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Posted Monday, July 14, 2003 at 8:56 a.m. CST

NCR coverage of the Boston appointment

Following is the story that NCR Rome correspondent John L. Allen Jr. broke early morning June 30.
    Pope to name Palm Beach's O'Malley as new archbishop of Boston

Palm Beach's new bishop
NCR profiled Barbarito with a report filed July 2.    
    Brooklyn-born Barbarito brings humble style to Palm Beach

Reactions to the Appointment

These two stories appeared on the NCR Web site the afternoon of June 30.
    O'Malley appointment well received in Boston; 'new tone' expected
    In Palm Beach, mixed reactions; Diocese's fourth bishop in five years

The making of a world exclusive

NCR publisher Tom Fox explains how Allen broke the story Bishop O'Malley's appointment in the daily Web column.
    Today's Take by Tom Fox

On Palm Beach and Bishop O'Malley

In March, NCR profiled the Palm Beach diocese. Read those stories by following these links:
    Scandal’s fallout still settling in Palm Beach
    New bishop faces old problem

On Boston archdiocese

NCR did a retrospective of the Boston archdiocese on June 20. Read the story by following this link:
    Meltdown in Boston

A Weblog tracking reactions and responses to the appointment of Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley to the Boston archdiocese

Compiled by Tom Fox, NCR publisher, tfox@natcath.org

July 14 10:52 a.m.

NCR’s Latest Coverage
The following three pieces appear in the July 18 print edition of the National Catholic Reporter

 

 

 

 

 

July 14 8:56 a.m.

Vacancies occupy Catholic church
The church faces a potential record number retirement vacancies among U.S. bishops this year, so the hunt is on for extraordinary apostles. By the end of 2003, 37 diocesan bishops and auxiliaries will have passed age 75, the age at which they’re required to offer their resignation to the pope.

Why so few good men?
Philadelphia Inquirer
: The naming of Bishop Sean O’Malley to head the Boston archdiocese just months after he was sent to rebuild the church in Palm Beach, Fla., shows he is trusted by the Vatican but has raised questions about whether the Roman Catholic church has too small a pool of capable leaders.

New archbishop’s style may be seen in where he resides
Boston Globe
: O’Malley took one look at the bishop’s residence in Florida and decided it was too much for him. He gave the big house to a group of nuns and moved into the small house next to the cathedral. The rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in Boston’s South End, is inviting O’Malley to move there. Boston College, the Catholic institution across the street from the archdiocese, is offering to buy the Brighton house and surrounding acreage. And many Catholics have said they would like to see the archbishop live somewhere other than the traditional residence, if only for symbolic reasons.

July 12 7:43 a.m.

Emissary pushes ahead
Boston Herald: Archbishop-designate Sean P. O’Malley’s new emissary to hundreds of sexual-abuse plaintiffs hosted some 30 attorneys yesterday to push ahead prospects for a global settlement in the church molestation scandal. But several attorneys said the talks were “general” and did not address how much money the Boston archdiocese would offer its more than 500 accusers, or what system would be used to apportion the payouts.

Barbarito to take command Aug. 28
Palm Beach Post
: Simplicity is in order. “Bishop Barbarito asked us to keep [his installation] very simple, so it will be simple,” said Fr. Charles Notabartolo, vicar general of the diocese. He said the bishops of Florida’s seven dioceses would be invited, as they were for the installation of Bishop Sean P. O’Malley last October.

Hope builds in Boston
Boston Herald:
Jim Post, president of Voice of the Faithful: “He understands that many survivors desperately want to hear an apology, a recognition of their pain and their lost innocence. He has shown sensitivity to these needs, and I very much hope he will do so in Boston, which has been the epicenter of this crisis for more than 18 months.”

Lasting church change emerging from sex abuse this crisis.
Tallahassee Democrat
: Scholar maintains an educated, informed and proactive laity is expecting a real seat at the table. “Groups such as Voice of the Faithful are composed of solid, loyal, mainstream and active Catholics. They are as vital a part of the ‘People of God’ as the hierarchy, a reality that is as true practically (they, finally, pay the bills) as it is theologically. To not listen to them and to not share power with them will mean further trouble ahead.”

