Actor challenged by role of Cardinal Law in Chicago play 'Sin'

Published: 2004-04-07

CHICAGO (CNS) -- When the lights come up at the beginning of "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," James Sherman is dressed in vestments as Cardinal Bernard F. Law, former archbishop of Boston, kneeling in prayer. Through the rest of play, at the Bailiwick Repertory in Chicago, he remains the central focus as he answers questions in depositions about the cases of former priest John Geoghan and Father Paul R. Shanley, two of the Boston Archdiocese's most notorious accused child molesters. Geoghan was murdered in August 2003 in prison while serving a 10-year sentence for fondling a child. Father Shanley is currently awaiting trial on criminal charges of raping four male minors. The play ends with Cardinal Law's December 2002 resignation as Boston's archbishop. Playwright Michael Murphy distilled the docudrama from more than 11,000 pages of testimony from Cardinal Law's depositions in 2002 and 2003, along with statements from victims and others.

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