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	A New Bishop for Cleveland Cleveland Plain Dealer April 11, 2006 http://www.cleveland.com/politics/plaindealer/index.ssf? /base/opinion/1144744222117160.xml&coll=2 Richard Lennon, the auxiliary bishop from Boston chosen by Rome to replace retiring Cleveland Catholic Bishop Anthony Pilla, comes to town with a reputation. His admirers call him a loyal son of the church. So do his detractors. In these troubled times of priest scandals and priest shortages, loyalty to the church is not a trait universally praised. Plus, Lennon comes from the Boston Archdiocese, perhaps the epicenter of priest sexual abuse scandals, which will dismay those upset by church leaders' see-no-evil cover-up. But Roman Catholics here should keep an open mind as Lennon becomes this diocese's 10th bishop. He will have plenty of opportunities to make his mark. Judge him on what he does here, not on his tenure in Boston. He is not Cardinal Bernard Law, the Boston prelate whose high-handedness amid the archdiocese's scandals made him a lightning rod for public censure. As Law's interim successor, Lennon came in for criticism, too. And after a new cardinal was named for Boston, Lennon was asked to take on another difficult assignment - closing shrinking churches and parish schools. Boston had too many churches with small, aging congregations and many suspect, huge sexual abuse settlements to pay. Lennon sold off those properties, including his own boyhood parish. Lennon's superiors clearly see him as an administrator well suited to difficult jobs. But many who knew him well in Boston, where he began as a much-admired parish priest, see him as a man with a pastor's heart. We in Northeast Ohio will come to know him in our own way. Lennon will be his own man in Northeast Ohio, and it will be interesting to see how he leads the diocese in confronting its challenges. Church consolidation will surely be high on the list - a subject much studied over the last 15 years, although Pilla chose not to begin the onerous task of dismantling small but fiercely beloved parishes and merging them with others. That work will fall to Lennon. These are troubled waters, for sure, but perhaps he has learned something from wading in them before. His flock will see.
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