Church in
Crisis
Calls for Cardinal Law’s resignation grow louder
By CHUCK COLBERT
Boston
The anger, frustration and a profound sense of betrayal in this
scandal-plagued archdiocese reached a new level Dec. 9 after a week of new
sex-abuse revelations as hundreds of demonstrators converged on the Cathedral
of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End neighborhood. In the days that
followed, more than 50 priests signed a letter calling for Cardinal Bernard
Law’s resignation and a reform group adopted resolutions also urging him
to resign.
The gathering of demonstrators, one of the largest since the
scandal erupted anew here nearly a year ago, included members and
representatives of all the major survivor-advocacy and church reform
organizations, including SNAP, the LinkUp, the Coalition of Catholics and
Survivors, Speak Truth to Power (STTOP), Survivors First, Call to Action, and
Voice of the Faithful, among others.
A much less public but more serious indication of the degree to
which trust in Cardinal Bernard Law’s leadership has eroded was a letter
signed by 58 pastors asking him to step down.
The priests praised Law’s work on behalf of the poor and
homeless, his opposition to capital punishment and his outreach to the Jewish
community. “However, the events of recent months and, in particular, of
these last few days, make it clear to us that your position as our bishop is so
compromised that it is no longer possible for you to exercise the spiritual
leadership required for the church of Boston.
“As leaders of many of the parishes that make up this
archdiocese, we hear from the people their call for a change in leadership. The
revelations that came to light a few days ago challenge the credibility of your
public statements. The people of this archdiocese are angry, hurt and in need
of authentic spiritual leadership. We believe that despite your good work in
the past, you are no longer able to provide that leadership.
“While this is obviously a difficult request, we believe in
our hearts that this is a necessary step that must be taken if healing is to
come to the archdiocese. The priests and people of Boston have lost confidence
in you as their spiritual leader.”
By most measures the letter was an unprecedented open
demonstration of no confidence in an American archbishop. Speculation was
circulating at midweek that more signatures would be added to the letter at a
meeting on Friday of the Boston Priests’ Forum.
Meanwhile, Voice of the Faithful, the largest lay church-reform
group to spring up in the wake of the clerical sexual abuse scandal, took a
significant step, calling on Bernard Cardinal law “to resign
immediately.” The move was a break with the group’s more cautious and
conciliatory tone and its previous reluctance to take public stances in
opposition to the cardinal archbishop of the Boston.
Speaker after speaker among the 75 to 100 people who attended
Voice of the Faithful’s leadership council meeting at Our Lady Help of
Christians Parish in Newton, Mass., Dec. 12 said the time had come for the
organization to take a stand. People expressed their profound sense of betrayal
by the cardinal.
Four motions were adopted by near unanimous votes. In addition to
the one calling for Law’s resignation, another motion petitioned Pope John
Paul II to take action by “appoint[ing], only after meaningful
consultation with the church of Boston, including the laity, the priests and
religious, and the hierarchy, a suitable person” to replace Law.
Another asks Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops, to weigh in on the situations in Boston,
“individually and collectively,” as well as to “recognize and
respond to the moral and pastoral crisis” here.
Yet another motion calls for the Voice of the Faithful “to
communicate with Bishop Gregory,” requesting that “the bishops open
to the public the hidden records of known sexual abusers in their own
dioceses.” (The full text of Voice of the Faithful’s resolution is
available on the NCR Web site, www.natcath.org, under
“documents.”)
After the vote, spokeswoman Susan Troy, who is a founding member
of the church reform organization, said, “It feels good. I am proud to be
a Catholic.” Expressing hope for the future of the church, one man said,
“This is democracy in action.”
Voice president James E. Post signed a letter discussing the
organization’s action, and has already sent it to Pope John Paul in the
Vatican.
As the protesters gathered outside the cathedral and the pastors
drafted their letter, Law was headed for Rome where he spent the week
reportedly in meetings with several Vatican congregations. The Vatican issued
only a two-line explanation, saying officials were discussing the crisis.
The outrage of the protesters at the cathedral was fueled partly
by news this past week that local archdiocesan officials are considering filing
for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and also by the release of new
documents -- nine sets of files -- revealing more sordid details of sexual
abuse by priests in the archdiocese and the failure of officials to deal with
the problem.
The new documents disclose, for example, that Law and other
bishops failed to remove from public ministry priests accused of sex with
minors, physical violence against women and drug use. The documents contained
allegations that a priest had fathered two children, that another traded
cocaine for sex with a boy, and yet another had sex with teenage girls who were
preparing to become nuns (NCR, Dec. 13).
