Posted on 07/02/2003 5:44:57 PM PDT by sinkspur
Complied by Tom Fox, NCR publisher, tfox@natcath.org
Wednesday July 2, 1:08 p.m.
NCR’s Joe Feuerherd: The tension had been so thick for so long in Boston, people so dispirited, that the July 1 announcement that a seemingly humble Franciscan would take over as archbishop – and certainly, at some point, as cardinal – brought enormous relief and, for the moment, significant good will. That was clear in early reactions to the announcement.
While close church watchers knew of O’Malley’s work in Palm Beach, the wider church did not. Until yesterday, he was a relative unknown. To see him arriving for his first press conference in his Capuchin Franciscan garb sent out a signal of new things to come, a more humble church. Nothing is more needed. Boston Globe: Historians pointed out that unlike most of his other B-town predecessors, O’Malley did not make his clerical reputation in Rome. Nevertheless he is a theological conservative church observers insisted. So was Oscar Romero.
The Boston Globe's Pulitzer prize winning staff was among those stressing O'Malley's humility, saying it was a refreshing contrast to former see leader, Cardinal Law. After years of repeatedly hearing the canned and hollow term, “compassionate conservative,” have we finally encountered the genuine thing?
We are going to learn a lot about O'Malley in a short period, including all kinds of details of his life style. That’s the nature of 24/7 news and being under the bright media lights of the East Coast. Boston Globe: O'Malley, at 59, for example, wears sandals year around. The term “a breath of fresh air" was appearing in a number of reports.
However, with the bright lights comes new scrutiny. The Boston Globe's investigative team, hot on the abuse trail, pointed out that when O'Malley was bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts from 1992 to 2002, he allowed one of his priests to continue as a missionary in Bolivia after a woman charged the priest had sexually molested her.
Report: and so what does Cardinal Law think about his successor?
Statement of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, archbishop emeritus of Boston: Routine stuff. Maybe more will come later.
Newsday report: At his July 1 news conference O'Malley did what has been so difficult for so many other bishops to do over the years. You wonder why. He apologized to clergy sex abuse victims and pledged to ensure the safety of children within the church. Sad that it is an essential requirement. Then he met privately with some victims, including one camped out on the street in front of the chancery. O’Malley: “I have said it many times, and I'm going to say it again to the victims today, that as much as I can represent the church as bishop, I do ask for forgiveness for these horrendous sins and crimes that have been committed."
Boston Register-Herald: For the record, last fall, the Boston church settled with 86 alleged victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan. But hundreds of other claims are still pending. An offer to resolve about 400 claims appeared imminent in recent weeks but later church officials announced they could not reach an agreement with insurers.
Radio commentary: clergy sex abuse victim cautions: Today’s church crisis is far larger than any single bishop can manage or rectify. “If nothing else, the evidence revealed over the past 18 months highlights one undeniable truth: The protection of the vulnerable cannot be left to the good will of individuals. Only when every Catholic – every mother, father, aunt, uncle, sister brother and friend – assumes personal responsibility for holding bishops and priests accountable for the horrible failures will healing begin.”
Journal News: Capuchins celebrate Boston appointment. Rightly proud. “When Bishop Sean O'Malley was having breakfast this past weekend with his fellow Capuchin friars at an austere friary in Manhattan, he gave no indication that he was about to take over the scandal-ridden Boston archdiocese. He simply sliced a banana on his cereal, like he usually does when he stays at St. John Baptist Church and Friary, across the street from Madison Square Garden.”
Tuesday July 1, 11:08 p.m.
A known quantity
Boston Herald columnist Tom Mashberg made the point that O’Malley, who was bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts for ten years, from 1992 to 2002, “is a known quantity.” Fall River has many Spanish-speaking Catholics. Languages? Mashberg writes that the new bishop is fluent in Spanish as well as Portuguese, French, Italian and German.
Looks like a honeymoon and grand sendoff. The Palm Beach Post expressed sadness and surprise at the appointment. “Only nine months ago, Sean Patrick O'Malley seemed the perfect choice for a scandal-rocked Diocese of Palm Beach, which had lost two bishops in a row to sexual abuse charges,” Staff Writer Lona O'Connor wrote. “But what made him right for Palm Beach and Fall River makes him even more right for Boston, shaken to its core by scores of accusations that priests sexually abused young people.”
