NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune
From staff reports
References to New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes in Wednesday's scathing report on the Boston sex abuse scandal have been taken in stride by local Catholics, the New Orleans archdiocese said Thursday.
By Thursday afternoon, the New Orleans hierarchy had received only one call regarding the report, archdiocesan spokesman the Rev. William Maestri said.
The lack of public outcry indicates "that the people of New Orleans have come to know and certainly respect and like Archbishop Hughes," said Maestri, who described the call as a neutral inquiry about where a copy of the Massachusetts report could be obtained.
The report, by Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, was based on a 16-month grand jury investigation of how Boston's Catholic hierarchy handled complaints of sexual abuse against priests. It includes the accusation that Hughes, while serving as second in command to Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, in the early 1990s, withheld pertinent information about pedophile priests. Hughes said the report mischaracterizes his role.
