-255x271.jpg "George Martell photo")
A decade ago, the Boston clergy sexual abuse crisis engulfed the archdiocese, ultimately drawing global attention to a once-hidden scourge that has destroyed the innocence of minors, shattered families, severely damaged the credibility of Church leaders everywhere and led to an estimated $1.5 billion in settlements to American survivors.
Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley was named archbishop of Boston in 2003. He replaced Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned after the 2002 publication of archdiocesan personnel files revealed that clergy with credible allegations of child sexual abuse were reassigned to new parishes, rather than removed from ministry, and that parishioners were not warned about their history.
In a two-part interview with Register senior editor Joan Frawley Desmond, Cardinal O’Malley discusses a range of topics, from the path to healing and spiritual reconciliation for survivors, to rebuilding the moral credibility of the Church, and penalties for bishops that neglect to protect the innocent.
When he arrived in Boston nine years ago, then-Archbishop O’Malley had already addressed clergy sexual abuse scandals in two other dioceses. In 1992, he was appointed to the nearby Diocese of Fall River, Mass., where a former Catholic priest, James Porter, would subsequently receive an 18- to 20-year prison sentence for sexually abusing 28 children.
Cardinal O’Malley also briefly served as the Bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., from 2002-2003, after the resignation of Bishop Anthony O’Connell, who acknowledged that he had sexually abused a teenage seminary student two decades earlier.
In 2010, when the Church in Ireland was engulfed in a clergy sexual-abuse scandal, Cardinal O’Malley was asked to assist with the apostolic visitation of a number of seminaries and dioceses there, and was named the visitor to the Archdiocese of Dublin.
In 2003, you were installed as the new archbishop of Boston, following the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law. How do you rebuild the Church from the ruins?
It was daunting at the beginning — so much hurt and anger, and such disastrous economic consequences. There was a drop-off in vocations. Everywhere we turned there was crisis and pain.
Yet there remains our firm conviction that Christ does not abandon his Church — though he did not promise it would be easy.
We saw this as a call to conversion. In my own life, it has made me focus on what is really essential — our relationship with God. Everything else in the past — all the pain and suffering — was put in a new perspective.
We spoke about “rebuilding trust,” trying to help the victims to trust us again. That meant we were taking this seriously and we weren’t going to let this happen again.
Transparency has been an important part of that. We published everything about finances. We published more than any other diocese in the world.
We wanted to do that because the [issue of] money being used for sex-abuse cases was a very hot topic. I wanted to demonstrate that we were not using parish funds, parishes were not being closed to pay for the sex-abuse crisis. Instead, that money came from the sale of the bishop’s residence.
Rebuilding trust provided a framework for pastoral policies, but not everyone has agreed on the substance of those policies.
I was eager for people to understand what had happened, the policies we were putting in place, and how we would be faithful to carrying out those policies to ensure that our parishes and schools were as safe as possible for youngsters.
Pastors came to me saying, “We can’t take time out from CCD for safe-environment training when that is already happening in public schools.”
I said, “Wonderful, but let’s check and make sure it’s happening.” When they looked into it they discovered that nothing was happening in most public schools.
A lot of people resisted [the training] at first. Particularly, some people objected to asking volunteers to go through background checks. They said that was invasive, it was hard enough to get volunteers and you insulted people by asking them to do these things.
Some said it was too much like sex education. I tried to listen to everybody’s objections and tailor it to the appropriate age.
[After we implemented the training], a large number of children reported they had been abused by relatives, not priests. That opened people’s eyes. They realized we really do need to do something.
So many people did come forward to help. Just to carry out the ambitious policies took thousands of volunteers to help in the schools and CCD programs.
After your arrival, you met continuously with survivors on a regular basis. How else have you tried to reach out directly to Catholics harmed by priests?
On Ascension Thursday 2006, we began a ‘Pilgrimage of Repentance and Hope: The Novena to the Holy Spirit’ held in nine communities that experienced a history of sexual abuse. The hope was to publicly show the sorrow and contrition on the part of the community for the suffering of victims and their families, and also to invite people to come back and be part of the Church after they were alienated by the scandal.
During the course of the novena, thousands of people participated. We had prayers, Psalms, readings. I spoke, and so did some of the victims and their families. We invited [archdiocesan] priests, and large numbers came. They prayed prostrate on the floor, praying litanies, asking for forgiveness.
Afterward, many people told me that was their reason for coming back. These were parishes that had suffered so much. It was an opportunity for them to express their feelings. It was very important for the priests to be a part of it.
