Law Will Not Seek Reelection as Chairman of Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Cardinal Bernard Law, who as archbishop of Boston has been criticized for moving priests accused of abusing children from parish to parish, will not seek reelection as board chairman when his term ends in June.

University President Rev. David M. O’Connell said in an interview that Law decided not to seek reelection because “he has been chair for many, many years and he wants to give someone else a chance.” Also, “he feels that the current situation and his role in the crisis reported in Boston may reflect negatively on CUA should he stay on the board as its chair.”

O’Connell said he presumes Law will remain on the board of trustees, but that he “cannot say for sure” because Law did not speak about that when he told the board of his decision.

Law, who has been board chairman for 12 years, has “done a tremendous job as the chairman of our board of trustees,” said O’Connell.

The problems came to light following The Boston Globe’s report last January that Law and some of his predecessors repeatedly transferred the defrocked John Geoghan from parish to parish despite knowing he had sexually molested boys.

About 300 victims have filed suit or are contemplating action against the Boston archdiocese and more than 20 priests, The New York Times reported.

After the allegations in Boston, allegations were made in dioceses throughout the nation, prompting the nation’s Catholic bishops to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy in June at their annual meeting. The policy requires the permanent removal from ministry of any priest who has committed just a single act of child sexual abuse.

O’Connell called the scandal “baggage” that Law brings to the position but that does not “directly affect the performance of his job as chairman of the board.”

He continued, “I think the unfortunate thing in all of this is that no matter what Cardinal Law does from here until the day he ceases to be Archbishop of Boston, perhaps until the day he dies, whatever works he has accomplished in any of the positions, in any of the activities that he has engaged, that will always be viewed under the cloud of this scandal.”

Law was installed as archbishop of Boston in1984 and elevated to cardinal in 1985. He joined the Board of Trustees in 1985 and became its chairman in 1990.

The Board of Trustees is the governing body of the University and consists of 50 members including the president, the chancellor and 48 other members.

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