The Best Laid Plans...

The recent spate of O'Malleyization in Boston has hit a stumbling block.

Last night marked the first night of a previously-planned Ascension-to-Pentecost novena of liturgies at which Cardinal Sean O'Malley and the clergy of the archdiocese would express remorse over the abuse revelations there. At Holy Cross Cathedral, O'Malley and the clergy in attendance prostrated themselves as a litany of repentance was sung, and the cardinal renounced his cathedra for the front pew as a victim-survivor took the pulpit.

It would've been top news, and further impetus for good will for the beleagured local church and its embattled head. However, this week's revelations of sexual harassment by the head of the archdiocesan health system and his subsequent ouster have overtaken the pages.

This morning's Boston Globe characterizes the prevailing mood:

The contretemps over O'Malley's initial decision to reprimand but not fire the president of the Caritas Christi Health Care System after multiple allegations of sexual harassment is the latest in a series of controversies that have severely damaged O'Malley's reputation as a healer and fixer of troubled dioceses, and now some prominent Catholics are wondering whether the Franciscan Capuchin friar has the administrative skills and decisive temperament to oversee the complex and troubled Archdiocese of Boston.

Just when we thought he was out, they pulled him back in....


PHOTO: George Martell/Archdiocese of Boston

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