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	Pope Appoints Boston Auxiliary Bishop to Lead Cleveland Diocese The Associated Press, carried in Boston.com April 4, 2006 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/04/04/ pope_appoints_boston_auxiliary_bishop_to_lead_cleveland_diocese/ CLEVELAND --Pope Benedict the XVI appointed as bishop of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese a leader who was interim head of the Boston archdiocese during the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Bishop Richard Lennon will be introduced later Tuesday at a news conference in Cleveland with his predecessor, retiring Bishop Anthony Pilla, diocese spokesman Bob Tayek told The Associated Press. Lennon, 59, was ordained in 1973 and became an auxiliary bishop in 2001. He led the Boston archdiocese for about six months on an interim basis after Cardinal Bernard Law quit in 2002 amid pressure for mishandling the priest sex-abuse scandal in Boston. During that tenure, Lennon received mixed reviews from members of the nation's fourth-largest diocese. Friends and colleagues praised him for his compassion and commitment to his faith and said he had the heart of a parish priest. But he was criticized by victims for allegedly continuing Law's hard line approach, including by issuing subpoenas for victims' therapists and hiring a First Amendment lawyer to fight the sex-abuse lawsuits on the grounds that the separation of church and state bars civil courts from getting involved in how church officials supervise priests. "Bishop Lennon was part of Bernard Cardinal Law's administration, which protected pedophile priests instead of innocent children. Apparently, Bishop Lennon is now being rewarded for being part of that administration," said Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented 120 of the approximately 550 abuse victims who settled lawsuits against the archdiocese in 2003 in a collective $85 million settlement. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who was named archbishop in July 2003, thanked Lennon for 33 years of "faithful service" to the archdiocese of Boston. "Bishop Lennon's intellect, commitment and deep faith will be a grace and blessing for the Diocese of Cleveland," O'Malley said in a statement. Lennon, who came from a devout church-going family in Arlington, Mass., decided to enter the priesthood during his sophomore year at Boston College. He earned bachelors and masters degrees at St. John's Seminary and was ordained a priest in May 1973. Lennon served as parochial vicar at St. Mary of the Nativity Parish in Scituate, Mass., from 1973 until 1982 when he moved on to St. Mary Parish in Quincy, Mass. He was named assistant for Canonical Affairs for the archdiocese in 1988, a job he held for a decade before being appointed rector at St. John Seminary in Brighton near Boston. When O'Malley was named archbishop, Lennon returned to his position as Moderator of the Curia, a chief of staff position Lennon was given in July 2002. In that job, Lennon oversaw the daily administrative work of the archdiocese. Pilla has spent 25 years as bishop of the Cleveland Diocese, which covers eight northeast Ohio counties. He has had health problems in recent years and has spent much of the past few years dealing with lawsuits over alleged abuse by clergy in the diocese, multi-million-dollar settlements with the victims, and financial struggles amid declining church attendance and falling contributions.
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