beat me

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 27, 2004

The Vatican just named a new Archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major: Bernard Cardinal Law.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents more than 130 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, said the Vatican was sending a bad message by giving Law a high profile new job.

"He apparently is being transferred to a position that is comfortable and appears to be some sort of reward," Garabedian said. "The Vatican either doesn't understand the problem of clergy sex abuse, or it doesn't care. That shows by this new prestigious post given to Cardinal Law."

Well, it' s not a prestigious post. In ecclesiastical terms, it's the equivalent of running one of those electric pool-skimmers 40 hours a week. But variations on Garabedian's theme will be squealing on every talk show and editorial page for a week. And the worst part of it is that Garabedian's charge ("doesn't understand or doesn't care") is unanswerable. It'll be a snowy day in August, it seems, before the penny drops across the river.