I encouraged them to do this in Dublin [where he led an investigation of child sexual abuse in the Church in Ireland], because I saw that it was a vehicle for healing, and while I was there, we had a service of remembrance and repentance that was very well attended and received.
During this time, what has been the experience of the vast majority of priests who are innocent of any abuse?
Typically, Catholics who were involved in the parish were supportive of their priests. But the Catholics who only came to church occasionally were much more suspicious of priests. Those who were already at one
arm’s length were now at two arms’ length.
The faithful Catholics knew how much the priests were hurting and tried to be supportive. At my installation, when I thanked the priests, there was sustained, thunderous applause. The priests themselves were surprised.
What has given you hope?
I have tried to call people to a deeper commitment to being an evangelizing Church. We cannot remain a Church of maintenance. We appointed a team to work on vocations and also to work with young adults.
When I came here, the priests were telling me to close the seminary—there were only 25 men. Now we have 70 men studying to be priests for the archdiocese, and we don’t have enough room for men from other dioceses . We have expanded the diaconate program: Instead of one class every four years, we now have a class every year.
A lot people have come forward to help the Church. Our new pastoral center is a gift from a benefactor. People have raised money for Catholic schools and churches. They say to me, “Our grandparents fleeing the famine built churches. Now what are we going to do?”
We have more chaplains in the armed services than any other diocese.
We now have a national policy of zero tolerance for priests with credible allegations of abuse, but few penalties have been imposed against negligent bishops. Going forward, should the Church establish a clear disciplinary framework for bishops who fail to protect children?
My hope is that with the very clear polices put in place, if a bishop is reckless in neglecting this, I think that’s something that demands attention on the part of the Holy See. Obviously, here in Boston, Cardinal Law did resign. The Holy See accepted his resignation.
[W]e need to deal with this issue going forward, since it has been made clear as to what the mistakes were in the past — not to repeat them.
Part of the problem in the past was that the bishops and people in general did not even suspect how much harm was being done to these children.
Why didn’t they suspect it?
Well, let’s just say they didn’t. The focus was on the perpetrator. When I went to Fall River, I went through the files of James Porter, a predator, a very sick man who abused hundreds of children.
When I went through the files, the pattern was the same. The bishop would remove him, send him to a psychiatric institution, often non-Catholic ones. The psychologist would report back and say, “He is all right now and he can be reassigned.”
They were taking the advice of these professionals who were obviously unaware that there isn’t a cure, and unaware too [that these predators] were a menace. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t dawn on the bishop sooner. Eventually, Porter was laicized.
From a review of the records in the Boston scandal, it’s clear that some people — including an auxiliary bishop and laypeople — tried but failed to get the local ordinary to permanently remove the predators. Has the scandal altered the job description for bishops?
If you can’t do difficult things, you shouldn’t t be a bishop. There are always very hard choices. That’s what I’ve told the priests ever since I came to Boston. Here every choice has been a dilemma. … You are damned if you do, or damned if you don’t.
Such as balancing the need for protecting children with the rights of priests — when an allegation is made without hard evidence?
In those cases, I have the resource of the review board, which I have always used in every diocese where I have been. I have tried to have victims and victims’ families on the review board, as well as judges, priests, and others.
That allows an independent reading. It’s also a big help when an allegation is unsubstantiated, and you want to return someone to ministry. It’s not, “the bishop says.” You can say this group of men and women, who are volunteers, and some who may not even be Catholic, concur that this person should be restored to ministry.
Regarding the issue of episcopal responsibility, a slightly different pattern has developed in Ireland, where some bishops have resigned. How would you explain that?
I can’t speak specifically, but in some cases there was an awareness of responsibility. … In the case of one bishop who resigned, there was a lot of push back. The people said, “He shouldn’t have resigned.” But he himself felt he had not done enough. Each case was different.
Some Catholics suggest that while media attention has stressed bishops’ failures to stop criminal behavior, there are other mounting problems that need effective leadership —such as the need for better catechesis — but those issues don’t get the same attention.
[There was a time when] some bishops were very seldom even seen, and had very little contact with clergy. One of my predecessors used to go to the Bahamas at Christmas and he didn’t t come back until Easter.
The bishop has to be present to his people. He has to be proactive.
At the same time, the crisis in many ways has made it more difficult to mobilize the priests here to [present Church] teaching on issues like same-sex “marriage.” Many of them were so beaten up, and they said, “You want me to talk about what?”