July 10 at 9:05 a.m.

Another job for O'Malley
Boston Globe
: The Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood has emerged as one of the most crime-scarred in the city. "Since O'Malley's appointment, much attention has been focused on the hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse still waiting for justice from their church. But the residents of Bowdoin Street are victims just as surely, not of abuse but of neglect by the institutions that should embrace them."

Friar's garb signals change, but is it enough?
Boston Globe
: The Vatican is learning the value of good public relations from the past year of turmoil in the American Catholic Church. Its rolling out of a new archbishop of Boston shows a deft political touch lacking in its previous response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and other church-related matters. Now the hard part begins: Will a critical mass of local Catholics follow Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley and his sandals back to Sunday Mass? And once back, will they put their money behind their church?

July 9 at 8:43 a.m.

Major settlement of Boston sex abuse cases looking up
Boston Globe:
Lawyers for alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse and those for the Boston archdiocese, including the church's new lawyer, said they were optimistic yesterday that more than 500 lawsuits filed against the church could be settled after meeting privately with the judge presiding over the cases.

Boston Church Lawyers Take Key Legal Step
Associated Press: Attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr. said he has reached an agreement with church attorneys that would bar attempts to take testimony from the therapist of one of his clients, Gregory Ford. MacLeish said he expected the church would stop seeking depositions of therapists in all the cases pending against it.

Boston Church Leader Hires Lawyer Known for Settlements
The New York Times: Bishop Sean P. O'Malley has hired a lawyer known for swiftly settling sexual abuse cases to advise him on the nearly 500 legal claims pending against the archdiocese. The move buoyed plaintiffs' lawyers, who have been working to resolve the cases for more than a year.

The climate has changed
Associated Press: A lawyer representing alleged victims of sex abuse by priests in Boston says, "the climate has changed." Roderick MacLeish says he's encouraged that the man selected to run the archdiocese has taken some new steps to settle abuse cases. MacLeish says he's especially pleased that Bishop Sean O'Malley has hired as his personal attorney a lawyer who worked with him before on abuse cases.

Enter the new attorney
A new attorney made his entrance Tuesday into the legal standoff between the church and alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse who are suing the archdiocese. Tom Hannigan, who has been hired by incoming Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, said he was collecting information so that O'Malley could ''make the important decisions that await him.''

July 8 at 9:53 a.m.

Church settlement progress said to be made
WCVB-TV
: Attorneys bringing hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits against the Boston archdiocese said Monday that there had been encouraging developments in their efforts to reach a settlement with the church but would not discuss specifics.

Attorneys pleased with new Boston bishop
Associated Press: Lawyers for alleged victims of pedophile priests said they were encouraged by new steps taken by the archbishop-elect, particularly his selection of a personal attorney. "The climate has changed," said attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., whose firm has 260 cases pending against the Boston archdiocese. "The mood has changed. There's going to be some fresh perspectives."

Not waiting to get started
Boston Globe: A Boston lawyer who has specialized in helping Catholic leaders reach speedy and amicable agreements with victims of clergy sexual abuse has been hired by the incoming leader of the Boston archdiocese, Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, to help speed the settlement of more than 500 pending lawsuits.

Just call me Bishop Sean
Arizona Daily Star: The way he approached victims in those dioceses says something about O'Malley, said Roderick MacLeish, a lead lawyer for hundreds of people suing the Boston archdiocese. MacLeish recalled a night about a decade ago when -- against his advice -- 13 angry victims of Porter piled into a van and went to O'Malley's residence in Fall River, demanding to see him. "Bishop Sean," as MacLeish's clients called him, got out of bed, met with them and resolved the problems they were complaining about, MacLeish said.

