Report: Cardinal Law to take Vatican post

CNN.com ^ | April 26, 2002 | CNN staff

[ikanakattara]

Beleaguered Boston Cardinal Bernard Law is expected to be replaced by June and assigned to a new position at the Vatican, a Boston newspaper reported Friday.

The Boston Herald quoted unnamed church officials saying Pope John Paul II would move the embattled archbishop to an undetermined post before a scheduled deposition of Law in a suit against the Boston archdiocese.

[Renatus]

Every citizen of this country is responsible for following the law, and no one is above the law because of his social position or religion. That's why "Equal Justice Under Law" is carved over the entrance to the US Supreme Court building.

Then have the law call off the lynchmob! Perhaps there is in this whole mess a matter of confessional secrecy that no one can even mention. In that case many hands are tied. Sure go ahead and kick him while he is down. It's been done before. He apologized and the Holy Father called him to Rome and he is being obedient. Cardinals do not defy the Pope. Christ was obedient even to death--death on a cross. In Him we have a superb model.

[Malcolm]

(If true), thank G-d for small favors.....

[bukkdems]

Maybe you should jump a little further into Matthew, specifically 19:12. Here in the words of Jesus, is the answer for the Catholic church: Make yourself into a eunoch for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. Any priest caught in a "notorious and serial" habit of pedophilia should be physically castrated.

[AniGrrl]

Then have the law call off the lynchmob!

The lynch mob?!? THE LYNCH MOB?!?

Oh please, you can't be serious. Considering the revelation of 30 years of coverups, I think the response has been quite sane and level-headed.

Perhaps there is in this whole mess a matter of confessional secrecy that no one can even mention. In that case many hands are tied.

Let's say there is, so what? What is not a matter of confessional secrecy hasn't been adequately handled accounted for.

Sure go ahead and kick him while he is down. It's been done before. He apologized and the Holy Father called him to Rome and he is being obedient. Cardinals do not defy the Pope. Christ was obedient even to death--death on a cross. In Him we have a superb model.

Your argument here sounds a lot like "Stop picking on us!"

Look, Jesus was not only obedient to death on the cross, he rebuked Satan, threw the moneychangers out of the temple, and said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. I would think that includes civil authorities and justice, etc.

Or do you think men of the Church are above the law? I take it you do.

If you don't care about civil justice, don't you see the irreparable harm this has done to souls, to people who struggle with their faith in the Church, or any kind of faith? How about the Church's moral authority on abortion and other culture of life issues?

This scandal grieves me deeply, it's the first time in my life that I have ever been ashamed of being a Catholic. Not because of my faith, but because of my leaders. I understand wanting to find the good in their actions, but I cannot.

It's also particularly ironic that the faith that teaches the redemptive value of sacrifice has leaders willing to make none of their own to save her.

Color me throughly disgusted.

[rucrazee]

Confessional secrecy...yes, perhaps. If these ALLEGED conspirators/perpetrators are clothing themselves in the protective armor of the Catholic church, then that is very sad indeed. In that case I guess it kind of functions like diplomatic immunity for them. I have a feeling the true authority, Jesus Christ, might have some strong words for such actions. We are all still responsible for our own actions. Those, especially in positions of Christian leadership, need to set an example and come clean despite the cost. If they are guilty, then they should do their earthly pennance. Their position in the heavenly kingdom if not already assured, can still be reconciled.

[SamAdams76]

There must be some legal mechanism to force the deposition if it is apparent, as is the case here, that the person to be deposed is about to flee the country in order to avoid it. Hopefully Law is arrested as soon as he gets to Logan Airport and held without bail as a flight risk until he meets his obligations in this case.

[Catholicguy]

I always try to remember that part from Scripture that says something like: "Man see the appearances...God sees the heart." I personally don't see a cover-up game going on."

I have to disagree. Boston columnist Howie Carr has related how the Cardinal was adroit at avoiding being served a warrant. All during that time,information was spilling-out about the mephitic cover-ups of the evil abuse. He SHOULD have been removed then. Finally, once they caught-up with him and a date was set for his deposition, he is called away to Rome and that doesn't even suggest a cover-up?

While some of what you say is true, the variable here is the deposition. If it were true that information they seek IS under the Seal of Confession, the State recognises that.

