In no way am I defending Kennedy or Kerry. I simply pointed out that on the day of his installment as Archbishop, O'Malley was stepping into a tinderbox. As sinkspur pointed out, O'Malley is not know for his fire and brimstone. His honest humility and forthright sincerity are the personal qualities that draw people to him. At Easter this year, 500 candidates were welcomed into the church in his Palm Beach diocese. The number was so high that they held two services to accomodate everyone.
O'Malley served fair warning prior to the Installation mass. Kennedy understood and respectfully left the cathedral. Kerry drew attention to himself, by remaining AND receiving communion. Give O'Malley a chance to address the issue with these two politicians at a time and in a manner of his choosing.
As for priorities, I repeat, on his first full day as archbishop, O'Malley appointed Boston attorney Thomas Hannigan as lead counsel for the archdiocese in handling the sex abuse claims. Hannigan is the attorney who helped O’Malley settle abuse cases in the Rev. James Porter cases in 1992 and 1993. By naming Hannigan as lead counsel, O’Malley drew praise from alleged victims of clergy sex abuse and their lawyers, who have long complained that lawyers in the Rogers firm used hardball tactics to try to settle the lawsuits.
While generally praising O’Malley for the work he’s done in other clergy sex abuse cases, lawyers for alleged victims said they may file a contempt lawsuit against the archdiocese to force it to turn over the records of additional priests accused of sexually abusing children.
O’Malley also announced church personnel changes, including the promotion of temporary administrator Bishop Richard Lennon to the No. 2 position in the archdiocese. O’Malley named Lennon -- who acted as interim leader of the archdiocese after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop in December -- as vicar general and moderator of the curia, the second-highest position in the archdiocese.
Still care to light the match?