BOSTON (MA)
La Croix International [Montrouge Cedex, France]
October 31, 2024
By Youna Rivallain
On October 31, the Archdiocese of Boston welcomes its new archbishop, Bishop Richard Henning. He succeeds Cardinal Sean O’Malley, appointed in 2003 during a crisis involving sexual abuse cases. Since the bombshell revelations of abuse, the archdiocese has been slowly rebuilding trust.
Cynthia will never forget January 2002. At the time, she was a student at Boston College, the Jesuit university in the archdiocese. Every day on her way to class, she passed by the residence of Cardinal Bernard Law, then-Archbishop of Boston, who died in 2017. “Every day, there were protestors with signs in front of his house. There was so much anger and pain.”
On January 6, 2002, The Boston Globe published an investigation whose impact reverberated far beyond America. The newspaper revealed that 130 children had been abused by former priest John Geoghan and that the Catholic hierarchy had covered up these crimes by moving the priest from parish to parish. “It was a very dark time,” recalled Wilson Villamar, a former seminarian in Boston, now a married hospital chaplain. Here, people often refer to 2002 as the “Ground Zero year.”
Broken trust
Twenty years later, as the diocese prepares to welcome its new archbishop, Bishop Richard Henning, has the local church recovered? “The 2002 abuse revelations were incredibly devastating for Boston Catholics,” noted Susan Reynolds, a Catholic theologian and ethnographer who conducted field research at St. Mary of the Angels parish. “It created a culture of distrust and suspicion toward the institutional church that has never disappeared.” Following this investigation, many Catholics stopped practicing. According to a Gallup study in 2002, 22% of Boston Catholics considered leaving the church after the revelations. “I lived in a Catholic household; two of my six roommates left the church,” Cynthia recounted. A sense of paranoia gripped the diocese. “Priests could no longer walk the streets in their Roman collars,” recalled Michael Sean Winters, a journalist at National Catholic Reporter.
Even today, suspicion lingers in the diocese: it is impossible to speak with a priest or diocesan official without going through the communications office, which blocks interviews. Despite requests, La Croix was unable to meet with any priest or diocesan official.
Boston, a historic American diocese deeply influenced by Irish and Italian immigration, is known for its prominent archbishops, including Cardinal William O’Connell and Bishop Richard Cushing. “Culturally, Boston is America’s Catholic city par excellence,” Reynolds explained. “In many ways, it’s a microcosm of how abuse has shaken American dioceses.”
When Cardinal Sean O’Malley was installed as archbishop in 2003, he was known for his “zero tolerance” policy toward sexual abuse. “When he arrived, the diocese was a financial, psychological, and spiritual disaster,” Winters said. Even before the abuse crisis, the archdiocese was on the brink of bankruptcy. In December 2002, the Archdiocese of Boston announced plans to declare bankruptcy.
A shift from north to south
Upon his arrival, O’Malley made tough decisions to stabilize finances and fund the nearly $100 million awarded to abuse victims. He sold the archbishop’s residence to Boston College but refused to close the major seminary, insisting it would never reopen if closed. For 20 years, he rebuilt trust and cultivated a new generation of priests by attending vocation events and engaging with young people interested in religious life. Even though the archdiocese faced challenges in priest numbers, 11 were ordained in June, the second-largest class since 2002.
He also announced the closure of about 70 parishes with low attendance. Catholic affiliation has declined: only 30% of Boston adults identify as Catholic in 2024, down from 50% in 2000. Demographics play a role in this shift, with younger people moving south for jobs. “The future of the diocese lies with immigrant populations, whether Latino, Portuguese, or Vietnamese,” said Father John Baldovin, professor at the Boston College School of Theology.
A church of two worlds
In Roxbury, St. Mary of the Angels Church, originally slated for closure, remained open due to protests from the faithful. At 9 a.m., the English Mass draws about 50 people, while the Spanish Mass at 11:15 is packed. “The Latino community accounts for 90% of the baptisms, first communions, and marriages here,” Reynolds estimated. In Boston, Mass is celebrated in 20 languages.
Casey, a political science PhD student at Boston College, belongs to a dynamic parish in Brookline. Raised in the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, he was four years old in 2002, yet the abuse crisis still resonated. “Here, we don’t talk about it much. I only think of it when I pass by the Boston College property with the old archbishop’s residence.”
Another parishioner, Julia, 24, belongs to St. Columbkille Church. Like all parish volunteers, she completed the “Protecting God’s Children” training, which is designed to detect abuse and ensure diocesan compliance with background checks.
For each abuse report, law enforcement is notified, a statement is issued, and the priest is removed from ministry if still active. Each victim is offered psychological support funded by the archdiocese and financial compensation. According to the Boston Archdiocese, only two or three abuse cases post-2002 have been reported.
Looking ahead
In 2002, a group called Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) was formed to organize discussions and promote a cultural shift in the church. “When Cardinal Sean was appointed, we needed a pastoral figure to help heal our wounds,” recalled Patricia Gomez, a VOTF member. “He wasn’t perfect, but he was that person.”
Reflecting on Cardinal O’Malley’s tenure, Winters acknowledged, “His successor inherits some problems, but the Boston Archdiocese is no longer a disaster.”