« Missing the point | Main | Evangelicals Weigh In »
May 27, 2004
Law gets basilica
-- Pope John Paul II on Thursday gave Cardinal Bernard F. Law an official position in Rome, naming the former Boston archbishop who resigned in the sex abuse scandal as head of a basilica.Law will have the title archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica, a largely ceremonial post often given to retired prelates.
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451be0d69e200d83421dc7453ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Law gets basilica:
» Unbelievable from Ryan's Head
I would love for somebody to explain how this is a good thing for the Church. Cardinal Law should have resigned long before he did. He should have gone far away and never returned. Instead, it appears that he is... [Read More]
Tracked on May 27, 2004 7:50:16 PM
» Vatican Gives Cardinal Law Post from Extreme Catholic
I neglected to get this story in my own blog yesterday as the story grew and grew in Amy Welborn's Open Book. I'll enter my first comment from there here. [Read More]
Tracked on May 28, 2004 11:44:27 AM
» testanchor411 from testanchor867
testcomment729 [Read More]
Tracked on Nov 15, 2005 9:19:44 PM
Comments
Just what Our Lady needed--another sword to pierce her heart.
Posted by: Hunk Hondo at May 27, 2004 8:21:01 AM
Largely ceremonial, but also symbolic. Santa Maria Maggiore is not exactly a low-profile church. Is Rome running so low on Cardinals that the likes of Cardinal Law must be drafted for sinecures like this?
Whatever message this is sending, it's not the right one.
Posted by: Otto Clemson Hiss at May 27, 2004 8:22:48 AM
After Tailhook, some Navy Admirals resigned. Several Air Force Academy cadets complained after being raped by other cadets, and the Commanding general was transferred and investigated. Soldiers commit abuse at Abu Ghraib, and Major General Taguba goes to the Senate and plainly says that the Army has a leadership problem. Cardinal Law gets a basilica. Am I to conclude that the military holds its leaders higher ethical standards than does the church?
Posted by: Herb Ely at May 27, 2004 8:30:14 AM
I wonder if this appointment gives Cdl. Archbishop and now Archpriest Law diplomatic immunity from service of process for the upcoming trial of arch-pedophile Fr. Shanley.
Just another dreadful development.......
Posted by: Desert Chatter at May 27, 2004 8:30:23 AM
Peace, all.
The message is loud and clear. "Cardinal Law is one of ours. We've waited for the furor to subside a bit before giving him a large plum. Mismanagement is not a cardinal sin."
Posted by: Todd at May 27, 2004 8:35:35 AM
"Am I to conclude that the military holds its leaders higher ethical standards than does the church?"
There's no question that officers in the U.S. military are more accountable than are Catholic hierarchs. For the military, it's civilian oversight that makes the system work. Lay people in the Church are not accorded such a role, under the rules established by.....guess who -- the hierarchs!
Posted by: Desert Chatter at May 27, 2004 8:59:30 AM
"I wonder if this appointment gives Cdl. Archbishop and now Archpriest Law diplomatic immunity from service of process for the upcoming trial of arch-pedophile Fr. Shanley."
Don't think so. Diplomatic immunity applies to those who aren't citizens for actions taken in the country to which they're posted. Isn't there a separate Vatican diplomatic corps? This appointment to be in charge of a basilica doesn't seem to be an appointment to an embassy or consulate (or nunciature).
Posted by: RP Burke at May 27, 2004 9:01:37 AM
"To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and from my mistakes, I once again apologize, and from them I beg forgiveness. Please keep me in your prayers. " -- from Cardinal Law's statement of resignation, December 2002.
Not good enough? Is Hell, now, his only port of call?
Posted by: Eutychus Fell at May 27, 2004 9:04:08 AM
Eutychus, let's review the facts here. Mr. Law actively aided and abetted the abuse of children. He protected priests whom he *knew* to be guilty, transferred them to parishes without telling the new flock of the danger he was putting them in; he lied to everyone around him, including law enforcement who attempted to investigate; behaved in every respect as though the Archdiocese of Boston was *his* to do with whatever he damned-well pleased. The Catholic community of Boston is shell-shocked, nearly bankrupt, and currently facing the closing of 65 parishes due to budget shortfalls both because of abuse settlements ($85M and counting) and a dropoff in giving that can be directly attributed to Law's malfeasance.
I will be perfectly willing to forgive him, right after he shows some sign of repentance. His non-apology ("shortcomings and mistakes") is in fact further evidence that he is still dangerous. And the fact that the Pope has given him a cushy job is obnoxious.
Posted by: Joel at May 27, 2004 9:21:29 AM
Herb Ely & Desert Chatter:
Your analogy to the military and Abu Ghraib is permanently crippled. Law is analogous Rumsfeld or his immediate underlings, not to their mere military military servants and missionaries. Well, has Rumsfeld or any of his neocon lieutenants been forced from office (as Law finally was) and, if they were, would they be refused a place of honor at the Republican table? Ha.
Posted by: T. Marzen at May 27, 2004 9:28:06 AM
You have to admire the Pope's governance of the Church--the wisdom of his appointments.
Posted by: tonymixan at May 27, 2004 9:32:34 AM
Does anyone know what that does for Cdl. Law's oversight of the Pastoral Provision (the route by which Episcopalian priests can become ordained Catholic priests and by which parishes can become "Anglican Use" Catholic parishes)?
