Bernard Francis Law (born November 4 1931) is an American
CardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available...
of the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
. He is the
Archbishop emeritus of BostonThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the state of Massachusetts...
, member of the
Roman CuriaThe Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
,
archpriestAn archpriest is a priest who has supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches, although it may be used in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church instead of dean or vicar forane.-History:Much as the archdeacon was...
of the
Basilica di Santa Maria MaggioreThe Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major , is an ancient Roman Catholic Marian basilica of Rome. It is one of the four major or four papal basilicas, which, together with St. Lawrence outside the Walls, were formerly referred to as the five "patriarchal basilicas" of Rome , associated with the five...
, and
titularTitular means existing in title only. It can also refer to:*Titular character - title character of a fictional work*Titular ruler*Titular head...
Cardinal PriestA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available...
of
Santa SusannaThe Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280...
, the American Catholic church in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
.
He resigned as
archbishop of BostonThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the state of Massachusetts...
on December 13 2002, in response to the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
Early life
Law, an only child, was born in
Torreón, MexicoTorreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2009, the city's population was 1,000,723 with 1,000,477 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent...
on 4 November 1931. His father, a career
Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
officer, was stationed at the Torreón United States Air Force base, making Bernard a so-called "
military bratA "military brat" is a term for a person whose parent or parents have served full-time in the armed forces during the person's childhood...
". His mother, Helen, was a
convertReligious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the convert's previous beliefs. It involves a new religious identity, or a change from one religious identity to another. Conversion requires internalization of the new belief system...
to
Roman CatholicismThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
from
PresbyterianismPresbyterianism is the religion of a number of different Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, and organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity...
.
He attended schools in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
, and
BarranquillaBarranquilla, an industrial, portuary, and special district, is a city and municipality located in northern Colombia by the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region, and the fourth largest city in Colombia...
(
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
), and graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas,
Virgin IslandsThe Virgin Islands are an archipelago, part of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles, where the Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean....
.
He graduated from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
in
Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent...
with a major in medieval history, before entering priesthood studies at St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict,
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, from 1953 to 1955, and the
Pontifical College JosephinumThe Pontifical College Josephinum is a four-year liberal arts college and graduate school of theology founded by Monsignor Joseph Jessing in 1888 and located in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It is a seminary that prepares students to become priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The institution trains...
in
Worthington, OhioWorthington is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The population was 14,125 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1803 by the Scioto Company led by James Kilbourne, who was later elected to the United States House of Representatives. The city was named in honor of Thomas...
, from 1955 to 1961.
On May 21 1961 Law was ordained a priest and worked as a priest of
NatchezNatchez is the county seat of, and the largest and only incorporated city within, Adams County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,464. One of Mississippi's oldest cities, it was founded by French colonists in 1716, antedating the current...
-
Jackson, MississippiJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County , but the city also contains areas in Madison and Rankin Counties...
. He served two years as an assistant pastor of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Vicksburg, and was made the editor of the
Mississippi Register, the diocesan newspaper. He also held several other diocesan posts from 1963 to 1968, including director of the family life bureau and spiritual director of the minor seminary.
Civil rights activism
Law was a civil rights activist, and took part in some of the civil rights marches of the times. He was a member of the Mississippi Leadership Conference and Mississippi Human Relations Council. For his civil rights activities and his strong editorial positions on civil rights in the Mississippi Register, he received death threats .
Law received national attention for his work for ecumenism in the Deep South in the 1960s and in 1968 he was tapped for his first national post, as executive director of the
U.S. Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious AffairsThe U.S. Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs is the principal ecumenical and interfaith organization of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops....
.
Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau
Pope Paul VI named him
bishop of Springfield-Cape GirardeauThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Missouri. It was founded on July 2, 1956. The current bishop is the Most Reverend James Vann Johnston, Jr., appointed January 24, 2008, and installed March 31, 2008....
on October 22 1973 and he was ordained as a
bishopIn the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
on 5 December 1973. Law's predecessor in Springfield-Cape Girardeau was William Wakefield Baum, another future
cardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available...
.
In 1975, he made the news when he arranged for the resettlement in his diocese of one hundred and sixty-six Vietnamese refugees who had arrived in the United States, and who were members of the Vietnamese religious order, the
Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix.