The only thing that has changed, as far as I can see, is that Cardinal Law is scheduled to be deposed. Calling him back to Rome does appear to be a cover-up...

[SoothingDave]

The only thing that has changed, as far as I can see, is that Cardinal Law is scheduled to be deposed.

Did you notice the little shindig the Pope threw for the American Cardinals this week? It is the start of a housecleaning process. The first step is Law losing his see.

Calling him back to Rome does appear to be a cover-up...

What you are suggesting is that the Vatican is a rogue state who will shelter a man to keep him from the hands of the state of Massachusetts. Is this what you truly believe, or shall we wait to see what happens?

SD

[Tokhtamish]

Renatus, your utter indifference to the truth is blind hero worship, not Christianity. Did not St Paul constantly warn Christians to be aware of "false teachers" ? How can one detect a "false teacher", how can one weed out the Jim Jones's, the Jim Bakkers, the John Spong's, the David Koresh's, the Borgia Popes, the indulgence and relics peddlers with your kind of blind obedience ? The spirit of God can be run out of a church when the wrong people take over. Churches can be infiltrated and hijacked, you know, by the corrupt, the megalomaniacal, the cynical and it is only by putting truth ahead of blind obedience that the church can be protected.

Are you at all aware of the kind of damage that this scandal has done the Church ? The foundation of all morality is living and telling the truth. Without that there is only a morally bankrupt blind obedience to authority that cares only about my side vs your side. Do you retain any capacity to tell right from wrong ?

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Pining_4_TX]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the fact that the pope himself must have known about all these cases of child molestation? If large sums of money were paid to settle lawsuits and keep people quiet, then you can be sure that all the high officials of the church, including the pope, knew about it. All of these men are corrupt. He must be from the direct line of Pontius Pilate rather than Peter.

[Catholicguy]

"Did you notice the little shindig the Pope threw for the American Cardinals this week? It is the start of a housecleaning process. The first step is Law losing his see."

(Yes, I noticed that. I also noticed that a few days prior to that the Pope said the AmBishops would handle the situation themselves. Bishop Gregory publicly confirmed the fact. Other than Cardinal Law being served and required to be deposed, what changed? All the info was out prior to this).

What you are suggesting is that the Vatican is a rogue state

(No, you are claiming I am suggesting that. Reread what I wrote).

who will shelter a man to keep him from the hands of the state of Massachusetts (If that is not the intent, why not remove him after he is deposed?)

Is this what you truly believe,(I have a habit of writing what I believe. I believe what I wrote.)

or shall we wait to see what happens?

[ikanakattara]

There must be some legal mechanism to force the deposition if it is apparent, as is the case here, that the person to be deposed is about to flee the country ...

Yes - I would think that if his deposition was really important, a judge would agree to hold his passport for awhile until after he was deposed.

Depositions are like atomic bombs in this scenario because *anything* and everything can be asked, and usually depositions are *public record.*

[Renatus]

Do you retain any capacity to tell right from wrong ?

That is why I blindly follow the teachings of the Magisterium and not the postings of Free Republic Radicals who don't understand nor care to about the nature of the Sacred Priesthood or the Catholic Church.

[07055]

That is why I blindly follow the teachings of the Magisterium

I think it's misguided to *blindly* follow *any* human beings. And I guess I missed the part of the Magisterium where buggery of altar boys by priests (and the criminal coverup of such buggery by Cardinals) was declared holy.

Magisterium (Lat. magister, a master):

The Church's divinely appointed authority to teach the truths of religion, ..... The solemn magisterium is that which is exercised only rarely by formal and authentic definitions of councils or popes. Its matter comprises dogmatic definitions of æcumenical councils or of the popes teaching ex cathedra, or of particular councils, if their decrees are universally accepted or approved in solemn form by the pope; also creeds and professions of faith put forward or solemnly approved by pope or æcumenical council. The ordinary magisterium is continually exercised by the Church especially in her universal practices connected with faith and morals, in the unanimous consent of the Fathers (q.v.) and theologians, in the decisions of Roman Congregations concerning faith and morals, in the common sense (q.v.) of the faithful, and various historical documents in which the faith is declared. All these are founts of a teaching which as a whole is infallible. They have to be studied separately to determine how far and in what conditions each of them is an infallible source of truth.