That whole prophetic role of the Church has been damaged by the scandal. So often when the Church does speak out on any of these topics that are difficult, people say, “Well you allowed these children to be raped, how can you say anything about this?”
I was talking to the priests’ council about assisted suicide, and I told them, “We have to reassert our prophetic role around this. It doesn’t mean you present this in a way that’s insensitive to people’s feelings when you preach on abortion — knowing there are people who have had an abortion, or on same-sex “marriage” when you have homosexual parishioners.”
In Part 2, Cardinal O’Malley addresses the John Jay Report’s controversial conclusions about the role of same-sex attraction in the clergy abuse scandal, financial settlements and speeding up the appeals process for priests who contend that they have been falsely accused.
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The article was very good. Although with all do respect to His Excellency the last two paragraphs of part one of this interview I find very confusing.
Catholics all over the world are being persecuted and martyred for their faith, clergy, religious, and lay faithful. If the Prophetic role of the Church is so damaged by the scandal, then please tell my why so many are willing to endure the Cross of Christ???
Dont worry Archbishop GOD Himself will cleanse His Church and the world from the filth of sin…catholic women taking birth control pills, catholic men wearing condoms,catholics voting for the democrat party…the party that spreads the abomination of abortion and the homosexual lifestyle…woe to the Church for silence in just getting along so as not to upset people, this false compassion is leading the flock and the world straight into hell..THE JUSTICE OF GOD WILL CLEANSE HIS CHURCH AND THIS WORLD FROM THE FILTH OF THE SINFUL LIFESTYLE THAT THE WORLD HAS ACCEPTED AS A RIGHT…enough of the rose colored glasses outlook on the church and the world, it is in shambles along with society..the VICTORY OF MARYS IMMACULATE HEART WILL SAVE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE WORLD
It appears that Cardinal O’Malley is not aware of the circumstances and climate that was being fostered in the Boston area at the time of the beginning of the priest scandal in the our archdiocese. This information would have been readily available to him if he had researched articles in the Boston Globe, such as “If they knew the madness in me” by Sally Jacobs,7/10/2002, the NECN TV documentary ,the NAMBLA Bulletin 25-1, among others. The Boston Globe promoted Fr.Paul Shanley’s advocacy as a “crusader” for teens who engaged in same-sex sex acts and demanded that their parents accept these acts as “good”. Fr.Shanley joined with Sr. Jeannine Grammick,founder of New Ways Ministry, in promoting these acts as acts that the Catholic Church should approve of, at Dignity meetings and New Ways Ministry Meetings. Today the Rainbow Organization is involved in promoting the same belief. With the approval of these “Catholic” organizations and the Boston Globe, Fr. Paul Shanley “chided the Catholic Church for what he considered homophobia and testified at the State house on behalf of antidiscrimination legislation.” Yet Dignity,New Ways Ministry and the Rainbow Organization are very active in the Boston Archdiocese. There has been no effort to alert Catholics that these pretend-Catholic organizations are promoting the effort to force the Catholic Church to approve of same-sex sexual activities.
During that time and even in the present time the only organization approved by the Holy See to address the needs of those who engage in same-sex sex acts and help them to live in a chaste manner, namely Courage,
has not been openly promoted and fostered in the parishes of the Boston Archdiocese nor by any spokesperson for the Boston Archdiocese..
The question that needs to be addressed by Cardinal O’Malley regarding this grave omission is why is this happening?
I know that it is not easy to be a bishop, but the Lord gives each and everyone of us the strength that we need to do our jobs.
With all due respect, one very important thing, in my opinion, that was missing from the Archbishop’s agenda, was the utilization of Divine Mercy Sunday as an evangelization tool to revitalize the Church in Boston. Had this been used correctly, none of the parishes would have been closed.
By the Holy Spirit and God’s Providence, the establishment of the Feast of Divine Mercy occured at the most opportune time to off-set the harm of the scandal, as was the special plenary indulgence, which was added during 2002, when it was most needed to get people back to Church.
Did we not have confidence in the Lord? Did not St. Paul tell us the “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more”? Did we not have confidence in the Church? Were we relying on man’s word, rather than on God’s, when we decided to close all of those parishes? God was giving us a great gift and everything that we needed to easily, not only to restore the Church, but to build it up before the Second Coming of Jesus.
Will Our Lord find faith when He returns?
