BishopAccountability.org
	In Clergy Sex Abuse Epicenter, Ratzinger Seen As Block to Reform By Steve LeBlanc Associated Press, carried in Telegram & Gazette [Massachusetts] April 20, 2005 BOSTON— Massachusetts Catholics, still dealing with the clergy abuse crisis that shook the Archdiocese of Boston, are regarding the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the next pope with cautious optimism - hopeful he understands the hurt caused by sexual abuse of children by priests, but worried that his conservative stance will alienate reform-minded Catholics. James Post, president of the lay reform group Voice of the Faithful, said he hopes Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, understands the dimensions of the crisis. "He understood quite clearly that the moral credibility of the church was compromised by having perpetrators of abuse in the church and the cover-up that the bishops were involved in so I think there is at least the hope that he will take some action in these areas," Post said. The Rev. David Convertino, a priest at St. Anthony's Shrine in downtown Boston, said Ratzinger must continuously address the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse crisis. "How a pope does that I'm not quite sure - how he intervenes at a local level like this without interfering, while at the same time supporting the victims of the abuse in the whole diocese," Convertino said. "I'm sure he'll be supportive." More than 550 people filed abuse claims in Boston in recent years, and the archdiocese has paid more than $85 million in settlements. An investigation by the state attorney general concluded that more than 1,000 parishioners, most of them children, were abused by dozens of priests since the 1940s. Marty Bono, one of 46 clergy sex abuse victims who reached a $7.7 million settlement with the Springfield Diocese, said he was disappointed with the choice of Ratzinger. "We need changes in the Catholic church and this guy is a Neanderthal," Bono, 50, of Chicopee, said. "I honestly thought they'd grab somebody who would get away from the conservative, European thinking about what's going on in the world. I was hoping they'd bring in a young guy with an open mind. This guy has some baggage." Others said they are postponing any hopes for an easing of the church's conservative moral codes concerning women, birth control, abortion and the role of gay people in the church. "I think we need to make a few changes in the church," said Cora Montrond, a Boston City Council employee who visited St. Anthony's Shrine on Tuesday. "As a woman, I would like to see my rights represented also, and I think the church is a little slow in meeting those expectations." Brian Murphy-Clinton, a graduate student at Boston College, echoed those concerns. "There are a lot of people who would like to see women in more powerful positions in the church and have gays recognized as part of the community," he said. "Clearly I don't see any indication that will happen under the new pope." Another Boston Catholics praised the new pope. "I believe he's rather conservative, and I think he'll be wonderful," Sandy Brewer said after she left an afternoon Mass at St. Anthony's Shrine in downtown Boston. Ratzinger, 78, was a close confidant of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2. He has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms, and sees obedience to church doctrine as crucial. "He tends to regard the abuse crisis as a result of the decadence of American society seeping into the seminaries and into the clergy, with the understanding that the American press exaggerates it because it's interested in sensationalism and titillation," said Stephen Pope, chairman of the theology department at Jesuit-run Boston College. Springfield Bishop Timothy McDonnell said in a statement that Ratzinger's selection has given the church "the gift of continuity, the gift of grace and the gift of ongoing pastoral ministry."