This week in Christian history: Cardinal resigns, French theologian born, missionary sails for China
Cardinal Bernard Law resigns — December 13, 2002
This week marks the anniversary of when Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston due to revelations regarding clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Earlier that year, the Boston Globe published a report detailing the continual failure of the archdiocese to properly hold accountable priests found to be sexually abusive.
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“To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness,” wrote Law in his resignation announcement.
“It is my fervent prayer that this action may help the Archdiocese of Boston to experience the healing, reconciliation and unity which are so desperately needed.”
Although once notable for his civil rights activism in the South, Law became “the face of the Church's failure on child sexual abuse," the Jesuit publication America Magazine noted.
"Decades before, his decisions, like that of his predecessors, led to the reshuffling of 'problem' priests throughout Boston and other dioceses as criminal investigations were discouraged and the outrage of parents and the suffering of victims was suppressed,” reported the magazine in 2017.