As horrific as the sex abuse scandals within the Church have been, (and if anyone priest or otherwise harmed one of my little relatives, that man would be singin’ soprano for the rest of his days when I got done with him), nevertheless, I will be *impressed* and humbled by the displays of shock and outrage among the mainstream media, on the day that I observe a widespread and thoroughgoing denunciation of Alfred Kinsey’s use of child molestation in his so-called experiments even beginning to approach that level of vehemence, in the mainstream media.
(Crickets chirping.)
Yeh, I thought so. No, I’m not holding my breath.
My takeaway from all this: When Catholics do something wrong, from all the caterwauling in the mainstream media, why, you’d believe sun is about to whirl off its very axis and crash into the Earth.
When secular scientist-child-molesters do the very same thing, . . . (shrug) and excuses.
I am not, repeat, *not* . . . impressed by the outrage in the mainstream media.
Phoney baloneys. They’re lapping all this up like a kitten laps up milk.
P.S. I suggest priests and bishops all over the U.S. practice the following English phrase, “First, let’s hear your denunciations of child-molester Alfred Kinsey, then I’ll be interested in your further remarks about the scandals in the church.”
Perhaps Cardnal O’Mally himself should also have a 0 tolarance for homosexuality and abortion.
He could have stopped the Gay Pride Mass at St Cecilia in Boston but did not. Maybee he should have been there to see the desacration of the eucharist when everybody (even practicing homosexuals) in the pews received The Lord at communnion.
And how about the selling out of the Catholic hospitals that will soon start performing abortions and perscribing birth control pills and also the morning after pill?
O’Mally neglects to mention anything about our (so called Catholic) polititians that support homosexuality and abortion, either federal or local.
I can not see any diferance between O’Mally an Law.
Perhaps he should start with Fr. Hehir them clean up the rest of the house.
and these are not pedophile priests, these are homosexual priests who infiltrated the church in the 60’s with the sole aim of destroying the Church from the inside…may HOLY MOTHER MARYS miraculous intercession come soon to cleanse the Church and the world from a society infected with sin
He sounds like he’d be a good future Pope. You’ll notice he saw Rome as responsible for intervention in cases where a Bishop is careless of the new stringency. Rare is the Catholic official or pundit that holds Rome responsible for anything on its watch. The detail about the thunderous applause for the bulk of priests was wonderful. Questions though….how does the sale of one mansion pay all the lawsuits….and how does a Bishop escape scrutiny of Rome when he spends each Christmas to Easter in the Bahamas….does subsidiarity mean that Rome has no administrative function at all?
the registers moderators have a problem labeling these priests homosexual and not pedophiles…these priests dont go after young girls,they go after young boys…this is not pedophilia,it is homosexual behavior..the filth of sin that is taking down our society…and the homosexual priests have no other motive than to destroy the Church from the inside and leaving the Church with no longer a voice on morals…only the direct intervention of Gods hand of justice is going to save society..the angel of Fatima had a flaming sword and touched the earth and set it ablaze…the world is about to be cleansed in an event not seen since the time of noahs flood….
With all due respect to His Excellency, I think that he should have used Divine Mercy Sunday as an evangelistic tool to rebuild the archdiocese instead of closing parishes. The Church gave us Divine Mercy Sunday at the exact time that we needed it to off-set the abuse scandal. It is too bad that most clergy fail to see the truth about this Feast of Mercy.
Didn’t St. Paul tell us that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more? There is nothing that can match the graces available on Divine Mercy Sunday, and this is not man’s idea, but God’s. When are we going to wake up and realize that Jesus could surely be returning very soon?
When He returns, will Jesus find faith on Earth?
ReBuilding….Rather Slowly; however, and not enough. The “stuff” I learn about the Cardinal’s diocese is down right frightening. Sex abuse issues are not the only thing needing repentance! Pray for his success…....and for me.
lja/JMJ
On December 6, 2011 President Obama issued a Prsidential Memorandum to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies titled, “International Initiative to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons.” Section 1 directs U.S. agencies engaged abroad to combat the criminalization of LGBT status or conduct. In other words, U.S. Government employees abroad now are required to work in the country of their assignment to promote sodomy. As far as I am aware, there hasn’t been a peep of protest from the bishops or any other element of the Church. Cardinal O’Malley is quoted as saying, “We have more chaplains in the armed services than any other diocese.” Is he aware that the Defense Department is one of the agencies to which the Presidential Memorandum is specifically addressed? That this means that diocesan priests engaged abroad as military chaplains now are required by their Commander in Chief to work to normalize homosexual behavior? Cardinal O’Malley and other Church leaders are making valiant efforts to encourage the preservation of moral integity within their jurisdictions. In addition, they now have the added task of persuading our President that it is neither politically nor morally expedient to use his office to promote intrinsically disordered conduct - whether at home or abroad.