Prophets among us
National Catholic Reporter
: September 2002, NCR reader Lee Kaspari writes: "It is interesting that Capuchin Bishop Sean P. O'Malley of Fall River, Mass., has been sent to Palm Beach, Fla. (NCR, Sept. 13). It appears that Bishop O'Malley is better suited to staying close to home to heal the pedophilia problem in Boston, which has been tremendously compounded by the episcopal cover-up by Cardinal Bernard Law.”

As O'Malley installation grows closer wider episcopal questions beg answers
San Francisco Chronicle:
"The stakes are high. Without a clear and dramatic cleansing from positions of trust of the worst offending bishops, the very leaders who allowed this evil will remain. It is time that the bishops look to themselves and their own and hold accountable those among them who have so failed the church."

Priest: Time to reform the priesthood
San Francisco Chronicle
: "I sense the hierarchy will take no responsibility for the wayward conduct of a priest of yesteryear, yet it is the bishop who keeps the seminary of today in the same unhealthy straitjacket of pious denial and ignorance. … I appeal to the people to understand this clerical dilemma; there needs to be change and healthy change will come when the people speak out loudly. Demand change by withholding your money; give the bishop your conditioned IOU."

July 7 at 8:25 a.m.

Reports this morning address the weariness of Catholics to the sexual abuse crisis in their church. Battered, they are particularly eager for a new era with new leadership. In comes “Santa Claus in a Franciscan garb” and a mood of hope is struck. But will the wider body of bishops embrace wider reforms?  

American hierarchy’s commitment to reform is still doubted by the faithful
International Herald Tribune
: Enter a “holy man” in the raiment of an outsider. “Would that there were many more in sight to reassure worshipers about the virtue of their priests.” 

At the top of the Palm Beach diocese, bishops come and go.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: When Gerald M. Barbarito is installed as prelate this fall, he will be the fifth bishop to lead the 225,000 Roman Catholics in the diocese since it was created 19 years ago.

Worshipers express hope about the naming of a new leader
Boston Globe: Parishioners see beginning of a new day for the church in Boston.

July 6 at 9:42 a.m.

Pope has increasingly turned to religious-order priests to serve as leaders.
Boston Globe
: "Religious order priests haven't been immune to scandal, and some orders have been accused of failing to take abuse allegations seriously. But some scholars suggested the Franciscans' tradition of humility might be particularly attractive now in Boston, where the church's credibility is low and leadership has been seen by many as secretive and self-protective."

O'Malley offers an obvious change
Standard-Times:
"If it is true that the healer for Boston needs to be someone utterly unlike Cardinal Bernard Law, who ultimately resigned his post without settling the hundreds of sexual abuse claims against the archdiocese, one would have difficulty finding a clearer choice than Bishop O'Malley. "

Not easy but possible
Boston Herald: Archbishop-designate Sean P. O'Malley faces a monumental challenge in restoring the Catholic church in Boston to spiritual and financial health but can succeed if he listens generously and trusts experts and lay people from across the theological spectrum.

O'Malley: Seen not a Vatican insider, but as a peoples' bishop
New York Times via Orlando Sentinel:
It is rare for a bishop to be from a religious order; among the nation's 195 dioceses, only 21 are run by bishops belonging to orders. Only one other bishop, in Denver, is from the Capuchin order to which O'Malley belongs.

July 5 at 8:56 a.m.

San Bernardino diocese withdraws complaint filed against the Archdiocese of Boston Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Rippling effect of positive spirit spreads coast to coast, signaling new inter-diocesan cooperation. Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes: "It is important to me to live and be an example of the gospel. That means sitting down with Bishop O'Malley to resolve this matter directly."

Lawyers restart church lawsuits
Boston Globe
: Court deadlines cited as preparations resume. Lawyers representing about 400 people suing the church say they cannot in good conscience delay their trial preparations any longer. They had voluntarily put litigation on hold for four months while waiting for a settlement offer from the archdiocese. 

Goodwill continued seen in local Boston press reactions
Boston Herald
: "Trust and healing are at the center of what the Archdiocese of Boston needs now, and Bishop O'Malley seems the right kind of leader at the right time."

