Cardinal Bernard Law Retires - May He One Day Face a Higher Law

I came out to my former wife in October 2001, just moths before the sex abuse scandal exploded in the Archdiocese of Boston. Subsequently, in February, 2002, I did a guest editorial in the Virginian Pilot when the then Bishop of Richmond, Virginia whined in a letter to the editor that the Catholic Church was being subjected to anti-Catholic bigotry. Even though my guest editorial laid out the statistics of sexual abuse by priests worldwide, I was roundly attacked by sheep like followers of the morally bankrupt Catholic bishops. Central to the sex abuse scandal in Boston was Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston. As things heated up and it became clear that Law had sent out henchmen (e/g. Bishop Daly, later Supreme Chaplain to the Knights of Columbus and Bishop Egan, later Archbishop of New York) to threaten and intimidate victims of abuse and their families, Cardinal Law resigned his archbishopric and fled to Rome - most likely to dodge the Boston police and court subpoenas.

Was Law punished in Rome? Not hardly. He was given a plum position and literally lived as a price in a palace. Would that all of us could be so severely punished. The upside of the scandal was that I realized that there was no reason for me to suffer from religious based guilt for being gay. With Law's retirement from his plum position in Rome, a column in the Boston Herald looks at Law's tawdry legacy. Here are highlights:

So Cardinal Bernard Law goes out, at worst, with but a gentle, subtle push. It’s hardly a satisfying end for the international “poster child for child clergy sex abuse,” as Vatican watcher Peter Borre called Law yesterday.

Law was never indicted. He was never tried. He never had to explain why in the world he wrote glowing letters of recommendation for priests accused of molesting hundreds of children, as he did for Father John Geoghan and Father Paul Shanley.

News flashes yesterday all referred to him as the “disgraced” cardinal. But that disgrace brought him a promotion, not punishment from the Vatican for aiding and abetting such crimes.

Remember how Suffolk Superior Court officials treated Law like royalty when, even as evidence mounted against him, they nonetheless let him and his dark-windowed sedan be whisked inside a garage, then up a back elevator. He never had to face the TV cameras or reporters’ questions.

And most people I’ve asked expect Law to stay in Rome, a city he reportedly adores [and which keeps him outside of the reach of U.S. police authorities]. A month ago I would’ve said well, at least we’ve all learned a lesson. Then Penn State came along.

Catholics who bucked the odds to remain Catholic can separate their faith from the corrupt cabal of cardinals. And many Catholics see justice around the corner as the 80-year-old Law inches ever closer to the ultimate higher authority.