Another Post article painted the departing bishop as a healer. “This shows the appointment isn't just an afterthought," said Louise Dittrich, co-founder of Voice of the Faithful, a lay Catholic group dedicated to urging the church hierarchy to remove abusers and help victims. “It was made not just to bring orthodoxy but to bring a pastoral presence. It's a signal to the rest of the country."
Yet another Post article lamented that O’Malley’s short nine-month tenure in Palm Beach was just beginning to bear fruits and that he was just beginning to revamp the diocese. Even as Palm Beach residents woke up to the news that their bishops was likely to leave there was an uncertainty about the situation. Palm Beach editors and, in turn, newspaper readers were still relying on NCR’s John Allen for their information. The paper reported the appointment through NCR, writing: “The National Catholic Reporter said Vatican sources named O'Malley as the replacement for Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned under fierce pressure last December. John Allen Jr., the paper's Rome correspondent, said in the story and in a TV interview the appointment would be announced today or Wednesday.” It was all happening very fast.
Tuesday July 1, 3:50 p.m.
NCR O’Malley scoop highlights John Allen’s work in Rome John Allen has been NCR’s Vatican Correspondent since July 2000 and seems to grow in stature with each passing month. While no one predicted John would break the O’Malley appointment story, it came as little surprise that he did. He learned of the appointment June 30 only 24 hours after O’Malley was tapped for the post. After getting the information, Allen called NCR editor Tom Roberts for direction. Should he file to the NCR website? Should he go on CNN with his exclusive? The two journalists discussed the question of how to break the story before they agreed to go to CNN. But with a caveat that CNN would refer to the news as a “National Catholic Reporter exclusive.”
By six in the morning East Coast time the Associated Press began reporting the CNN story, citing Allen’s report -- but still hedging. AP stated incorrectly that Allen reported O’Malley was the “likely” candidate for Boston. Fact is Allen reported O’Malley was the pope’s choice. No hedging. Other papers went with the AP report most of the day.
The Boston Globe among East Coast papers to cite NCR as source of story “Pope John Paul II is expected this morning to name Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley of Palm Beach, Fla., as the new archbishop of Boston, according to two people close to O'Malley," the Globe reported July 1. It warned “the pope could change his mind” before stating the appointment “was first reported yesterday by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent Catholic weekly."
The appointment was announced at the Vatican mid morning Rome time. The newly appointed bishop appeared at a Boston archdiocese press conference six hours later, saying he wished to be a reconciling bishop, adding he was still overwhelmed by the appointment. I’m “still kind of shell-shocked by the news, which I got about 48 hours ago,” he was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
The appointment sparked a flood of news articles. “O'Malley will face a wide array of constituencies and what may be the most serious scandal ever to hit the church in the United States. First on his agenda, there are 500 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse to console and a half-dozen high-profile plaintiffs' lawyers to negotiate with," the Boston Herald wrote.
Some clergy abuse critics were quick to offer warnings. “He has a humble, soft-spoken appearance but is not to be trusted," said Frank Fitzpatrick of Cranston, R.I., a victim of the Rev. James R. Porter and organizer of Porter accusers who runs Survivor Connections. “He's a PR man who puts out fires for the church by calming the population and the survivors with money and words,” Cranston was quoted as saying in another Boston Herald article.
A time for boldness Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory gave the appointment a general thumbs up, but with qualifications. He wrote: “This is not a time for the timid. The people of Boston, Catholic and otherwise, need the next archbishop to arrive in this city like a cleansing summer storm. It's a time to be radical, not incremental, a time to be swift, not slow, a time for inclusion rather than the exclusion that has characterized too much of the recent past.” McGrory went on: “If it's Bishop Sean O'Malley who is appointed to the Boston post this morning, terrific. It would be the most sensible move the Vatican has made since this paper exposed the breadth of the church sex scandal last year. But even O'Malley must understand that every day of inaction is another day of squandered good will, and the Catholic Church can't afford to shed even one more precious drop.”
No dancers, or clowns, or fey priests will jump out at you, just links to the sources.
And, I just had to give a plug to John Allen, from NCR. Most of the rest of the paper is forgettable, but Allen has broken a half-dozen important stories in the last two years, and he gets interviews with Vatican importanti who won't talk to anybody else.
I'm too cheap to subscribe to NCR, and this is considered "premium content," so I can't download it, or even read all of it.
Know anything about this?
I still have it on there, two pages over.
I can post a boatload of threads to you, and that will bump it over to the next page, and, voila!....you'll be back to normal!
Neil Abercrombie and Henry Waxman! The tag-team from hell!
I take it McCarrick's not an incrementalist on this issue?
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