Posted on 04/08/2005 2:56:33 PM PDT by cowtowney
Cardinal Bernard Law The Vatican has granted a prominent role in the Pope's funeral rituals to a U.S. cardinal who was forced to resign amid accusations that he protected sexually-abusive priests.
Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston, will celebrate Mass on one of the nine days of mourning for Pope John Paul II.
Some American Catholics feel this privilege represents the Vatican's lack of recognition of the abuse scandal that rocked the U.S. Catholic Church.
Cardinal Law resigned from his Boston post in 2002, when it became known that his archdiocese simply transferred priests who had been accused of abuse to other parishes.
Last year, Cardinal Law was granted a post at one of the main basilicas in Rome. It is through this position that he was given a role in the Pope's funeral masses.
He will have also have a say in the selection of the next pope
It's all so embarrasing... and wrong.
He didn't stay around long enough to ask the raped children for their forgivness.
the devil hates to see the truth exposing his symbol
That and not supporting Bush in the Iraq War.
Yes, but only God can forgive sin, man cannot, nor do you need a mere man nor a group to accomplish this.
You approach the throne of grace with boldness to seek mercy and receive grace through the obedience of Jesus Christ by the Holy Sprit and none other!
Neither do you need nor would it be helpful nor possible to ask anyone else(already in heaven)to intercede with Christ in your behalf!
Good grief. Everytime someone dare question the church...people always stand up and call it bigotry. Give it a rest. Just because someone has an opinion on a man who allowed people to molest children does not mean it is bigotry. I call it morality.
I can make a principled argument for not supporting the invasion of Iraq.
Many people can, according to their principles, including the Pope and the leftists. I appreciate those who supported Bush.
Me too.
I wasn't too keen on it, but I think he's been proven right this week, particularly.
How exacty is the Catholic church going to put Law in jail?
I think the DA is supposed to press charges. Not the Church.
Of course sinners can be forgiven but they have to truly repent: "Go and sin no more". Wish I knew how a cardinal could be defrocked. They should give him a job cleaning floors with a toothbrush in a monastery so he could learn humility...Or better yet a servant in a home for abused children so he could directly look into the eyes of devastation.
Excellent insight and advice!
Nonsense.
Some American Catholics feel this privilege represents the Vatican's lack of recognition of the abuse scandal that rocked the U.S. Catholic Church.
Cardinal Law resigned from his Boston post in 2002, when it became known that his archdiocese simply transferred priests who had been accused of abuse to other parishes.
Last year, Cardinal Law was granted a post at one of the main basilicas in Rome.
It is through this position that he was given a role in the Pope's funeral masses.
He will have also have a say in the selection of the next pope.
Could it be said that these decisions warrant a second look at many other actions in which the church circumvented the Word of God by interpretiing the Word to fit Catholic Dogma?
This guy is worse than the pederasts, if that's possible. The pederasts, say what you will, are diseased. That doesn't mean I don't hold them responsible for their acts, but they're basically carnal, notwithstanding all that disorders them. Law allowed the pederasts to continue to abuse kids, to perpetuate and increase the number of victims. He calculated, he premeditated the moves from one Parish to another.
It's not about forgivenss, it's about calling this guy to account for his deeds, not rewarding him with a vote on who the next Pope will be. For the third time, absolutely, positively DISGRACEFUL, and really, really embarassing.
"How exactly is the Catholic church going to put Law in jail?"
Well, the Church shipped him off to Rome before the state of Massachusetts had a chance to do anything.
It is a disgrace that he retains his elevated position.
True enough. That's why we are not to make judgments. Man sees only with the eyes. God sees what is in a man's heart.
That's providing that the 2/3 (plus 1, I thought?) majority can be reached.
If after two weeks there's no 2/3 agreement it goes to a simple majority, I believe.
Cunning as serpents; innocent as doves.
Not throwing his lot in with the serpents seems to have been Cardinal Law’s failure.
In my time had have had some past dealings with Catholic bureaucracies, most notably an American-based, international catholic media apostolate. While one is given the impression that the Mother Superior is in charge, she is only as informed of the day to day operations as her associates want her to be. The leader has the “vision”, sees the forest so to speak, but it’s the underlings who must tend to the trees. Sometimes we are only as good as those under us. Many, many priests who served under Cardinal Law betrayed him. And these priests had been raised and long participated in the entrenched corrupt bureaucracy of the Archdiocese of Boston. Note how New York, not Boston or even the mother-diocese of Baltimore has been the moral authority in America.
An aside: as a Nutmegger living below the Mason-Dixon, I’ve seen that the fervent faith of Catholics in the Bible Belt which is nothing like the inbred, Easter-Christmas Cultural Catholicism of the Northeast.
Incidentally, Law is not a native Irish son of Bean Town. Cardinal law was born in Mexico to the son of a US Army Colonel. Later he graduated from high school in the US Virgin Islands before attending Harvard. As a newly ordained priest he was assigned to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson during the height of the Civil Rights era. In the 60’s he was appointed bishop of the still relatively new diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
All those who think Law’s banishment to Rome will change anything in the Archdiocese of Boston are mistaken. The one man who now thoroughly grasps what is “wrong”…who now see’s “face to face” the darkness that is in Archdiocese has been exiled to Rome. Those who want Cardinal Law excommunicated or retired are really saying they want to preserve the status quo in Boston. They want the homosexuality and pedophilia to continue.
Nothing will change Archbishop O’Malley because all of the players…all of the Chancellery officers, all the auxiliary bishops, and all of the high-ranking priests who have participated in or collaborated in the real cover-up are still in office. Perhaps more scary still, some of those Aux. Bishops formerly under Law have now been named bishops of other dioceses.
Remember, Boston has consistently voted the Kennedy’s and Kerry’s back into office every four years.
Again, I suggest massnews.com to get the whole story behind what is happening in Boston.
For a long time the image of popes was built on the "Renaissance popes" - who were bad enough in different ways to provoke the Protestant revolt, alas. But since the Counter Reformation most have been devout men, flawed (as all men are) in different ways and degrees. None of the "papabili" are Bogias or Medicis.
On the other hand, Pope John Paul II was clearly a cut above, one of the very best popes the Church has ever had. It may be unreasonable to expect the next one to be as good as he is...but given the challenges that face the Church, he will still need to be a a very capable and devout man.
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