In continuing his ecumenical work, Law formed the Missouri Christian Leadership Conference. He was made a member of the
Vatican's Secretariat for Promoting Christian UnityThe Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962-1965.Pope John XXIII wanted the Catholic Church to engage in the contemporary ecumenical movement...
and served from 1976 to 1981 as a consultor to its Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. In the late 1970s, Law would also chair the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
In 1981, Law was named the Vatican delegate to develop and oversee a program instituted by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithThe Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, and sometimes simply called the Holy Office is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. Among the most active of these major Curial...
in which U.S. Episcopal priests would be accepted into the Catholic priesthood. In the program's first year sixty-four Episcopal priests applied for acceptance. This brought married priests with their families into U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses for the first time (Eastern Catholic Churches, in keeping with their own traditions, have ordained married men to the priesthood for centuries).
In this period Law was also a
pro-lifeThe pro-life movement is a political and social movement focused chiefly around opposition to abortion, and especially support for the criminalization of abortion. Those involved in the movement generally maintain that human fetuses and embryos are persons, and that therefore they have a right to...
activist and spoke out against abortion. During the
1984 presidential raceThe United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
, when
Geraldine FerraroGeraldine Anne Ferraro is an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party.Ferraro grew up in New York and became a teacher and...
, who was a Roman Catholic, was the
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
vice presidentialThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
candidate, Law and then Archbishop of New York John Joseph O'Connor both denounced her support of
abortionAn abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced, in humans and other species...
rights for women. Law called abortion "the critical issue of the moment".
Archbishop of Boston
On January 11 1984, Cardinal Law was appointed Archbishop of Boston, by Pope John Paul II. He was installed as Archbishop on March 23 1984.
Only a little over a year later on May 25 1985, he was elevated in consistory as a member of the
College of CardinalsThe College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
, where he was also appointed the Cardinal-Priest of the
Titulus S. SusannaeThe Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280...
.
It was his speech at the 1985 Synod of Bishops marking the 20th anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council, that led to development of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church in which Law oversaw the first draft of the English translation.
In the mid-1980s, Law chaired the bishops' Committee on Pastoral Research and Practices at the time it distributed a major study report on
FreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in...
. The bishops' report concluded that "the principles and basic rituals of Masonry embody a naturalistic religion, active participation in which is incompatible with Christian faith and practice."
In 1989 and 1990 Law visited Cuba. He met with
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
in 1990 and in January 1998 he led a delegation of two hundred and forty Bostonians to Cuba during the papal visit there. In 2000 he was part of an inter-American delegation of bishops that met with Castro for more than four hours.
During his time as Archbishop he continued to be a constant advocate of the right to life of the unborn. However, in 1995, when
John SalviJohn C. Salvi III was an anti-abortion activist and a convicted murderer. He carried out two fatal attacks on two abortion clinics in Massachusetts, on December 30, 1994. These were the subject of intense media coverage. On March 19, 1996, he was found guilty of killing receptionists Lee Ann...
attacked two Boston abortion clinics, he urged a moratorium on clinic protests.
Sexual abuse scandal
Cardinal Law's reign as Archbishop of Boston began in popularity but quickly declined into turbulence towards the end of his term. Allegations and reports of sexual misconduct by priests of the Archdiocese of Boston became widespread causing Roman Catholics in other
dioceses of the United States to investigate similar situations there. Cardinal Law's actions and inactions prompted public scrutiny of all members of the
United States Conference of Catholic BishopsThe United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the official leadership body of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States...
and the steps they had taken in response to past and current allegations of sexual misconduct at the hands of priests. The events in the Archdiocese of Boston exploded into a national Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
Grassroots public advocacy groups like
Voice of the FaithfulVoice of the Faithful is an organization of liberal Catholics, formed in early 2002 in response to the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases.- Founding, growth and mission :VOTF began when a small group of parishioners met in the basement of St...
focused on Cardinal Law after documents revealed his extensive role in covering up incidents of sexual misconduct of his priests. For example, Cardinal Law moved
Paul ShanleyPaul Richard Shanley , is an American defrocked priest who was accused and convicted of raping a child. He served at St. Jean's Parish in Newton, Massachusetts and was a prominent figure in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal....
and
John GeoghanJohn J. Geoghan was a key figure in the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases that rocked the Boston Archdiocese in the 1990s and 2000s, and eventually led to the resignation of Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, on December 13, 2002.-Career Summary:Geoghan was a graduate of Cardinal...
from parish to parish within the diocese despite repeated allegations of molestation of children under the priests' care. Under questioning, the cardinal stated that, when a priest committed a sex crime, the cardinal said his practice was to seek the analysis of
psychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
s, clinicians and therapists in residential treatment centers before deciding whether a priest accused of sexually abusing a child should be returned to the pulpit.
