Bishop Is Welcomed in Boston

Bishop Richard G. Lennon, acting as overseer of Boston’s troubled Roman Catholic archdiocese, offered words of hope and reconciliation Sunday as he celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Lennon -- who was appointed “apostolic administrator” by Pope Paul John II after the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law -- received a standing ovation from more than 500 parishioners in the historic cathedral. In a solemn homily, he tried to console those wounded by clerical sexual abuse and the scandal that has roiled his church.

“How many are brokenhearted, how many are captives of the crimes and the sins of sexual abuse against minors?” Lennon asked. “How many have had their freedom curtailed because of injustice?”

As he spoke, scores of demonstrators paraded outside the cathedral -- some demanding that Law and five other bishops who worked at varying times in the archdiocese be sent to prison for their alleged roles in covering up child abuse over the last 30 years.

But other parishioners, even the most skeptical, seemed willing to give Lennon a chance to clean up the scandal here that ignited a nationwide furor over sexually abusive priests.

“He has a lot of goodwill,” Marc Mastranadi, a retail analyst, said of the archdiocese’s temporary leader. “But I don’t think he’ll have much of a honeymoon. People won’t give him a long leash, not after what’s happened here in Boston.”

Law, 71, offered his resignation at the Vatican last week after 18 years at the helm of the nation’s fourth-largest arch- diocese. He had been under fire since January, when internal church documents first suggested that he and other officials frequently sought to minimize charges of abuse by moving priests from one parish to another, where they then preyed on other children.

The final blow leading to Law’s departure was the release earlier this month of documents suggesting cases of drug abuse by priests and the molestation of girls studying to be nuns.

“I feel like I’m stepping into a shower, after all this terrible news and the stigma over the church,” said Nancy Higgins as she hurried up the steps into the cathedral.

“He [Lennon] has an opportunity to speak out, and this can be a cleansing moment. But I never lost my faith.”

Lennon’s remarks “might signal a new spirit in the church, and that’s important,” said Laura Breault, a member of the activist group Speak Truth to Power. “But he can’t get past the fact that many of these priests are criminals. If you or I did what they have been accused of doing, we’d be in jail. Nothing a new man says can change that reality.”

From the minute Lennon began celebrating Mass, worshipers seemed to lean forward, straining to hear his comments. At the same time, there was intense curiosity about Law, who returned Saturday to the United States but whose whereabouts and immediate plans are unknown. In an interview with the Boston Globe, he said: “I have no hatred” for the lay critics and media coverage that laid bare clerical wrongdoing.

With Law’s legendary career seemingly at an end, all eyes turned Sunday to Lennon.

“We have to listen to Bishop Lennon and give him a chance to heal this community,” said Martha Rowland of Newton, Mass., who has been a key player in Voice of the Faithful -- a grass-roots lay group formed in the wake of the abuse scandal. “What is the alternative? At some point, all the recriminations, all the divisiveness have to end.”

The 55-year-old Lennon echoed that theme Sunday, stressing that he was as much a partner of parishioners as he was their spiritual leader.

He will serve until a permanent successor to Law is named.

“For you I am a bishop, but with you I am a Christian,” he said, speaking slowly and deliberately. “The former is a duty, a title. But the latter is a state of grace.”

Several members of the South Boston parish’s ethnically mixed congregation -- including Irish, Italian, Latino and African American worshipers -- quietly nodded as Lennon spoke. Although he became a bishop only last year, he was trying to reach out and build bridges quickly.

Lennon squarely addressed the events that have buffeted the archdiocese, causing many to question the church’s integrity. The news in recent days “has produced a combination of responses,” including “dismay, disappointment, frustration and, for some, a loss of trust in the hierarchy, a profound sense of sadness,” he said.

Taking note of the church’s critics, he said archdiocesan officials need to listen to these voices more carefully in the future. But he refrained from addressing several issues, such as the possibility that the archdiocese might file for bankruptcy to minimize payments in legal settlements with more than 500 alleged abuse victims. Nor did Lennon discuss a grand jury that is probing the scandal and reportedly has subpoenaed Law.

He concluded his comments by referring to a letter written by St. Paul to the Thessalonians, suggesting it had powerful relevance to an archdiocese that needs to examine its soul, preserve the integrity of the church and avoid future scandals.

“Test everything, retain what is good, and refrain from evil,” St. Paul wrote.

“God bless you,” said Maria Reyes, clutching her two young children and whispering fervently in Lennon’s ear: “I support the church now more than ever. I want to believe. Do what has to be done.”