Pedophile enabler Cardinal Law to celebrate mass for Pope......

[grumpy old fart]

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II.

The Vatican announced Thursday he will lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the pope's memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be held Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston. <snip>

Law stepped down as archbishop within months after a judge unsealed court records in January 2002 that showed he had allowed priests with confirmed histories of molesting children to continue working in parishes.<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&u=/ap/20050407/ap_on_re_eu/pope_cardinal_law&printer=1

[WI_DEM]

1. that is the wrong message to send

He was one of the chief culprits in the Boston scandal and I disagree with it.

[RBHam]

2. You mean, Pedophile Ennabler....

Moving perverts around to shield them from accountability...

This Law is apparently above the Law.

[jean]

15. they're certainly hiding him in plain sight! What were they thinking?

Let's move him out, bring him to Vatican City. . . and no one will be the wiser?

[sniffa]

3. wonderfuL

:mad:

[Tux]

Figures

That they would support a pervert at this time. Makes me woner if only pedophiles are allowed.

[Zuni]

4. Michael jackson is very pleased. Asks for Law's spiritual council

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. That's a little in your face

don't you think.

These guys must be taking arrogance lessons from W.

[demnan]

6. Whose decision was this?

[Avalux]

7. Why would they do this?

I don't understand why they'd want to cause more controversy. Very unfortunate. :shrug:

[cheezus]

8. is this the vatican's way of flipping the bird?

[Minstrel Boy]

9. Will Paul Shanley and the NAMBLA Boys Choir be assisting?

Law ought to be in prison for the lives he helped destroy.

[grumpy old fart]

10. By the way, Is Law Opus Dei?

[morgan2]

11. This is the Vaticans version

of giving George Tenat the Presidential Medal of Freedom.. Shows their true motivations.

[MADem]

12. I hate that asshole but there is a reason for the why, if not the where

Each Cardinal has 'faux responsibility' for one church within the confines of greater Rome, it is an honorific title as Pastor. Normallly, most of them regard "their" Roman church as a perk where they can go say mass (impress friends and family, get their butts kissed) when they visit, and they leave the day to day shit to the regular priest in charge. When Law was initially elevated, he was assigned as "pastor" for Maria Maggiore. When he left Boston in disgrace, he had nothing to do, no job, thus he had to make himself useful by turning his 'honorific' duty into what passes for a real job.

Since JP's thing was veneration of Mary, there's your reason for the choice of that church as one of the many selected, and we have an odd confluence here...the evil bastard who probably will never leave Rome EXCEPT on a Vatican passport, and the lovely and historic church that he despoils with his obese, prevaricating, soulless presence.

The place is really nice, it sickens me that he has it. See here: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~QJ7K-KRMR/eRoma04.html

[grumpy old fart]

13. Sign that the fundies of Opus Dei are in control....

http://www.rickross.com/reference/opus/opus25.html

The organization also enjoys the support of powerful church leaders in the United States, including Cardinal Bernard Law and Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York.

[MADem]

17. I do not deny that OD has some serious reach

...but in the years since that article was written (97), they have taken MAJOR hits, Law being one, that spy Robert Hansen (as well as Louis Freeh, Robert Novak, etc) being 'outed' as members, and of course, popular fiction that gets too close to truth for their comfort.

I honestly think the CHURCH was chosen because of who is honored in the name. JP2 had a Mary veneration thing going on, and it would not surprise me if he got his list of churches responsible for post-funeral masses taken care of in the first draft of his funeral plans, done some 25 years ago. Or he could have made the list right after he got shot, where he promised Mary that he would dedicate the remainder of his papacy to her should he live. I really do think it is the Maria thing, not Law, that drove the choice.

Having said that, if we see Law tomorrow concelebrating the actual funeral mass, there's cause for concern.

[grumpy old fart]

18. I understand the reasoning, thanks for the insight, however.....

surely they must know the signal that this sends. Especially to the U.S.

[MADem]

22. I agree with your take, which is why I think the choice had to have been

il Papa's, not theirs. They aren't looking to spit in anyone's face right now. They're getting a huge outpouring of grief, renewal of faith, interest in vocations, all of that stuff, and they wouldn't make such a patently insensitive choice on their own.

Hubris aside, the church runs on cash contributions. Now's the time for them to put the very best possible foot forward, and they know full well that Law is a liability. Americans only make up six percent of the faithful, but they are good for about twenty percent of the dough raked in.

But if JP2 made the decision, they have to honor it. And I really think he did, not for or because of Law, but because of the name of the church and to whom it is dedicated.

[grumpy old fart]

23. Makes sense. Vatican should probably make this known....

sure would help with the inevitable PR problem...

[MADem]

25. We'll probably know on or about the day he is scheduled

...to say the memorial mass. I'm sure the Vatican spokesman is probably racing around like a one armed paperhanger right about now...but they've been pretty good doing the PR on a 'just in time' basis. We'll see!

