UNITED STATES
Crux

By The Rev. Kenneth Doyle
Catholic News Service
December 14, 2015

Q. I am an Irish Catholic/Catholic-school kid, now 68 years old, and this is what I want to know: Given the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, how can my Church allow Bernard Law to remain a priest — no longer in Boston, but at the Vatican, no less? Given his performance in Boston, letting him continue as a priest in good standing is awful. My non-church-going Catholic friends comment on the Church’s hypocrisy because of issues like this one. I agree with them, although I intend to remain a practicing Catholic. (Loudonville, New York)

A. In early 2002, the grave scandal of sexual abuse of children by clergy was uncovered, largely through a series of articles in The Boston Globe. Later that same year, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of…