While the protesters directed much of their ire at Law, speakers
also aimed their frustration at Massachusetts state and local legislators and
district attorneys and even federal authorities. The demonstrators said elected
officials need to speak up about the crisis and that district attorneys and the
state’s Attorney General Thomas Reilly must step up their investigations
of potential criminal activity on the part of church officials in any
cover-up.
Both women and men spoke, many of whom say they are victims and
survivors. It was the voices of women that rang out most sharply. They
attempted to focus attention on what many female survivors and their advocates
say is a story not yet fully told, the story of the sexual and ritual abuse and
rape of girls and vulnerable young women by Catholic clergy.
Dale Walsh of Cambridge, Mass., for example, spoke of her sexual
abuse in the early 1960s by Fr. Paul Shanley, who was in jail in early
December, charged with rape of a child. Walsh alleges that Shanley raped her
when she was 14. “He didn’t just rape men,” she said.
“There are many women out there. I know some of them are hesitant to come
forth. Coming forth is a journey, and people need to be ready for it,” she
said. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. Thank you for being
supportive.”
Another survivor who spoke was Susan Gallagher. She told of her
abuse and the abuse of her brother, Patrick, by a religious order priest
throughout the 1970s. Speaking of women survivors, Gallagher said,
“Although the church has blocked efforts to study this issue, experts
generally agree that girls make up one- third to one-half of all victims of
clergy abuse,” she said. “In line with this, nearly half of the
membership of the major survivors groups [SNAP and the Link Up] are women.
“Although many women have spoken out, you haven’t heard
enough about them because women are less likely to file lawsuits and more
afraid of having their sexual histories exposed to public view,” she said.
In her remarks Gallagher took issue with those who say gay priests
and homosexuality are to blame for the scandal. “This is not a homosexual
problem. This has nothing to do with sexual orientation,” she said.
“Scapegoating gays is not going to do it. We don’t need to purge gays
from the seminaries. We need to purge criminals from seminaries.”
Kathy Dwyer of Braintree, Mass., who alleges sexual abuse by a
priest of the archdiocese, emphasized that the church crisis “is about
power, the abuse of power, and the weapon is sex.”
“That’s right!” came the cry from a woman among the
400 to 500 demonstrators.
The comments of men were equally pointed. Donald Smith, for
example, who identified himself as a victim, said, “I want to let Cardinal
Law know that he succeeded in shattering my faith in the Catholic church, but
not in God.” He added, “Jesus would be on our side.”
Robert Costello, another man who alleges abuse, addressed the
crowd: “We’re here today because a few boys and girls somehow
survived years of physical and mental violations, silence, guilt, shame, fear,
alcohol and drugs, prostitution, failed marriages, failed suicide attempts and
countless unimaginable indignities.”
“Where have you been, and what are you going to do?” he
asked. “We survivors can no longer carry the weight of your faith on our
backs. We carried your faith on our backs. We believed in a church that stands
so rigidly against the taking of life in the womb -- yet so callously throws it
away after birth,” he said.
Costello also addressed the matter of forgiveness. “It’s
been said that in order for us to heal, we need to forgive. We forgive; we have
to forgive every single day to survive. And we forgive you every single day in
order to have hope that some day you will hear our cries of pain and do
something.”
At several points during the protest, the crowd erupted with
shouts of “Law must go! Law must go!”
In that vein, Mike Maguire, of STTOP, rallied the crowd, saying,
“I’ll be here every Sunday until the right thing is done.” He
added, “We will seek justice.”
Still, one female victim told a particularly poignant story.
“I was raped at the age of 11 by James Porter in St. Patrick’s Church
in Stoneham, Mass.,” said Christine Hickey of Somerville, Mass., referring
to another notorious priest child abuser. She went on to explain how Shanley
comforted her. “Paul was and is a close family friend. My sister is named
after him. He was a wonderful influence in my life, growing up. I called Paul,
and he helped me. I have to say he helped me.
“Imagine my surprise last January when I discovered
Shanley’s history,” Hickey said. “It’s such a betrayal. I
know a lot of people share that feeling. It’s certainly not unique to me.
I want to say that the survivors are the symbols, but we’ve all been
betrayed.”
On Dec. 11, Boston media outlets reported that Shanley was
released from jail after posting bail of $300,000 in cash.
Free-lance writer Chuck Colbert writes from Cambridge,
Mass.
National Catholic Reporter, December 20,
2002
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