Rushing to Law's Defense

Even Diogenes spares Law no pity on bringing Paul McInerny to enjoy with him the splendors of Eternal Rome:

[H]is departure for Rome means one less man to say Mass, hear confessions, do marriage prep -- in short, to help a sinking parish stay afloat.

Of course, some might argue that Monsignor's Roman studies will offset the loss by giving the Church a better-educated pastoral minister down the line.

"Cardinal Law is the best thing that's ever happened to the church in Boston in terms of leadership,' McInerny told one reporter in the heat of the scandal in 2002.

A quick learner? You make the call.

We're in rare agreement here. But, not to be outdone, one of Papa Lawler's faithful viciously disagrees....

I have spoken up in support of the embattled Cardinal Law many times before here. I do so again. I am a Boston native. Fr. McInerny had it right "in the heat of the scandal in 2002," & his assessment, in my eyes, remains true & accurate today. The implication that Cardinal Law should discharge without assistance the duties of a rector of one of the greatest basilicas in the Catholic world is worse than mean-spirited. It approaches savagery. JP II & Ben XVI admired & admire Law. Rightly so.

I'll let the comboxes deconstruct this statement. They can do a much better job than I....

As losing Macca does deprive Boston of a priest, here's my compromise: O'Malley recalls him home to do what he was ordained to do and, so that Cardinal Law is not left without able assistance, we kill two birds with one stone and send Laura DeFilippo to S. Mary Major.

Don't worry -- ever the paragon of fidelity, Bernie's no Clark.

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