By Donis I. Tracy
Catholic News Service

Boston — In his first homily as apostolic administrator of the Boston Archdiocese, Auxiliary Bishop Richard G. Lennon addressed the clergy abuse crisis several times, speaking candidly about the “dismay and disappointment, frustration and anger” felt by Catholics.

“We need to hear what is being said by those who love the church,” he said during Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross Dec. 15. “But more importantly, we need to hear the word of God.”

Bishop Lennon, 55, was named apostolic administrator Dec. 13 after Pope John Paul II accepted Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s resignation as head of the Boston Archdiocese following a series of revelations about how clergy sex abuse cases have been handled there.

Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s resignation as archbishop of Boston Dec. 13 came at the end of a year in which the burgeoning clergy sex abuse scandal practically paralyzed his archdiocese and exploded into a national crisis that consumed the energies of church leaders across the country.

He was the first cardinal in the world to resign his post because of a failure to protect children from sexually abusive priests under his charge.

Cardinal Law, 71, had led the Boston Archdiocese since 1984. As a cardinal since 1985, he was the top-ranking member of the U.S. hierarchy.

In a brief statement from the Vatican he said he hoped his resignation would help the archdiocese “experience the healing, reconciliation and unity which are so desperately needed. ...To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes, I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness,” he said.

His departure was announced less than an hour after he met privately with the pope at the end of a weeklong unannounced visit to the Vatican. Meanwhile, On Dec. 16, in his first press conference since his resignation, Cardinal Law said he plans to take a brief vacation after Christmas and then go on a retreat at a monastery.

He said ultimately he will reside outside the Boston Archdiocese, continue his responsibilities as a cardinal and remain available for the legal processes surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by some Boston priests.

In his remarks, Lennon—a seminary rector who was named a bishop only a year ago—said, that “for many of us, rejoicing is very hard,” especially on what he said the church calls “Rejoice” Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent or “Gaudete’’ Sunday.

But he reminded the congregation that in living “the mystery of faith, we realize that the rejoicing is not in ourselves, the rejoicing is in (knowing) that there is a God who loves us, who cares for us, a God who wants the community of mankind to be all he has intended, and with that rejoicing, that awareness, God willing, (that) not only can things change, but things can improve.”

Bishop Lennon ended his homily by pledging that with the prayers and support of God’s people, he will do all he can to be a shepherd for the archdiocese. He received a standing ovation.

After the liturgy, he remained in the back of the cathedral to greet the congregants and then surprised protesters who had gathered outside by going out to meet them. Although the encounter was brief, some of the protesters were impressed. One woman, holding a placard and wearing several protest pins remarked, “He’s all right.”

Bishop Lennon was rector of St. John’s Seminary in Brighton and regional bishop for the western part of the archdiocese at the time of his new appointment. He said he would resign those posts “to devote myself to the administrative and spiritual leadership of the archdiocese.”

Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “In nearly 30 years as a bishop, Cardinal Law has made many contributions to the bishops’ conference.” He offered prayers for the cardinal, Bishop Lennon and the archdiocese.

Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, said the healing process “will be long and torturous” and warned that more painful disclosures still lie ahead on the “rocky road to recovery.”

She said the resigned cardinal “is, in some respects, merely a symptom and a symbol of a much more pervasive and deep-seated clerical culture that devalues both adult and child parishioners.”

Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, chairman of the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, called the resignation another step toward “healing from this tragic chapter” in the church’s history.

In related matters:

The Vatican has approved the U.S. bishops’ revised norms for dealing with clerical sex abuse, saying it is “fully supportive of the bishops’ efforts to combat and prevent such evil.”

The formal “recognitio” or decree of recognition, which was widely expected, was signed Dec. 8 by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, making the norms binding on all U.S. bishops and dioceses.

The decree, released Dec. 16 at the Vatican, was accompanied by a letter from Cardinal Re to Bishop Gregory.

Also, the Diocese of Manchester has signed a legally binding agreement with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office acknowledging that it could have been convicted for failing to protect minors from clergy sex abusers.

Bishop Gregory said the agreement does not legally affect other U.S. dioceses. He acknowledged that bishops committed mistakes but not “intentionally bad acts” in allowing abusers to remain in ministry.

The Dec. 10 Manchester agreement avoids prosecution of the diocese and gives the attorney general’s office oversight of diocesan policies dealing with sex abuse of children, including an annual audit for five years to ensure that toughened child safety procedures are followed. The state reserves the right to bring charges against individual priests suspected of abusing a minor.

If the agreement had not been signed, Manchester would have become the first diocese to face criminal charges in the sex abuse crisis plaguing the U.S. church in 2002. Several other states were conducting similar investigations regarding how dioceses dealt with clergy sex abusers.

Bishop Gregory said that “there is a difference between mistakes and intentional wrong doing” in the way bishops handled cases.

Other aspects of the agreement include diocesan cooperation with civil authorities in investigating cases; placing on administrative leave any accused priest or other church employee pending outcome of investigations by church and civil authorities and publication of a report on its 2002 investigation into how the diocese handled sex abuse cases.

In Baltimore, Cardinal William H. Keeler apologized in court for his decision to reinstate a priest accused of sexually abusing a teen-ager.

He testified Dec. 12 as a defense witness in the case of Dontee D. Stokes, who four days later was acquitted of attempted murder and five other felony counts for the shooting and wounding Father Maurice J. Blackwell last May. The priest was first suspended from ministry in 1993 when Stokes, now 26, accused him of sexual abuse, but Cardinal Keeler later reinstated Father Blackwell as pastor of Baltimore’s St. Edward Parish.

“Given the same information we have now, I certainly would not do that again,” the cardinal said. Asked whether restrictions on Father Blackwell’s contact with young people came too late for Stokes, Cardinal Keeler replied, “I admit it, and I apologize to him.”

Blackwell was removed and suspended from his priestly functions in 1998 when he admitted to sexually abusing another youth many years earrlier, before he was ordained

 

Top

---