<b>Law’s responsibility</b>
EDITORIAL: <a href=”The’>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/editorials/Law_s_responsibility+.shtml”>The <i>Boston Globe</i> writes: </a>”ON THE FEAST of Pentecost last weekend, Cardinal Bernard F. Law demonstrated once again why he should resign as archbishop of Boston. The sexual abuse scandal continues to mushroom and has irretrievably damaged his standing as a spiritual leader…However admirable the efforts of Boston College and the commission, Law casts a shadow over the church in Boston, and he can remove it only by his departure…”
<b>CHURCH REACTION
Law’s explanation finds some skeptics, some believers
Critics predict letter will only worsen crisis</b>
MASSACHUSETTS: <a href=”The’>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/metro/Law_s_explanation_finds_some_skeptics_some_believers+.shtml”>The <i>Boston Globe</i>’s Michael Paulson reports: </a> Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s latest mea culpa, in which he said that for his first nine years in “Boston he didn’t know that the Rev. Paul R. Shanley had been accused of molesting children, was greeted skeptically yesterday by some leading Catholics around Boston and the nation…”
<b>BC speakers fault errors on abuse
Graduation rites offer venue for criticism, advice</b>
MASSACHUSETTS: <a href=”The’>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/metro/BC_speakers_fault_errors_on_abuse+.shtml”>The <i>Boston Globe</i>’s Patrick Healy reports: </a> “Two speakers at the 126th Boston College commencement yesterday strongly criticized local church leaders for mishandling allegations of sexual abuse and failing to show sufficient concern for the alleged victims…”
<b>Law blasted over warnings: Woman says she told cardinal of sex abuse in ’80s</b>
MASSACHUSETTS: <a href=”The’>http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/card05212002.htm”>The <i>Boston Herald’s </i>Eric Convey reports: </a>”A woman who says she twice told Bernard Cardinal Law that the Rev. Paul Shanley was molesting boys blasted the cardinal yesterday for saying he didn’t recall the conversations…”
<b>BC grads enjoy day with little mention of sex scandal </b>
MASSACHUSETTS:<a href=”The’>http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/comm05212002.htm”>The <i>Boston Herald’s </i>David Weber reports: </a> “To strong applause, the Boston College commencement keynote speaker urged graduates and their families yesterday not to smear the overwhelming majority of good priests with the “depraved actions” of pedophile priests…”
<b>Okla. Archbishop Failed to Oust Priest
Long Trail of Abuse Prompts Criticism </b>
OKLAHOMA: <a href=”The’>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47940-2002May20.html”>The <i>Washington Post’s</i> Lois Romano reports: </a>”DUNCAN, Okla. — Just after Easter in 1994, Archbishop Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City received a disturbing letter from a church official in Michigan. The Rev. James Rapp, pastor of a Catholic church in this rural town, was about to be sued for allegedly molesting a teenage boy in Michigan a decade earlier — an incident, the church official wrote, that had led Rapp’s superiors to send him to a well-known treatment center for sexual disorders in 1986…”
<b>Tough Policies on Priests Stir Some Dissension in the Pews</b>
TEXAS: <a href=”The’>http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/national/21PRIE.html”>The New York Times<i></i>’ ANTHONY DePALMA reports: </a>”DALLAS, May 17 — American Catholic bishops are scheduled to gather here next month to debate a tough new policy on sexual abuse, but many dioceses around the nation have already carried out what amount to zero-tolerance rules, swiftly removing accused priests and dealing harshly with clergy members who fail to adopt guidelines on preventing abuse…As they try to get tough, the bishops in several dioceses have been surprised by the reaction of parishioners who think the new approach amounts to a witch hunt…”
<b>Ex-Altar Boy Alleges Priest Abused Him
Litigation: Complaint filed under federal racketeering law claims Mahony protected Father Baker. Cardinal calls the suit baseless.</b>
CALIFORNIA: <a href=”The’>http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000035902may21.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia”>The <i>Los Angeles Times’ </i>GLENN F. BUNTING and RICHARD WINTON report: </a>”A former altar boy alleged in court papers filed Monday that he was molested at a Van Nuys church by Father Michael Stephen Baker, bringing to three the number of victims who say they were abused after the priest admitted engaging in sexual misconduct to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony…”
<b>Alleged victim, with photos and letters, tell a story of sexual abuse by priest </b>
CALIFORNIA: <a href=”The’>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/05/21/state0301EDT0001.DTL”>The AP’s Paul Wilborn reports: </a>”LOS ANGELES (AP) — The snapshots from a family album tell the story of a friendship between a boy and his priest: Nine-year-old alter boy Matt Severson posing after mass with Father Michael Baker; the two wearing white vestments at Matt’s confirmation at St. Paul of the Cross Church in La Mirada; and the boy on the priest’s lap at a family party…”
<b>LOS ANGELES ARCHDIOCESE
Alleged victims sue under racketeering laws</b>
CALIFORNIA: <a href=”Reuters'”>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/nation/Alleged_victims_sue_under_racketeering_laws+.shtml”>Reuters’ Dan Whitcomb reports: </a> “LOS ANGELES – Four men who were allegedly molested by a Roman Catholic priest as boys sued him, the Los Angeles Archdiocese, and Cardinal Roger Mahony yesterday under federal racketeering laws, claiming that the church acted as a criminal enterprise in covering up the abuse…”
<b>Abuse cases long her crusade</b>
NEW YORK: <a href=”The’>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/metro/Abuse_cases_long_her_crusade+.shtml”>The <i>Boston Globe</i>’s Kevin Cullen reports: </a> “WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Jeanine Pirro has a great smile. She flashed it briefly last month, as lawyers for the Archdiocese of New York took their seats around the polished conference table here in her fifth-floor office, and then there were no more smiles…”
<b>Priest accused of abuse in Putnam </b>
CONNECTICUT: <a href=”The’>http://www.telegram.com/news/city/chuck.html”>The Worcester <i>Telegram and Gazette’s </i>Kathleen A. Shaw reports: </a>”PUTNAM– Charles Vigeant, now a businessman in Houston, has begun a one-man crusade against a priest he says molested him when he was a boy at St. Mary’s Church…”
<b>Bush won’t raise Catholic sex abuse scandal in meeting with pope</b>
NATIONAL: <a href=”The’>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/05/21/national0504EDT0479.DTL”>The AP reports: </a>”In his meeting next week with Pope John Paul II, President Bush won’t bring up the sexual abuse scandal that is roiling the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice says…”
<b>Head of Italian Catholic church says seminaries must be more discerning </b>
ITALY: <a href=”The’>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/05/20/international1650EDT0671.DTL”>The AP reports: </a>”The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy urged seminaries to carefully screen candidates as a way to combat the problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy…”
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