Boston Priests Doubting Cardinal After Sex Scandal
Last Updated: February 26, 2002 01:18 PM ET
By Christopher Noble
BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law, under siege because of a scandal over priests accused of molesting children, is losing crucial support from his parish priests and could lose his job, clergy and scholars said.
Local priests have been demoralized by a daily buffeting by the media, and their trust in Law and his ability to lead the church out of the crisis has been seriously eroded, according to local clergy and Catholic scholars with contacts in the diocese.
"Either he can pull it together in the next few months or he needs to leave and let someone else do it," said a veteran parish priest who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The roots of the scandal lie in the case of John Geoghan, 66, a defrocked priest who has been accused by more than 130 people of sexually abusing them over more than 30 years.
He has been sentenced to jail in one molestation case but faces two other criminal complaints and more than 80 civil suits based on other allegations.
Law and other church official are accused of ignoring Geoghan's abuses as they shuttled him from parish to parish.
In a reversal of policy last month, the church gave police the names of dozens of priests accused of sexual abuse of children over the last 40 years. Law suspended 10 priests this month because of accusations of sexual impropriety.
"There is a feeling among the priests that we, too, have become victims," said the veteran priest. "It's a palpable discouragement. If the phone rings, you climb under the desk."
"Anybody can call up and say, 'Well, so-and-so patted me on the butt in 1967,' and it becomes a cause celebre," he said. "Some of these men are being hung out to dry unnecessarily and we just don't have all the facts."
This priest and others said they were deeply troubled by Law's early efforts to cover up the scandal and his subsequent zealousness in suspending clergy on what might be unfounded allegations.
It is rare for a cardinal to resign under pressure and the extent of dissatisfaction among priests is difficult to gauge. But scholars said the priesthood is probably the one pillar of support without which a bishop cannot be effective.
LAW NEEDS PRIESTS TO BE EFFECTIVE
If he resigns it won't be because of The Boston Globe or pressure from the media, it will be because he has decided that he no longer has the support from his priests," said Rev. Richard McBrien, theology professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana.
The extent of the cover up and the sheer number of priests involved have shocked Boston's two million Catholics and prompted calls for Law's resignation. A poll published in the Boston Globe on Feb. 8 found 48 percent of area Catholics believed Law should quit.
While Law has apologized publicly half a dozen times, he has rejected calls that he resign.
The first open challenge to Law came Monday from the Rev. George Spagnolia, a priest in Lowell, Massachusetts, who denied allegations he molested a child more than 30 years ago. Spagnolia criticized Law's policy of suspending priests accused of sexual misconduct.
"I and many others believe that this policy is unjust and inherently evil in its implementation," told his parishioners.
After Spagnolia spoke, the diocese issued a statement defending its policies and reaffirming its commitment to protecting children from predatory priests.
Spagnolia also questioned whether Law had enough credibility to continue at the head of the diocese. He was the only one of the 10 accused priests who spoke out.
Law's decision to reverse course on handling priests accused of wrongdoing has done little to calm the scandal.
Instead, it appears to be gathering new force and sending ripples across the country. Over the weekend, the Boston Globe reported hundreds of people had contacted lawyers to look into filing sexual abuse complaints.
Dioceses in New Hampshire, Maine and Pennsylvania have all revealed in recent days that dozens of priests have been accused of pedophilia.