Actually *many* people had a chance to discuss the issues with him!
Cardinal Law called politicians, judges, editorial writers for the Globe and the Herald and just about every Catholic who had any relevant power. He pleaded, threatened and implored them - as Catholics - to keep the lid on the scandal and overlook the crimes taking place.
Many of these people were daily communicants. They were shocked.
I guess I wasn’t around during that time. I mostly was in the area before the scandal broke out.
I would suspect that if he wanted to keep things quiet, it was not to protect the guilty but to somehow try to limit the damage from vulture lawyers, who stripped all the money out of the diocese.
And, yes, there were other problems. The diocesan marriage tribunal abused its authority to give what amounted to easy divorces, Ted Kennedy being the best known instance. I just don’t think he was behind these problems, the way Weakland was and others of his ilk, or that he wanted things to happen that way. Rather, he just couldn’t handle it.