Posted on 12/12/2002 6:15:23 AM PST by NYer
Bernard Cardinal Law, seven of his current and former bishops and other Archdiocese of Boston officials including at least one nun have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury probing possible criminal wrongdoing in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, sources said.
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The subpoenas for the grand jury, issued at the request of Attorney General Tom Reilly, were delivered to Law's Brighton residence on Friday, sources familiar with the investigation said. The cardinal is believed to have left for Washington and then Rome either that morning or the night before.
Among the seven bishops subpoenaed are Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y., Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans, Bishop Robert J. Banks of Green Bay, Wis., and Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y. The names of the other two summoned bishops could not be learned last night, but all seven served under Law or his predecessors in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Sources say the subpoenas were issued based on the theory that some or all of the prelates acted as accessories before or after the fact in the abuse of children at the hands of numerous priests.
The sources acknowledged such charges would be hard to prove based on the wording of Bay State statutes. Unlike New Hampshire, Reilly has said in the past, Massachusetts lacks a child endangerment law applicable to the abuse cases.
The bishops were subpoenaed, sources say, after several lower-level archdiocesan employees were brought to testify before the grand jury in recent weeks.
``The grand jury collected information from the subordinates and is now prepared to question the higher-ups,'' a source said.
While Law and McCormack's subpoenas were delivered to their headquarters, the other prelates received theirs in the mail, sources said.
Also subpoenaed was Sister Rita McCarthy, an archdiocese personnel office intake worker familiar with virtually all of the abuse allegations against dozens of priests.
Ann E. Donlan, spokeswoman for Reilly, declined to comment on the grand jury investigation last night other than to say, ``We have an active and ongoing criminal investigation.''
Reilly could not be reached for comment.
Law remained in Rome yesterday, where his petition for bankruptcy has received a cool Vatican reception, and church sources said the Holy See was still weighing whether to send him back to Boston with a coadjutor - a bishop who would become Law's successor - or replace him outright with a special administrator.
An administrator would govern the archdiocese in the name of the pope until Law's successor as archbishop could be named - paving the way for Law to step down while a Vatican fixer restores order to the church in Boston.
Either way, a source said, Law would likely return to Boston lacking authority beyond selling off archdiocesan assets to fund settlements in 450 clergy abuse claims.
The Vatican has also has taken note of the letter from 58 priests asking Law to step down, and views that act of independence and defiance with grave concern, the source said.
Several other priests have asked to join the petition seeking Law's resignation, but the total number is unclear.
A second group of Boston-area clerics - the 250-member Boston Priests Forum - is also is planning to make a statement about the need for Law to go.
And last night, the lay reform group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) voted to call on Law to resign. The tally at a meeting at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Newton was 71-2, with two abstentions. They also urged Pope John Paul II to appoint a successor.
In Newton last night, the mood among VOTF members was avid and defiant as they gathered to issue their own no-confidence vote in the cardinal.
``I want them all to go,'' said VOTF member Tom White. ``Not only Law, but I want them all to give up their collars when they go out the door.''
Ed Greenan of Rhode Island said he wanted VOTF to stand with the clergy who inked a call for Law's resignation Monday.
``Normally, I'm very very cautious,'' he said. ``But with this issue, I feel differently. We have seen 70 priests stand up to Cardinal Law. We should stand up alongside these priests and echo their feeling.''
Law's leadership is a ``moral cancer,'' said James E. Post, president of Voice of the Faithful.
``There is a state of spiritual and moral crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston,'' he said. ``In my judgment, the Archdiocese of Boston has effectively been without a bishop.''
But a dissenter, Debra Tomaszewski of Wellesley, said, ``We need to take a centrist position that goes beyond Cardinal Law.''
Like, DUH.
``Normally, I'm very very cautious,'' he said. ``But with this issue, I feel differently. We have seen 70 priests stand up to Cardinal Law. We should stand up alongside these priests and echo their feeling.''
Is it just me or do you also get the sense that VOTF perceives itself to be some powerful organization? Have they been sanctioned by Rome? Frankly, I think they've grown too big for their britches.
They're organized. Three people, who are organized, can be very powerful.
The hierarchy cannot stop Catholic laypeople from organizing. They don't have to allow them to use Church facilities, but they can't stop them from meeting.
VOTF won't ever be sanctioned by Rome, just as RCF will never be sanctioned by Rome. I don't see where that matters all that much, especially since these groups are now focused on child abuse by clergy.
If you look at the names of their "leadership" they are all the usual suspects: We Are Church, R.E.N.E.W., Coalition of Women in the Church, Women's Ordination Conference, etc.
Robert Banks, auxiliary bishop of Boston 1985-1990
Thomas Daily, auxiliary bishop of Boston 1975-1984
Alfred Hughes, auxiliary bishop of Boston 1981-1993
John McCormack, auxiliary bishop of Boston 1995-1998
William Murphy, auxiliary bishop of Boston 1995-2001
It's a lot easier for the news media to give space to organizations that speak up than it is for them to go out and buttonhole individuals on their own. Understand that if you read the Boston papers, there's plenty of the latter going on as well.
Cardinal Law has lost that authority. Such authority is not within the power of Rome to grant. Rome will never be able to convince the Boston parishoners that black is white, that wrong is right, and that Cardinal Law is fit to lead them and deserves their trust. Rome can either recognize that this is beyond their grasp, or not. If not, then they'll keep defending clerics and bishops, and appointing them, but they'll lose the believers from their pews and from the Body of Christ.
But because it is so strictly orthodox, it gets no press coverage.
RCF has issued dozens of press releases over the last decade. It broke the scandal of Bishop George Ryan in Illinois using eyewitnesses and documentation - a case worse than Cardinal Law's, where the bishop himself was having intercourse with teenagers, AND THE PRESS DID NOTHING.
RCF has held press conferences in Chicago and other places and issued invitations to all the mainstream media outlets AND NO REPORTERS OR CAMERAMEN SHOWED UP.
Bottom line is they have friends on the editorial staffs of major media outlets.
Think about political campaigns for a minute. Who's an effective media manager in a campaign? The guy who issues tons of press releases? Or the guy who follows up by calling up editors, showing up at the local media watering hole and having a drink or two, schmoozing reporters, etc.?
Hell, even when I try to get an event that my Scout Troop was involved covered, it makes a big difference if I make a couple of phone calls and get to know some names in the local papers.
Now I have no idea how RCF has handled their media contacts. Maybe they've tried all this and failed. If so, then fine. I have to wonder, though, if they've spent most of their efforts issuing press releases from on high and then wondered why no one's responded. Editors and reporters don't like being preached to anymore than anyone else.
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