Posted by: Zach Frey at May 27, 2004 9:37:33 AM
Take it easy guys. I have it on good information that Law was only appointed after the Vatican consulted extensively with a representative of the laity -- a certain Catholic editor at the Dallas Morning Star. :)
Posted by: jerry at May 27, 2004 9:41:13 AM
me dumb. meant Dallas Morning News.
Posted by: jerry at May 27, 2004 9:43:28 AM
Cardinal Law is guilty of plenty, he's committed the spiritual equivalent of murder by helping to destroy the faith of others, I'm sure. But isn't it, on our part, spiritual suicide to refuse him forgiveness? I know his apology hasn't satisified, but what apology could he give that would? A Jimmy Swaggart tear stained face, raised to heaven, saying, "I have sinned against you, my Lord?"
I was not Catholic when Boston broke and I don't live there, so I don't think I have standing to comment further. I haven't suffered the hurt of others.
Posted by: Eutychus Fell at May 27, 2004 9:54:35 AM
Eutychus, I'll accept Cardinal Law's apology.
However, why not send him to a hospice or an AIDS ward or the county hospital or a soup kitchen or the emergency pregnancy center? Would these somehow be beneath the dignity of his eminence?
I'm not suggesting that these ministries should serve as a punishment for Law's handling of the sex abuse scandals. Far from it; maybe he would find himself renewed as a priest.
I wonder why many priests who achieve high office in this church never go back to the trenches.
Posted by: Whitcomb at May 27, 2004 10:07:41 AM
No, no, no. If a prison term is, for whatever reason, truly not an option for Law, then the best thing the Pope could do here is fire him. It is appalling that this criminal deviant who brought such pain and lasting shame on the church is still being supported by the church.
By coddling such evil men, or allowing them to retire with full honors (like Weakland), the hierarchy continues to demonstrate that it does not take fidelity seriously among the priesthood.
Posted by: Joel at May 27, 2004 10:15:47 AM
By the way, forgiving someone is not equivalent to coddling them. I will forgive Law if he ever demonstrates something like repentance, but I will never, never, never again accept him as a representative of the church.
Posted by: Joel at May 27, 2004 10:19:52 AM
Civilian oversight of Cardinals! Just remember, folks: the Church isn't a democracy. There are always downsides to this kind of arrogance ........ Law's cushy retirement is just one of those downsides. But, then, as a priest, being ontologically different makes it all OK, I guess.
Just keep building those evangelical churches to accommodate the ever-increasing hordes of very disaffected Catholics.
Posted by: Jimmy Mac at May 27, 2004 10:34:35 AM
Eutychus, we are obliged to forgive Cardinal Law, and I'm working on that, though I'll need plenty of help from God's grace. But neither we nor the Pope are obliged to shower him with honors.
Posted by: Hunk Hondo at May 27, 2004 10:56:17 AM
I spoke with a priest acquaintance a few weeks ago who occasionally sees the Cardinal, and it sounds like Law has been being treated like something scraped off of the sidewalk (not by the sisters at the convent, but by everyone else). Apparently, His Emminence takes everything very humbly.
I was shocked that a bishop of the Catholic Church would be treated so disrespectfully, no matter what he may have done. It seems to me that he's being scapegoated. I don't see where what he did was much different than what half of the bishops have done (and worse), and he's the only one who is being made to pay for it.
I'm glad he's being assigned to Rome.
Posted by: Karen Howard at May 27, 2004 11:17:28 AM
I was shocked that a bishop of the Catholic Church would be treated so disrespectfully, no matter what he may have done.
Good grief, get over the clericalism already! Do you have any idea what that man, Law, did? I agree with the folks above who said that this shows that no matter what suffering and calamity you cause to befall innocent human beings and the Church itself, the old-boy network will take care of you. There's always a golden parachute for bishops. John Paul ought to be ashamed.
Posted by: Rod Dreher at May 27, 2004 11:26:42 AM
Effectively:
"For your penance, I give you a basilica."
I agree with the above suggestions of hospice or related work.
IIRC, there's a bishop who headed up a diocese in Florida, got into a scandal, and he's now doing serious penance at a real (Capuchin?) monastery in South Carolina. I think the link was here, originally.
As in his day starts at four a.m., he takes his turn at the rotation in tasks same as the rest of the brothers, rigorous prayer life, humble accommodations, etc. That would also be honorable.
Posted by: Dale Price at May 27, 2004 11:27:29 AM
Sorry that His Eminence feels so left down. He was in a position to change things. He, today, is in a posotion to teach us exactly how he arrived at his decisions.
His non-apology sounded like Clinton's, Martha's, Ken Lay's, Kobe's, etc. Mistakes were made.
He came hat in hand to the Knights of Columbus for 32 million dollars, because he @#$%'d up. The main problem is that Narcissism has infected every facet of our society, including Rome.
Archpriest my ass.
Posted by: cs at May 27, 2004 11:28:00 AM
I'm sure that Mr. Law is also glad at being reassigned to Rome, since it just might shield him from the US criminal prosecution that he has richly earned.
Posted by: Joel at May 27, 2004 11:29:32 AM