As a result of the lawsuits, the Archdiocese of Boston lost millions of dollars in fines and settlements. It also funded the legal defense of accused priests. The archdiocese slipped into large financial deficits. The Archdiocese closed sixty-five parishes before Cardinal Law stepped down from service.
In response to the scandal, over fifty priests signed a letter declaring no confidence in Cardinal Law and asking him to resign - something that had never before happened in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in America.
Resignation
Law submitted his resignation to the
VaticanThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic...
and
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła served as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate; only Pope Pius IX served longer...
accepted his resignation on December 13, 2002.
In a statement and apology Cardinal Law said, "To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness". He remained cardinal, which is a separate appointment, and participated in the
2005 papal conclaveThe Papal conclave of 2005 was convened as a result of the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005. After his death, the cardinals who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to elect John Paul's successor. The conclave began on April 18, 2005 and ended on the...
.
Move to Rome
After his resignation, John Paul appointed Law to a post in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, putting him in charge of the
Basilica di Santa Maria MaggioreThe Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major , is an ancient Roman Catholic Marian basilica of Rome. It is one of the four major or four papal basilicas, which, together with St. Lawrence outside the Walls, were formerly referred to as the five "patriarchal basilicas" of Rome , associated with the five...
, with the title of
ArchpriestAn archpriest is a priest who has supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches, although it may be used in the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church instead of dean or vicar forane.-History:Much as the archdeacon was...
. He is also a member of the Congregations for
the Oriental ChurchesThe Congregation for the Oriental Churches is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for contact with the Eastern Catholic Churches for the sake of assisting their development, protecting their rights and also maintaining whole and entire in the one Catholic Church, alongside the...
,
the ClergyThe Sacred Congregation for the Clergy is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regarding priests and deacons not belonging to religious orders. The prefect is Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, and the secretary is Archbishop Mauro Piacenza...
,
Divine Worship and Discipline of the SacramentsThe Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is the congregation of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Catholic Church as distinct from the Eastern Catholic Churches and also some technical matters relating to the...
,
Evangelisation of PeoplesThe Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is perhaps better known by its former title, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith...
,
Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic LifeThe Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for everything which concerns institutes of consecrated life and Society of Apostolic...
,
Catholic EducationThe Congregation for Catholic Education is the Pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: seminaries and houses of formation of...
,
BishopsThe Congregation for Bishops is the congregation of the Roman Curia which oversees the selection of new bishops that are not in mission territories or those areas that come under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Oriental Chuches who deal with the Eastern Catholics, pending papal approval...
as well as the
Pontifical Council for the FamilyThe Pontifical Council for the Family is part of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was established by Pope John Paul II on May 9, 1981 with the Motu Proprio Familia a Deo Instituta and substituted for the Committee for the Family of Pope Paul VI, which had been established in 1973...
. He held membership of all these congregations and of the council before resigning from the governance of the Archdiocese of Boston, and at that time was also a member of the
Pontifical Council for CultureThe Pontifical Council for Culture is a Pontifical Council of the Roman Catholic Church with a mission to oversee the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. The Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers was merged with the Pontifical Council for Culture in 1993...
.
Episcopal Succession
See also
- Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
The term Catholic sex abuse cases refers to a series of scandals in various countries arising from allegations made in the first decade of the 21st century about abuse of minors under the age of 18 by certain Catholic parish priests. The allegations covered events alleged to have occurred over a...
- Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
- Crimen sollicitationis
Crimen sollicitationis was a letter sent in 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, to "all Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries, including those of Eastern Rite".In the document, the Holy Office laid down procedures to be...
- Pontifical Secret
The pontifical secret or pontifical secrecy or papal secrecy is the code of confidentiality that, in accordance with the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, applies in matters that requires greater than ordinary confidentiality:...
- Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
Deliver Us from Evil is a documentary film directed by Amy J. Berg which tells the true story of Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, who sexually abused around twenty five children between the late 1970s and early 1990s. The film won the Best Documentary Award at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival and...
- Sex Crimes and the Vatican (Panorama Documentary Episode)
- Barbara Blaine
Barbara Blaine, is the founder and President of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests , a national advocacy group for survivors of clerical sexual abuse....
founder of SNAP (Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests)
- Red Hot Catholic Love
"Red Hot Catholic Love" is the eight episode of the sixth season of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on July 3, 2002...
, South Park television episode
- List of the Catholic bishops of the United States#American bishops serving outside the United States
External links