John Allen reflects on O'Malley choice
Word from Rome
: Three reasons why he was the Vatican choice: First, he is a fix-it man on the sex abuse issue. … Second, O’Malley is a known quantity in Boston because of his decade in Fall River. … Third, O’Malley is the kind of man who inspires trust as a pastor and as a spiritual leader, and at bottom the crisis in Boston is spiritual.

July 4 at 9:32 a.m.
He fairly radiated compassion, contrition and humility. This is how the editors at the Berkshire Eagle in Pittsburgh, Mass. summed up the bishop set to take over Boston. "One half expected a crowd of birds and small animals to gather around him," after he showed up in his Franciscan garb asking for forgiveness. Francis, of course, was a reformer, a Call to Action kind of religious figure. "He restored a focus on spirituality and ministry to the poor to a church that had grown wealthy, powerful and corrupt." Are the editors here suggesting something?

Would that there were many more in sight to reassure worshipers about the virtue of their priests. The New York Times this morning is also marveling at what appears to be a seeming humble and contrite bishop. Inevitably some of his warts will surface, no doubt, because he his human like the rest of us.  But for the moment the entire church seems fixated at the possibility that seemingly a Christian leader has been appointed to a key Catholic leadership position. Write the editors: "Would that there were many more in sight to reassure worshipers about the virtue of their priests."

Would that the bishops have listened…

Then the Times goes on to say: "There are other bishops similarly dedicated, but their task has been weighted by the American hierarchy's arrogant history of trying to bury the scandal and rebuff the voice of the laity. As early as 1985, the National Catholic Reporter warned that a 'broader scandal' was brewing in the bishops' protection of abusers. That scandal arrived, and it will remain until the Vatican and the hierarchy turn even more to the church's strength in forthright people like Bishop O'Malley."

July 3 at 9:15 a.m.
Report: Bishop Sean O'Malley will be installed archbishop of Boston on July 30.

Report: Low-key installation is O'Malley wish.

Reactions to the O'Malley appointment continue to fill Catholic press coverage. New York Times news analysis by religion writer Laurie Goodstein captures Boston euphoria -- "He looks like Santa Claus dressed up as St. Francis." Also cites intractable challenges. "There are organized lobbies of priests and laypeople pressing for changes in the hierarchical, top-down management style. And there is also a larger and more mobilized group of sexual abuse victims than he has ever contended with before."

Appointment highlights leadership crisis in US episcopal ranks.

Rap: Pope gets high marks for missionary zeal, but pontificate has produced few strong bishops. Some say issues too large for troubled church. Others that fixation on orthodoxy produces institutional bishops unable to dare the risks required by true leaders.

Richard N. Ostling of the Associated Press writes: "The appointment of Bishop Sean O'Malley to head the Boston archdiocese just months after he was sent to rebuild the church in Palm Beach, Fla., shows he is trusted by the Vatican but has raised questions about whether the Roman Catholic church has too small a pool of capable leaders." He writes: "Liberals see a conservative pope who has picked bishops for their loyalty over leadership skills. Conservatives see a church with problems so large that relatively few people can handle them."

Musical thrones: Palm Beach to Boston; New York to Palm Beach.

Overshadowed by the Boston appointment is another: Ogdensburg, NY Bishop Gerald Barbarito will fill the Palm Beach vacancy. At a press conference called to announce his appointment, Barbarito said, "I am as surprised to be here as you are this morning." NCR profiled Barbarito with a report filed July 2.

Palm Beach editorial: Stuart News welcomes new bishop  "Hopefully Barbarito will have a longer stay."

Report: Left hanging interim Boston cleric, Bishop Richard Lennon.

Lest we not forget. This report, via Abuse Tracker, staffed by Kathy Shaw, religion writer for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, on Poynter Institute Web site:

Boston Globe Thomas Farragher: O'Malley sits eye to eye with men and women whose lives have been shattered by clergy sex abuse.

Wednesday July 2, 1:08 p.m.
NCR’s Joe Feuerherd:
The tension had been so thick for so long in Boston, people so dispirited, that the July 1 announcement that a seemingly humble Franciscan would take over as archbishop – and certainly, at some point, as cardinal – brought enormous relief and, for the moment, significant good will. That was clear in early reactions to the announcement.

