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	The Law of Advancement By Eileen McNamara Boston Globe April 9, 2006 http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/09/the_law_of_advancement/ Call it the (Saint) Peter Principle. With the appointment of Bishop Richard Lennon as head of the Cleveland Diocese, is there a top aide to Cardinal Bernard Law left who has not been rewarded with a promotion? Lennon, of course, was interim head of the Boston Archdiocese after Law's forced resignation in December 2002 in the midst of the sexual abuse scandal. He was the compassionate shepherd who subpoenaed records of victims' therapists in an attempt to undermine their credibility. He was the man of God who hired legal specialists to argue that civil authorities had no right to interfere in a church's supervision of its priests. He was the man of the people who shut the doors of parochial schools and neighborhood parishes without so much as a conversation with the people in the pews. Why wouldn't the Vatican choose him to lead a diocese of 800,000 Roman Catholics? It awarded Law a comfortable posting to Rome, after all. Lennon follows a long line of similarly rewarded subordinates who did the boss's bidding despite the damage inflicted on victims of the predatory priests the Boston hierarchy was so determined to protect. Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., was one of Law's most trusted lieutenants, responsible for the lax supervision of some of Boston's most notorious predators. He escaped criminal indictment in New Hampshire by turning church documents over to the state and agreeing to submit to regular audits to ensure that the diocese is taking basic steps to ensure the safety of children in its care. The first of those audits was released a few days ago and the news was not good. Criminal background checks are not uniformly done on church employees. Training in the identification and prevention of child abuse is still inadequate at best. The cause, according to Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, is "a failure to take responsibility at the top of the diocese." The news was little better for the Boston Archdiocese on Friday, when a panel appointed to oversee its efforts at reform complained that the "slow pace of organizational and cultural change" threatens to reverse what progress has been made to protect children. No sooner had the New Hampshire audit been issued than McCormack's minions complained that the state is nitpicking about minor administrative matters. McCormack, as impervious to his critics as was Law, continues to ignore calls for him to resign. Why should he step down when the Vatican continues to promote likeminded prelates? At his first meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lennon will probably run into two other memorable graduates of Law's chancery. William F. Murphy is now the bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, N.Y., and Robert J. Banks heads the diocese of Green Bay, Wis. Both suffered no career setbacks for the key roles they played in the cover-up of sexual abuse by clergy. It was Banks, for instance, who softened a critical evaluation of the late John Geoghan in order to smooth his transfer to St. Julia's parish in Weston, where he continued his decades-long practice of molesting children. Maria Rodrigues of Brighton wants Lennon to know just how happy she is that he is moving on. She and her husband, Steve, will be throwing a party tomorrow afternoon outside the gates of the chancery. Rodrigues's daughter was a student at the Our Lady of Presentation School in Brighton when the Boston Archdiocese, frightened of its own people, padlocked the doors to the elementary school to prevent parents, angered over its decision to sell the building, from staging a protest. It was the day before graduation ceremonies. Locked out of their school, the parents erected tents across the street on Oak Square Common and staged a sleep-in. They called their encampment "Lennonville." Said Maria Rodrigues of her party plans for tomorrow: "I am happy he's gone, and I want him to know." Eileen McNamara is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at mcnamara@globe.com.
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