Breaking News - Boston's Cardinal Law Offers His Resignation

Fox News | 12/12/02 | Fox News

[VRWC_minion]

Lott next ?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

That what happens when you use the wrong oven.

[zingzang]

It must have been getting really, really hot in that kitchen.

Not as hot as it's gonna be in hell for this guy. Protecting those who hurt others is as bad as doing it yourself, especially when you are a "Man of God"

[polemikos]

Law, 7 Bishops Subpoenaed in U.S. Criminal Probe

— By Greg Frost

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was served a subpoena last Friday to appear before a Massachusetts grand jury investigating sex abuse by priests, sources familiar with the probe said on Thursday, and the cardinal apparently left the city the same day.

Grand jury subpoenas were also served last week on seven Roman Catholic bishops with ties to the Archdiocese of Boston, the sources said. Law had been served his subpoena on Friday and The Boston Globe said that was the same day the cardinal left for Washington, where he departed on Saturday for Rome.

Law, who arrived at the Vatican amid a simmering revolt among priests and parishioners in his archdiocese, was still in Rome and may meet with Pope John Paul II on Friday, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. It is possible the cardinal may hand the Pope his resignation as he did in April, when the pontiff rejected it.

The senior U.S. prelate has held talks with top Vatican officials all week about his future and plans for the archdiocese to declare bankruptcy as a way of dealing with some 450 clergy sexual abuse lawsuits.

Word of the subpoenas came after Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay group with more than 25,000 members, joined dozens of Law's own priests in calling for his ouster.

At least 58 Boston-area priests asked Law to step down in a letter delivered to his residence earlier this week.

The Rev. Robert Bullock, chairman of the largest forum of Roman Catholic priests in the archdiocese, predicted more clergy would join those who already signed the statement.

Bullock and eight other leaders of The Boston Priests' Forum, which has some 250 members, will meet on Friday and may reissue the letter for more priests to sign, he said.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

The subpoenas not only marked a crucial turning point in the grand jury probe but also opened a more ominous chapter in a crisis that erupted in the Boston archdiocese in January.

Angry protesters last Sunday in Boston urged Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly to secure criminal indictments against Law and his former top associates for shuttling known pedophile priests from parish to parish.

Serving the subpoenas to the cardinal and the bishops signals that Reilly moved closer to granting the demonstrators their wish.

A spokeswoman for Reilly confirmed his office has an "ongoing, active criminal investigation" involving the church, but she declined to comment further. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Among the church officials who received subpoenas were Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, New Hampshire, Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, New York, and Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, the sources said.

Daily, formerly a top official in the Boston church, said in a sworn deposition earlier this year that the archdiocese knew that one of the priests at the heart of the current crisis, the Rev. Paul Shanley, had advocated sex between men and boys when it promoted him to lead a parish in 1983.

On Tuesday, McCormack reached a settlement with New Hampshire state prosecutors in their criminal investigation of the Diocese of Manchester. Under the terms of the deal, McCormack was forced to acknowledge that his diocese had failed to protect children from pedophile priests.

Voice of the Faithful's executive council voted late on Wednesday to urge Law to step down.

The move marked a radical shift for the non-clergy reform group born out of the current scandal. For months it resisted asking Law to resign, and only weeks ago it held its first face-to-face meeting with the cardinal.

But group leaders said they were sickened by new revelations of adulterous relationships, pedophilia and drug use involving archdiocese clergy, and by more accusations that church leaders reassigned priests with records of sexual misconduct.

The group, which began in the basement of a church earlier this year with a handful of members, called on Pope John Paul II to appoint a replacement to Law. It also asked the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to act on the situation in Boston.

[TBall]

Cave-A-Lott holds new elections for the Republican leadership

[Poohbah]

Amen to that.

I was told that Law's priority was to "avoid scandal."

He never figured out that the way to avoid scandal is to promptly do the right thing when someone under you does wrong.

[dfwgator]

Here's to hoping Boston gets somebody orthodox

I assume that's "orthodox" with a small 'o'.

[RLK]

Boston's Cardinal Law Offers His Resignation

-----------------

It's an offer that shouldn't be refused.

[Semper Paratus]

He's suppposed to see a Grand Jury in Boston next week.

"May we welcome the new Archbishop of the Diocese of Baghdad".

[realpatriot71]

First big step - RCC needs to clean house

[steveegg]

Good answer; his departure means an immediate 50-50 split and probable DemonRAT illegitimate "majority".

[Poohbah]

Hmm. Can you imagine Pope John Paul II, in an effort to increase ecumenism and get someone not light in the loafers into the vacant see, installing an Orthodox Patriarch?

[Poohbah]

The Chaldeans would rather go into schism than accept Law as an archbishop.

I mean, come ON, there's gotta be something in the Geneva Convention about inflicting people like Law on Iraq...

[Psalm 73]

Will the Pope let him stay at the Vatican, or will he make him come back to the US to face (possible) charges?
Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

[RightWhale]

Does he have to be Catholic to be a Cardinal?

They like to pick from candidates who have spent time working for the organization. There are few actual constraints, however.

[BlessedBeGod]

Here's to hoping Boston gets somebody orthodox, conservative and willing to tell VOTF to take a hike.

And also those 58 priests who wrote that letter. They are lead by a dissident priest who was censured by Cardinal Law. Surprise, surprise.

[N. Theknow]

Interesting turn of events.

1. Paul Shanley is released on bond of $300,000 yesterday. Bond is posted by family(huh?) friends(NAMBLA?) and supporters(another big HUH?) who could not come up with the 300 large before yesterday.
2. Cardinal Law is reported to resign today.

Something doth stinketh!

[Tex-Con-Man]

Examples need to be made...SOMEONE, at the very least, needs to be excommunicated.

[Wil H]

"Who will rid me of this turbulent Priest?"

[sinkspur]

Here's to hoping Boston gets somebody orthodox, conservative and willing to tell VOTF to take a hike.

He may tell them to get off church property, but VOTF, after this, will be stronger than ever.