While close church watchers knew of O’Malley’s work in Palm Beach, the wider church did not. Until yesterday, he was a relative unknown. To see him arriving for his first press conference in his Capuchin Franciscan garb sent out a signal of new things to come, a more humble church. Nothing is more needed. Boston Globe: Historians pointed out that unlike most of his other B-town predecessors, O’Malley did not make his clerical reputation in Rome. Nevertheless he is a theological conservative church observers insisted. So was Oscar Romero.

The Boston Globe's Pulitzer prize winning staff was among those stressing O'Malley's humility, saying it was a refreshing contrast to former see leader, Cardinal Law. After years of repeatedly hearing the canned and hollow term, “compassionate conservative,” have we finally encountered the genuine thing?

We are going to learn a lot about O'Malley in a short period, including all kinds of details of his life style. That’s the nature of 24/7 news and being under the bright media lights of the East Coast. Boston Globe: O'Malley, at 59, for example, wears sandals year around. The term “a breath of fresh air" was appearing in a number of reports.

However, with the bright lights comes new scrutiny. The Boston Globe's investigative team, hot on the abuse trail, pointed out that when O'Malley was bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts from 1992 to 2002, he allowed one of his priests to continue as a missionary in Bolivia after a woman charged the priest had sexually molested her.

Report: and so what does Cardinal Law think about his successor?  Statement of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, archbishop emeritus of Boston: Routine stuff. Maybe more will come later.

Newsday report: At his July 1 news conference O'Malley did what has been so difficult for so many other bishops to do over the years. You wonder why. He apologized to clergy sex abuse victims and pledged to ensure the safety of children within the church. Sad that it is an essential requirement. Then he met privately with some victims, including one camped out on the street in front of the chancery. O’Malley: “I have said it many times, and I'm going to say it again to the victims today, that as much as I can represent the church as bishop, I do ask for forgiveness for these horrendous sins and crimes that have been committed."

Boston Register-Herald: For the record, last fall, the Boston church settled with 86 alleged victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan. But hundreds of other claims are still pending. An offer to resolve about 400 claims appeared imminent in recent weeks but later church officials announced they could not reach an agreement with insurers.

Radio commentary: clergy sex abuse victim cautions: Today’s church crisis is far larger than any single bishop can manage or rectify. “If nothing else, the evidence revealed over the past 18 months highlights one undeniable truth: The protection of the vulnerable cannot be left to the good will of individuals. Only when every Catholic – every mother, father, aunt, uncle, sister brother and friend – assumes personal responsibility for holding bishops and priests accountable for the horrible failures will healing begin.”

Journal News: Capuchins celebrate Boston appointment. Rightly proud. “When Bishop Sean O'Malley was having breakfast this past weekend with his fellow Capuchin friars at an austere friary in Manhattan, he gave no indication that he was about to take over the scandal-ridden Boston archdiocese. He simply sliced a banana on his cereal, like he usually does when he stays at St. John Baptist Church and Friary, across the street from Madison Square Garden.”

Tuesday July 1, 11:08 p.m.
A known quantity

Boston Herald columnist Tom Mashberg made the point that O’Malley, who was bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts for ten years, from 1992 to 2002, “is a known quantity.” Fall River has many Spanish-speaking Catholics. Languages? Mashberg writes that the new bishop is fluent in Spanish as well as Portuguese, French, Italian and German.

Looks like a honeymoon and grand sendoff. The Palm Beach Post expressed sadness and surprise at the appointment. “Only nine months ago, Sean Patrick O'Malley seemed the perfect choice for a scandal-rocked Diocese of Palm Beach, which had lost two bishops in a row to sexual abuse charges,” Staff Writer Lona O'Connor wrote. “But what made him right for Palm Beach and Fall River makes him even more right for Boston, shaken to its core by scores of accusations that priests sexually abused young people.”

