Cardinal Bernard F. Law is dead. Robert D. McFadden’s New York Times’ obituary describes why there is a special place in hell for this man. He gained great notoriety in 2002 when his stature as Archbishop of Boston and America’s senior Roman Catholic prelate was shattered by revelations that he had protected child molesters for years.
Although, as I wrote in a blog, Law is certainly not alone in this deplorable behaviour within the Catholic Church, he was the first of many dominos to fall. The Pope spoke of committees to safeguard children, tribunals to try bishops and a “zero tolerance” policy for offending priests. It hasn’t quite worked out that way, as evidenced in this elucidating New York Times article by Jason Horowitz and Laurie Goodstein, showing that Pope Francis himself has a blind spot. The bottom line is that the Catholic Church does not have the moral authority to be weighing in on anything.
Amy B Wang unravels in this Washington Post article just how Law’s potentially glowing civil rights legacy fell into tatters. Frankly, giving this guy a Vatican funeral is like giving Donald Trump the Noble Peace Prize.
In my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire, I discuss the disjointed culture within which the Catholic Church lives, and why it must change.
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