BOSTON (CNS) -- Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston said he will not resign in the wake of current struggles over the past sex abuse by archdiocesan clergy, and his remarks were met by a standing ovation from his fellow priests.
BOSTON (CNS) -- Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston said he will not resign in the wake of current struggles over the past sex abuse by archdiocesan clergy, and his remarks were met by a standing ovation from his fellow priests.
"My resignation is not part of the solution as I see it. With your help and support, however, and with the help and support of those within and outside the church, I want the archdiocese to become a model for how this issue should be handled. I want you to know that with every fibre of my being, I am going to try to see that that happens," the cardinal said.
More than 500 priests from across the Archdiocese of Boston gathered with Cardinal Law on January 23 and 24 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for an assembly of priests. The convocation was an opportunity for the archdiocesan priests to pray and discuss various issues with the cardinal.
The gathering was the third in Cardinal Law's tenure and took more than 18 months in planning.
With the recent conviction of former archdiocesan priest John Geoghan, Cardinal Law addressed the issue of sexual abuse of minors by clergy in his opening remarks to the assembly. He restated his apology to the victims and families and said mistakes had been made by himself and the archdiocese.
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[PICTURE of clergy with joined hands, Cardinal Law with a skullcap at the right.]
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"I wish it were possible to go back in time and to undo some of the decisions that I made," the cardinal said. "I now see that these were wrong decisions. What I have come to learn with a much more vivid clarity during the past weeks is that our singular focus must be the protection of children."
Geoghan has been accused of abusing 130 children while he was serving as a priest in the archdiocese over the past 30 years. He was finally sacked as a priest in 1998.
The cardinal went on to announce his decision to report retroactively any clergy sexual abuse within the archdiocese while still respecting the confidentiality of the victims.
"We have determined to go to public authorities with the names of all priests who have been found guilty of the abuse of minors," Cardinal Law said. "I can't say how many but every one of them will be brought forward."
The archdiocese in now in the process of deciding how that will be done to ensure the confidentiality of the victims, the cardinal added.
Currently, Massachusetts law does not require clergy to report incidents of child abuse. In late January the Senate approved a provision which would include clergy on the list of mandatory reporters.
The cardinal also released a letter addressed to the faithful that restated the remarks he made to the convocation. It was read by parish priests at all Masses from January 26-27.
After two days of prayers, discussions and a closing liturgy, Cardinal Law spoke to the media on January 24. "In retrospect, I know that I've made mistakes in the assignment of priests," he said. "I have come to see that our policy was flawed.
"The fundamental flaw was the assumption that a psychological evaluation after treatment could be relied upon to reassign a priest," he added. "I have come to recognise that it is simply not appropriate to assign a priest guilty of such an act to a parish or any other assignment. Our revised policy reflects this condition."
He once again affirmed "There is no priest known to us who is guilty of sexual abuse of a minor holding any positions in this archdiocese."
In conjunction with the retroactive reporting, where names of priests will be given to public authorities, a group of doctors and educators will guide the cardinal in developing a strategy to protect all children from sexual abuse.
The panel, consisting of experts from Boston-area universities and medical schools, will assist the cardinal with the initial phases.
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