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How was he "honored" -- by being demoted to a position in Rome? You hear that from Cardinals all the time: "gee, I wish I could go to Rome and take over St. Mary Major!"

Well, you yourself said that St Mary Major is a major church in Rome. His position is high enough that he is leading a Mass of Mourning for the Pope. Sounds like he's in a pretty influential position to me. Is it a demotion compared to running the Boston Archdiocese? Sure. But yes, he still has a position of power and visibility in the church and yes, I think that would be considered an honor by most. Certainly an honor for someone as disgraced as Law was or should have been.

Let me ask you, is Law doing a good job as Cardinal now? We assume he doesn't have perverts to deal with

Why would we assume that? But honestly, I have no idea if Law is doing a good job as a cardinal now, just as I had no idea if Law was doing a good job when he headed Boston before I heard about the molestation cases.

And you admit he was good in his other duties as Cardinal.

He may have been - I don't know but I'll concede it.

Do you think he's not worthy to celebrate Mass? Do you think St. Mary Major is not worthy of hosting any important Masses?

I'm not a member of the church, so I don't know what the church considers as worthy to lead a mass.

Geez, if they stuck Law in a monastery somewhere you'd be offended if it was named Monastery of the Year. If they sent Law to the moon you'd be offended if you saw it at night. You just need to build a bridge and get over it, or at least take a baby step and blame the perverts who actually perpetrated the abuse.

Nope. If Law hadn't been given this high honor to give this mass for the late pope, I never would have heard about St Mary Major and I wouldn't be complaining now. And yes, I consider Geoghan and the like to be a major order of magnitude more wrong and evil than Law. But my belief is that what Law did is still incredibly wrong and led to the molestation of more children than otherwise would have happened, and when the Catholic church chooses to honor him by allowing him to lead this mass that will be watched by the world, it tells me that the Catholic church doesn't care about this issue as much as most other people do. Any institution that relies on symbolism as much as the Catholic church does ought to realize that.

it tells me that the Catholic church doesn't care about this issue as much as most other people do

For added perspective let me suggest the root problem regarding the homosexual predators within the Catholic Church that committed the child molestations is a homosexual problem -a problem of a society that promotes the acceptance of homosexuality as anything but disordered.

The Church clearly teaches that homosexuality is disordered and the homosexual agenda is to be opposed.

Interestingly, many of the most vociferous and enraged regarding Cardinal Law are cafeteria Catholics, anti-Catholics, and non-Catholics that support the homosexual agenda?

Cardinal Law is now in Rome; however, the homosexual advocates are still in Boston and still in the Church there -who is enraged and taking on these people?

Yes, His Eminence Cardinal Law is doing an excellent job as Archpriest of the Basilica. In no way does he seek out honors. In fact, the night before the pope's funeral he turned down an invitation to join president Bush and the American delegation for dinner so as to be present in the Basilica. On that night he joined hundreds of Philippine migrant workers for Mass. Afterwards he was on his knees before the blessed sacrament until midnight. The Basilica is right next to Termini station - an area where the homeless and poor hang out. Each day many of them find their way to him to talk to him and receive alms. At least among the poor of Rome he is recognized as a good parish priest. It's time to let this man get on with what he was ordained for - being a pastor to his people. Perhaps the reason why he was asked to celebrate Mass was because people over here recogonize that he is doing that.