84 this week — but decided to replace him.
Law celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month with a lavish spread at a four-star Italian hotel that outraged critics, who said his efforts to conceal sex abuse by members of the clergy should have been punished. He remains a member of a half-dozen important Vatican congregations, including the office that helps the pope select bishops. Such appointments are for renewable five-year terms and it’s not clear when each one expires or whether Law will seek to stay on.
“Who cares about what he does from his retirement at the rectory?” said Bernie McDaid, 55, of Peabody, who claimed he was abused by a priest from ages 11 to 13 in Salem and later co-founded Survivors’ Voice Inc. “The man is still in power. It’s ludicrous. I’m really offended.”
In 2002, Law became the first — and so far only — U.S. bishop to resign for mishandling cases of priests who sexually abused children. He had been named in hundreds of lawsuits accusing him of failing to protect children from known child molesters. After 18 years leading the nation’s fourth-largest archdiocese, Law resigned in 2002 after asking Pope John Paul II twice before receiving permission to step down before reaching the mandatory retirement age for bishops of 75.
“This guy has never paid the price for what he did in Boston,” said Dorris, who also has claimed she was abused by a priest. “He’s been disgraced and yet he continues to have this power over everybody else.”
Ten months after he left office, Law’s successor, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley helped broker an $85 million settlement with more than 550 victims of pedophile priests.
Boston archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon referred all comment to the Vatican Press Office.
Law’s successor at St. Mary Major — one of the four basilicas under the direct jurisdiction of the Vatican — retired earlier this year as the Vatican’s ambassador to Slovenia and Macedonia.
Abril y Castello, 76, is also the No. 2 prelate who helps take care of matters dealing with a papal death and runs the Vatican until a new pontiff is elected in a conclave.
Now that he is 80, Law can no longer vote in a conclave, though he remains a cardinal.
“The signal it sends to current church employees is that if you hide abuse, you’ll essentially be promoted,” said SNAP director David Clohessy, citing Law’s career after leaving Boston. “Suffering abuse victims can heal irrespective of what the church hierarchy does, but vulnerable kids can’t protect themselves without some help from the church hierarchy and instead of help, kids see corrupt officials being promoted.”
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