Another Post article painted the departing bishop as a healer. “This shows the appointment isn't just an afterthought," said Louise Dittrich, co-founder of Voice of the Faithful, a lay Catholic group dedicated to urging the church hierarchy to remove abusers and help victims. “It was made not just to bring orthodoxy but to bring a pastoral presence. It's a signal to the rest of the country."

Yet another Post article lamented that O’Malley’s short nine-month tenure in Palm Beach was just beginning to bear fruits and that he was just beginning to revamp the diocese.  Even as Palm Beach residents woke up to the news that their bishops was likely to leave there was an uncertainty about the situation. Palm Beach editors and, in turn, newspaper readers were still relying on NCR’s John Allen for their information. The paper reported the appointment through NCR, writing: “The National Catholic Reporter said Vatican sources named O'Malley as the replacement for Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned under fierce pressure last December. John Allen Jr., the paper's Rome correspondent, said in the story and in a TV interview the appointment would be announced today or Wednesday.”  It was all happening very fast.

Tuesday July 1, 3:50 p.m.
NCR O’Malley scoop highlights John Allen’s work in Rome  
John Allen has been NCR’s Vatican Correspondent since July 2000 and seems to grow in stature with each passing month. While no one predicted John would break the O’Malley appointment story, it came as little surprise that he did. He learned of the appointment June 30 only 24 hours after O’Malley was tapped for the post.  After getting the information, Allen called NCR editor Tom Roberts for direction. Should he file to the NCR website? Should he go on CNN with his exclusive? The two journalists discussed the question of how to break the story before they agreed to go to CNN.  But with a caveat that CNN would refer to the news as a “National Catholic Reporter exclusive.”

By six in the morning East Coast time the Associated Press began reporting the CNN story, citing Allen’s report -- but still hedging. AP stated incorrectly that Allen reported O’Malley was the “likely” candidate for Boston. Fact is Allen reported O’Malley was the pope’s choice. No hedging.  Other papers went with the AP report most of the day.

The Boston Globe among East Coast papers to cite NCR as source of story
“Pope John Paul II is expected this morning to name Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley of Palm Beach, Fla., as the new archbishop of Boston, according to two people close to O'Malley," the Globe reported July 1. It warned “the pope could change his mind” before stating the appointment “was first reported yesterday by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent Catholic weekly." 

The appointment was announced at the Vatican mid morning Rome time. The newly appointed bishop appeared at a Boston archdiocese press conference six hours later, saying he wished to be a reconciling bishop, adding he was still overwhelmed by the appointment. I’m “still kind of shell-shocked by the news, which I got about 48 hours ago,” he was quoted as saying in The New York Times.

The appointment sparked a flood of news articles. “O'Malley will face a wide array of constituencies and what may be the most serious scandal ever to hit the church in the United States.  First on his agenda, there are 500 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse to console and a half-dozen high-profile plaintiffs' lawyers to negotiate with," the Boston Herald wrote.

Some clergy abuse critics were quick to offer warnings. “He has a humble, soft-spoken appearance but is not to be trusted," said Frank Fitzpatrick of Cranston, R.I., a victim of the Rev. James R. Porter and organizer of Porter accusers who runs Survivor Connections. “He's a PR man who puts out fires for the church by calming the population and the survivors with money and words,” Cranston was quoted as saying in another Boston Herald article. 

A time for boldness
Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory gave the appointment a general thumbs up, but with qualifications.  He wrote: “This is not a time for the timid. The people of Boston, Catholic and otherwise, need the next archbishop to arrive in this city like a cleansing summer storm. It's a time to be radical, not incremental, a time to be swift, not slow, a time for inclusion rather than the exclusion that has characterized too much of the recent past.” McGrory went on: “If it's Bishop Sean O'Malley who is appointed to the Boston post this morning, terrific. It would be the most sensible move the Vatican has made since this paper exposed the breadth of the church sex scandal last year. But even O'Malley must understand that every day of inaction is another day of squandered good will, and the Catholic Church can't afford to shed even one more precious drop.”

Visit NCRonline.org for continuous coverage of this story.

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