Cardinal Bernard Law

[David_Zampino]

nobody:

Could you provide a source for this information. I would like to have this information the next time this topic comes up (as it often does).

Thanks.

This is the sort of information which is difficult to source (as in "XYZ Journal of Professional Counselors). But talk with priests, bishops, mainline Protestant ministers, etc. who range in age from abou 50 to 70, and ask them what their Pastoral Theology professors and Counseling Professors taught about this type of situation. (As an example, my dad is 63 years old and attended Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in the mid 1960’s. As another example, my spiritual director is a Jesuit priest, about 67 years old – Yale Divinity).

Look at the pattern of the abusers. A very significant percentage seem to have come from the seminaries about the same time and are of a similar age. They were taught by (and as assistant pastors were supervised by) pastors who were taught the “feel-good” nothingness which passed for counseling and psychology in the 60’s and 70’s.

Seminary training in the 1960’s and 1970’s was, in many respects, so poor, that problems were almost inevitable.

Blessings,

 

[David_Zampino]

Chatter163:

It was the American media, predictably and in its perpetual ignorance of things Catholic, that took the view that Cardinal Law was “promoted.” The fact is that he was deprived of his see and sent to headquarters, were he was given an ersatz honorary position and basically placed under house arrest, or rather, sentenced to live in a halfway house.

Perhaps the media can understand only the business apsect of things, so one could say to them that when the board of directors recalls the CEO of the company and replaces him with another individual, then says that the former CEO remains with the company as a consultant, the CEO has most assuredly NOT been promoted. In most cases, he would be humiliated and would not stay with the company in such a hokey capacity. The Cardinal did not have that option; he was simply instructed to stay close by where a close curial eye could be kept upon him. :tsktsk:

EXACTLY! The Vatican did essentially the same thing when Archbishop Paul Marcinkus (sp?) who had been caught up in the Vatican Bank scandal of the 1970’s, was essentially confined to the Vatican proper for the rest of his life.

Blessings,

 

[JOHNYJ]

The church has never " on its own " punished a bishop for helping a pedophile molest chldren.That is a fact.
Now another thing you never hear mentioned.
Catholic Catechism2287
Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way That it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EVIL THAT HE HAS DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGED !

 

[Holland]

JOHNYJ:

The church has never " on its own " punished a bishop for helping a pedophile molest chldren.That is a fact.
Now another thing you never hear mentioned.
Catholic Catechism2287
Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way That it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EVIL THAT HE HAS DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGED !

I have heard the points you have made before. I think that is where the real problem lies. While Catholics don’t believe in the death penalty we certainly don’t want any of these criminals running around on the streets. A lot of folks are angry at the fact that somehow Cardinal Law has escaped the civil and criminal responsibilities of his alleged actions. He is innocent until proven guilty but people won’t get the chance to find that out. Being forgiven of your sins does not let you off the hook in court. Anything short of that, is going to be seen in some people’s eyes, as a reward.

 

[Zooey]

OK, to start with, I am just your friendly neighborhood Methodist, but I have a viewpoint on this that is very close to what others have said: The idea may well be to put the man where the Vatican can observe him, & where he knows that…
Secondly, if people want to throw blame around for him not being in jail, I would suggest that they take it up with the civil authorities in this country, who seemingly never even looked into charging him with a crime…Now, that, I take issue with. I think that there were applicable statutes. (And if not, there should be!).
But that is hardly the fault of JP2. It is completely “out of his ballpark”…Maybe there *weren’t *any laws that the man broke. (See note, above). Maybe, just maybe, this was the closest thing to a “sentence” that the cardinal could be given–brought down from a position of power/influence, & no little prestige, to a simple job in Rome.
Just my 2 cents…

 

[BayCityRickL]

Church Militant:

Well, let’s get this in perspective.

1. Is he wanted by the law? Not that I’ve heard.
2. He went from running a diocese to nothing more than an titled pastor close by where Rome can keep an eye on him.

Sounds like a clear and definite demotion to me.
Pax vobiscum,

I agree. I think everyone would probably also agree that the Church should not reinstate the inquisition.

Better, yet. Look at it this way. Law is in a good place where he is outranked and simultaneously under the watchful eye of everybody, while he has little responsibility, as far as I can tell.

What more ought they do than put him in a spotlight where his every move and word is scrutinized. His current position is a form of purgatory, for sure. Perhaps a cushy one, but a purgatory nonetheless.

 

[John_Higgins]

Either the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did not have any convincing evidence that Cardinal Law did anything illegal, and, if that’s the case, fine. Let it rest.

On the other hand, if they were afraid to charge a Catholic prelate with a crime when one was evident, shame on them.

John

 

[Confiteor]

I think part of the problem is that Cardinal Law, whom we were told had an unimportant assignment in Rome after the Boston debacle, ended up with the responsibility of celebrating one of JPII’s funeral masses at his Rome cathedral. The timing of that didn’t help, but it bugged people that he had such a high visibility role so soon after his abyssmal performance in Boston. For those who are unsure of to what degree he was culpable, I recommend a book called Betrayal which is pretty revelatory. One doesn’t necessarily need to judge his soul --certainly that is reserved to God alone–but this narrative is informative.

