SNAP members seek Cardinal Law's removal from Vatican congregations

Published: 2008-01-10

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Members of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests are calling for Cardinal Bernard F. Law's retirement and subsequent removal from eight Vatican congregations before the pope's visit to the United States in April. Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, along with three other SNAP members, personally delivered a letter to the Vatican Embassy in Washington Jan. 9 stating their desire that Cardinal Law, former archbishop of Boston, officially retire. The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI in care of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States. Cardinal Law, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome since 2004, will turn 77 in November. A former bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., he was archbishop of Boston from 1984 until he resigned in December 2002 in the wake of controversy over his handling of cases of sexual abuse committed by Boston priests. The letter to Pope Benedict was signed by Blaine and five SNAP directors. It also included a signature of support from Mary Pat Fox, president of Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic lay organization formed in response to the clergy abuse crisis. The letter was accepted by an embassy secretary. A woman at the embassy told Catholic News Service Jan. 9 that embassy officials would not comment on the letter.

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