Pope calls holed up Boston Cardinal Law and others for meeting on sex abuse scandel.

April 16, 2002 9:04 AM

Pope calls holed up Boston Cardinal Law and others for meeting on sex abuse scandel. Why is Law hiding out like a new David Koresh, but without any charges brought down on him? Now this alleged accomplice to pedophiles will leave the country. Its called obstruction of justice, Dan.
posted by skallas (14 comments total)

good question. it is beyond me why cardinal law is just out and about, instead of locked up in jail where he should be.
posted by saralovering at 9:20 AM on April 16, 2002

i'm waiting for lawsuits and cover-ups within other churches to pop up. the catholic church is in a very bad spot...and the other major sects are probably getting worried as well.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:25 AM on April 16, 2002

Can you tell me where to find a rope? How 'bout instructions on a noose?
posted by yerfatma at 9:46 AM on April 16, 2002

Hey; Always happy to be of service...
posted by Perigee at 9:54 AM on April 16, 2002

Maybe they can make a place for him on the supreme court.
posted by plaino at 10:16 AM on April 16, 2002

...or better yet, in hell.
posted by jpoulos at 10:47 AM on April 16, 2002

"On a scale of one to 10, this is an 11," the former chairman of the PR company Hill & Knowlton, Robert Dilenschneider, told Business Week magazine. "The church has been hit by a truck and permitted the truck to back over it several times."

Ouch.
posted by gen at 11:19 AM on April 16, 2002

I cannot wait for this to get out of the limelight. Day in and day out the local tv stations here pound this story relentlessly.

He is an accomplice, I think there is no doubt of that now. Why they chose to protect deviance over their parishoners is beyond comprehension. Why they seem to think they are beyond the laws of mortals is also to be pondered.

You can answer to god when you get done answering to bubba in cell block 6.
posted by a3matrix at 11:20 AM on April 16, 2002

This is the end of Law's tenure. I agree with Andrew Sullivan's assesment:

Law is a goner: That's my read on the Pope's unprecedented decision to summon all 13 American cardinals to Rome to address the current crisis. When a problem is this big, the leaders must take some responsibility. Law is the obvious candidate for removal. No, he won't be fired. He may even hang on for months. But at some point soon, someone else will be given de facto authority over his diocese and some sinecure will be arranged to allow him to serve God in another capacity. He still obviously doesn't get what's gone wrong, which means he is what has gone wrong.

I think this situation is more of a Roman Catholic issue than it will be with other sects and denominations, since the RC church has a much more hermetic and convoluted leadership structure than most other churches, therefore making hiding things easier. That, coupled with their unnatural and medieval enforcement of celibacy in the priesthood, and their continued discrimination against women in the clergy, makes a situation ripe for men with confused and immature sexualities.
posted by evanizer at 11:39 AM on April 16, 2002

evanizer: you mean, because Cardinal Law did something immoral, he'll be reassigned?

Isn't that why we have this problem in the first place?
posted by dwivian at 12:21 PM on April 16, 2002

I wonder if this politician from Boston is a Catholic. Are there any catholics in Boston?

I can never forget the time I met Cardinal Law. The words "bless you my son" will haunt me forever.
posted by Settle at 12:30 PM on April 16, 2002

Those are Andrew Sullivan's words, not mine. And removing Law from his position of absolute power over his diocese effectively removes his ability to aid and abet or overlook anymore infractions by his priests. Unfortunately a quick removal is not the RC church's way... I suppose this kind of slow transfer is very similar to his tactics, but whereas the priests he moved around were still in positions to allow them to committ abuse, he won't be.
posted by evanizer at 2:06 PM on April 16, 2002

I bet this hypocrite cardinal lives in some fancy digs, too....
posted by username at 5:29 AM on April 17, 2002

er....evanizer, you said "I agree with...." so, despite them being Sullivan's words, you as much as said them yourself.

Anywho -- removal as arch-bishop won't change the fact that he's a cardinal. That's just as influential, I'd warrant.
posted by dwivian at 8:37 AM on April 17, 2002