 

[thedogmother]

I find my self in prayer for Cardinal Law, as we all should be. This whole mess is what he will have to live with, the rest of his life. This is worse than purgatory. When he was in Boston, he did so much good for so many people, all denominations. It was his priests who failed him.

Hey, the 70s were an awful time, priests doing their own “thing”, leaving the priesthood, getting married and the psychology…“I’m ok, you;re ok” (****). The cardinal was doing what his advisors told him to do. And unfortunately, that was ok for those darn 70s.

WHO AM I TO JUDGE? I am sure there is a lot more to the story than we will ever know. Our Loving Lord & Savior knows, and he is a loving, gracious and forgiving Lord.

Now we have “comedians” from Boston cracking the most lude jokes possible, about Cardinal Law & priests, no matter the audience. They make me sick. So doesnt one of their long term politicians, a Catholic, whom I’ll let you figure out who he is. Hey, he hasn’t been very holy either.Adultery, drove someone off a bridge, left her to die, drove his wife to alcoholism, supports abortion, gay marriage, and he still goes to Communion and people from Massachusetts keep voting him in! No wonder MA is so screwed up! But who am I to judge. Lord, forgive me.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I pray that our Blessed Mother cover Cardinal Law in Her most holy mantle, and comfort and guide him.

 

[HagiaSophia]

JOHNYJ:

The church has never " on its own " punished a bishop for helping a pedophile molest chldren.That is a fact.
Now another thing you never hear mentioned.
Catholic Catechism2287
Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way That it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EVIL THAT HE HAS DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGED !

That’s helpful to remember particularly for those who cannot ever offer charity, nor forgiveness nor kindness. They whisper their own sins in the darkened confessional and thank God for the seal which prevents anyone from knowing but love to spread whatever they can about their brothers and sisters. No matter what penance, or notoriety or shame or hurt is done never compensates in their minds. Thanks for the reminder that we ought not to share in this kind of thing.

 

[manualman]

I’m not aware of Cardinal Law ever being accused of molesting anyone. Did I miss something?

As others have suggested, it appears to me he is guilty of bad judgement and excessively trusting psychological ‘experts’ instead of common sense and the good of his flock. While awful, surely it is not quite so bad as the fiends who actually committed the crimes. Surely not so bad as denying Christ himself on the night of his passion, or selling Jesus out for 30 silver pieces. You know, the biggest difference between those two disciples is not the magnitude of their crime, but their response to their own conscience. One despaired and hung himself, the other repented and became the ROCK.

 

[SydLake]

manualman:

I’m not aware of Cardinal Law ever being accused of molesting anyone. Did I miss something?

As others have suggested, it appears to me he is guilty of bad judgement and excessively trusting psychological ‘experts’ instead of common sense and the good of his flock. While awful, surely it is not quite so bad as the fiends who actually committed the crimes. Surely not so bad as denying Christ himself on the night of his passion, or selling Jesus out for 30 silver pieces. You know, the biggest difference between those two disciples is not the magnitude of their crime, but their response to their own conscience. One despaired and hung himself, the other repented and became the ROCK.

He and the people he reported to , condonded abuse and allowed more kids and teens and women to be abused than would have if they acted as shepards and not accountants.

To blame others when these men got notice from parents and then they kept things secret and allowed others to be abused is sick.

Remember as well, that some priests were transfered before they received treatment ,so the blame it on the shrinks excuse doesn’t work.

And even worse is that it remains the policy to keep these things secret in the church and this policy was written by …

peace

 

[Holland]

I heard Father Corapi say that all priests are responsible for this mess as they are the sheperds of the flock. I tend to agree. As for one sin being worse than another, well, all sin is bad. I think we should refrain from the 1 to 10 scale on the Sin-O-Meter.

 

[JOHNYJ]

Maybe I am crazy. I would like all these defenders of the bishops and Cardinal Law to explain this.
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ never mentions, birth control, homosexuality or abortion. Not once ! Yet we are bombarded by the church on these subjects.The church creates organisatios to fight these things.
In Matthew Jesus talks about leading children to sin and says that for those that do it. Death is too good for them !
They didn’t know molesting children was bad ? They didn’t know ? How dumb do they think we are ?

 

[Archbishop]

I’m sorry folks, but for a Bishop of the Church not to take action when one of his priests is involved in the molestation of children or having illicit sexual relations with someone is without any excuse whatsoever. It cannot be blamed on counselors, psychologists, advisors or anyone else. Yes, the priests sinned. But the Bishop is responsible for not immediately reporting it to the law enforcement authorities once he found out and for not taking immediate disciplinary action against the priests. And as much as I loved John Paul II, I believe he was wrong for not suspending all faculties from Cardinal Law or any other Bishop who allowed this type of activity to go on.

Yes, sins can be forgiven and we should most definitely pray for men such as Cardinal Law. Being forgiven is one thing. Being allowed to continue in ministry after knowingly allowing criminal activity to occur in one’s diocese is another. There are consequences to sin.

My deacons, priests, and bishops know that I will take swift action should I become aware that something like this is going on. Such things as this should not be named among those who claim to stand in the place of Christ and who minister the Holy Sacraments. They also know I will take swift action against anyone who makes an accusation against my clergy which turns out to be false.

Those for whom Christ shed his blood are to be treated with the utmost respect and care by those who are appointed as shepherds over them. Any man who cannot do this has no place in the ministry.

+Abp