Cardinal Law wins support from former Boston mayor

BOSTON (CNN) -- Cardinal Bernard Law won a rare show of public support when Ray Flynn, a former Boston mayor and ex-ambassador to the Vatican, said the beleaguered Roman Catholic leader should stay on the job despite criticism over his handling of cases involving sexually abusive priests in the Archdiocese of Boston.

"I believe it is in the best interest of the Catholic Church for Cardinal Law to stay, implement a no-tolerance policy, so, what happened here with these pedophile priests, will never ever ever happen again," Flynn said Thursday night.

Law, he said, can be "a strong voice in bringing about the changes that are so central to the church at this time."

But Flynn is one of the rare voices to publicly endorse Law's continued tenure.

Since Monday, when hundreds of internal church documents were released detailing the archdiocese's knowledge of abuse allegations against one priest, Law has been under fire by many parishioners and local leaders who say he moved that clergyman, Paul Shanley, from parish to parish, instead of keeping him away from youngsters.

The case of Shanley, now a retired priest, is one of the latest to rock the archdiocese. On Thursday, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed against the archdiocese by the parents of a teenager killed in a 1981 car accident in New England.

Harold and Sheila Francis said the death of their son, James, could have been prevented had church officials removed a priest long accused of molestation. That priest, Ronald Paquin, was driving the car the night of the accident and allegedly molested James and other youths while on a trip with them.

Paquin refused to comment on the lawsuit.

In February, defrocked priest John Geoghan was sent to prison after he was convicted of indecent assault and battery against a 10-year-old boy in 1991. And the archdiocese has revealed that it has quietly settled dozens of cases involving other priests accused of molestation.

"It's really incumbent upon him to step aside and allow this church to breathe easier and to kind of reclaim itself," Thomas O'Neill III, a former Massachusetts lieutenant governor, said Thursday.

The archdiocese's own Catholic Charities reported that it is suffering from the scandal with donations down about 10 percent during the Easter appeal.

Joseph Doolie, president of Catholic Charities in Boston, said some potential donors wrote back, "saying they will not give to Catholic Charities until there is a change of leadership in the church."

Many prominent Catholics say the scandal points to a need for significant reform within the church.

"We have about 47,000 priests in this country and most of them are damn good men, but some of them are rotten," said William Donahue, president of the Catholic League in New York. The organization is a civil rights group for Catholics.

"I've said all along, we don't need blue-ribbon committees, we don't need psychologists, we don't need lawyers," he said. "We need two things, common sense and courage."

Law, 70, is the senior figure among American Catholic archbishops, having served as spiritual leader of Boston's large and influential Catholic community since 1984. He oversees 362 parishes serving 2.1 million members.

Law, who was made a cardinal by Pope John II in 1985, is one of just 13 Americans holding that office.

In January, revelations that Law had moved Geoghan from parish to parish prompted abuse victims to come forward not just in Boston but around the country.

Ignoring calls to resign back in January, Law issued an apology to the victims, expressing his "heartfelt sorrow." Church officials in Boston also turned over information about priests accused of abuse to local prosecutors and established a blue-ribbon panel to study the issue.

In his Easter homily, the cardinal lamented "the effects of the sickness and infidelity of some clergy" on the church and said Catholics "carry in our hearts those who bear the wounds of betrayal through abuse inflicted by others, especially by clergy."