[Shallah Kali]

28. Ugh. That makes it worse, not that it isn't sickening enough

That the Pope would appoint someone like that to be in charge of, even if in name only, of a church dedicated to Mary. Ick.

[Azathoth]

14. Law took a bullet for the team

The Catholic Church allowed a prince of the church to resign his post in disgrace...something that would have been unthinkable not too long ago. But he's still a cardinal -- above secular law and answerable only to the Pope -- and the Vatican is going to make sure that he maintains that authority and responsibility and respect. Their mentality is one part rigid ancient tradition, one part politics, and one part supporting a guy who took a bullet for the team.

[grumpy old fart]

16. Saying "he took a bullet for the team" is like saying Hitler did......

That phrase means, IMHO, that you take something on yourself that is not your fault, "for the good of the team". It does not mean that you accepted the teams help when you fucked up. And "fuck up" in this case is putting it mildly.

[Azathoth]

19. You're missing the point

As far as the Vatican is concerned, Law took a bullet for the team. He did what he was told, covered things up like a good boy, and when things got hot, he was a stand-up guy and resigned.

As for comparing him to Hitler...I get your point, but the comparison is a little extreme. Hitler was a military dictator who ordered mass exterminations. Law was a bureaucrat who did what all bureaucrats do when bad things are happening underneath them in their bureaucracy: he lied and covered things up, and then lied about the coverup.

[grumpy old fart]

20. I hear what you're saying, but, I think this shows how little the Vatican

cares about victims and the whole underlying issue. To put this man out front, even if there is some ritualistic nonsense to justify it, is just plain sick.

[MADem]

24. Actually, the impression from here in Massachusetts

...is not that he took the hit like a good boy. He was fucking DEFIANT. He REFUSED to cooperate with investigators, shrugged off the insistent demands of Voice of the Faithful, blew off the protests, and seemed rather haughtily prepared to dig in for the long haul. Then, suddenly, with almost NO notice, he packed his bags, grabbed his Vatican passport and split, to be replaced by a fransciscan dude with beard and sandals and a reputation as a clean-up hitter.

I think he got the word--you're done, you fat clown. We aren't carrying your obese ass any more. Come to Rome and live out your days, or we won't step in if you end up indicted as an accessory after the fact. I think Law was squeezed by the senior Vatican staff, and had they not put it to him, he would have tried to hang on to that swell house on the hill here in MA, with the car, driver, staff, and all the perks.

A bit of a Faustian deal all around, but that's my sense of it.

[Azathoth]

26. That's possible, but my impression was somewhat different

The Vatican knew what was going on in the Boston archdiocese and elsewhere. They were aware of it for a long, long time. Hell, they were partly responsible for the cover-up strategy. The first time Law tried to resign (at least according to the official story), his resignation was flatly refused. As far as I can see, the Vatican was well aware, at least in a general sense, of what was going on and they implicitly condoned what Law had done. I don't think they were "carrying" his ass; I think they approved of what he was doing, at least until the shit really hit the fan, at which point they decided that something had to be done.

It's entirely possible that Law was forced out as you say, but I think it's more likely that a damage-control agreement was reached. Law was told that he would be the fall-guy, that he would publicly resign, and then he would hightail back to Rome where he could finish his days in a cushy position. I think the prime concern was not the fact that Law was digging in his heels, but rather the possibility of having a cardinal publicly indicted and prosecuted by secular authorities, something the Vatican would not tolerate under any circumstances.

[MADem]

27. The truth could be somewhere between the two perspectives

or somewhere else entirely...but unless either one of us gets elevated to Cardinal, we'll never really know!!

However it went down, it remains a shameful legacy that will take years to live down.

[Zhade]

30. "Partly responsible"? Try fully cognizant of the problem and in charge.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:lk4ZqmGiJqQJ:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3157555.stm+document+vatican+abuse+cover+up&hl=en

<SNIP>

The lawyer, Daniel Shea, told The Observer newspaper the 1962 Vatican instruction was "a devious attempt to conceal criminal conduct".

It "is a blueprint for deception and concealment", the Sunday newspaper quotes him as saying.

The document was sent to every bishop in the world, with orders to keep it under lock and key, the BBC's David Willey in Rome reports.

Mr Shea, who represents alleged victims of abuse by Catholic priests, obtained the document from an American priest and handed it over to US authorities.

Read some of the document here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3157859.stm

So much for the lie that the Vatican knew nothing and didn't have a written policy to cover it up (not that you said otherwise).

[sescob]

21. It's shameful

Basically a big "FU" to the victims and their families.

[me b zola]

29. This makes me ill

My heart breaks for every child who has been sexually abused, for the perversion of faith & the Church, and for GLBT people who were scapegoated by JPII by calling them evil when it was surely to divert attention away from THE FRICKIN PEDIPHILE PERVERTED PRIESTS within the Church.:cry: