[ladyjane]

Behind the scenes Cardinal Law pressured every Catholic politician, judge, and media person to go along with a cover-up. He put intense pressure on them and made a lot of enemies. He told them it was their responsibility as Catholics not to let the story come out. Some of these guys were old conservative Irish Catholics and they were shocked and more determined than ever to put an end to the abuse .

[SuziQ]

Actually, the political machine in Boston was more for the cover-up because the priests involved were well known Democrats. I believe most of the abuse took place before Cardinal Law was ever in Boston. His Auxiliary Bishops knew about some of it because they HAD been there. Geoghan and Shanley were big Dem supporters, and the DAs didn't even bring charges when accusations were made early on. Shanley had been heralded by the Boston Globe as a priest who was wonderful with 'alienated' teenagers, and for the fact that he was one of the early supporters of NAMBLA in Boston.

Cardinal Law's problem, which he admitted, was being too much of a pastor to those priests, and not being tough enough on them. He did finally start implementing policies to stop the possibility of future instances of abuse. Those were beginning to get into place when he left and Sean O'Malley took over.