Talk about the sale of one mansion paying for law suits….A newsman on T.V. was interviewing the Bishop from his diocese. The Newsman asked why they were building a new mansion when they already had one. The Bishop answered that the old one was too old and we need an appropriate place to entertain the elite, who give the most money to the Church. The newsman responded, well I shall no longer give money to my Church, if that is where the money goes, I shall give it to specific charities. ‘Money IS the root of all evil’. Why do Bishops have to live in mansions and why would any Bishop go away, from Christmas to Easter, for a vacation. He should be home doing his job. The Catholic Church is beginning to remind me of our Government. We pay their salaries, plus everything else they get and they “live like kings”, while we suffer. We are God’s people and to God we are the same but in many churches there is discrimination between poor and rich. [Yes, I know the Church does a lot for the poor in Africa and elsewhere, I am talking about their own diocese]
I have been in small parishes and large and the small parishes are the ones where I have seen Jesus. I just cannot see Jesus in large churches with all that gold and fancy carvings, etc. A priest in one of my parishes, used a wooden chalice at Mass, that a parishioner made—a wonderful small parish. Priests and Bishops should be humble. Bishops live in their own gold world. Yes, I am angry…this pedophilia in the church has hurt all of us and it was the fault of the higher-ups, not doing their job. I am disenchanted as I believed the Church was the ultimate in what was right,communications in today world has made the young people of today much more aware.
The priest who officiated at my daughter’s wedding in Calif. was accused of pedophilia and transferred to a diocese close to where my sister lived, again with a school attached. He was accused again, but the parents did not go to the diocese about it, they went to the civil authorities and as of today this priest may possibly still be in prison. That happened 35 yrs ago. When was the Church going to ‘wake up’....these are ‘civil wrongs’ as well as being “Church wrongs"and when it comes to civil wrongs, the civil authorities should handle it, but the Church thought it was above the law.
Cardinal O’Malley said he sold the Bishop’s residence to pay for the abuse scandal. The truth is he sold St. John’s Seminary
Cardinal O’Malley says nothing about the priests in prison. He must know that not all are guilty. The cardinals and bishops have betrayed their priests. Priests are aware that they can no longer trust the men who swore they would lead them as their shepherds. Who wants a shepherd who would lead them out of the jungle into quicksand? These mighty bishops do not ask for proof of sexual allegations; they just hand over whatever amount of money the contingency lawyers demand. Thanks to BishopAccountability and SNAP, there is a handy reference of dead priests who can be, and are being accused, innocent priests who are being accused solely for the sake of a big check! It is outrageous! A fool and his money are soon parted, but that does not help innocent priests. The bishops created this sticky mess, and now they don’t know how to reign it in. It’s simple: just say NO! when the creepy contingency lawyers show up with accusations. It takes courage and faith, something we are discovering that our Church leaders seem to have little of.
All those who are blaming the clergy abuse situation on homosexuality are ignoring all the girls who were abused by priests. At least 30% of the victims are female. Half of SNAP’s 10,000 members are female.
The vast majority of sexual abuse in this country is perpetrated by men who identify as heterosexual and are married to women. Are we now going to blame the sexual assault of girls and women on heterosexuality? Sexual abuse is not about sexual identity!
And, do you also blame the cover-up, and enabling of abusing priests by bishops, on homosexuality as well? Nonsense.
Cecelia, The priests in prison were found guilty by a jury, or pled guilty. How can you claim they are there due to betrayal by church leaders? The exact opposite is true, bishops and cardinals protected these men, they did not report them to legal authorities and they hid the crimes. There are many guilty priests who should be in jail yet are not, due to the Statute of Limitations and protection by the church.
And the church does NOT just hand over money to anyone claiming abuse by a priest. The victims’ accusations are exhaustively examined, as is the accusers’ complete life history. Read Jennifer Balboni’s book: Clergy Sexual Abuse Litigation, 2011, if you want to actually educate yourself.
False allegations of clergy abuse are rare. I find it odd and scary that you are blaming victims, their lawyers and advocates for exposing the truth and seeking accountability rather than blaming those who abused kids and those who alloweed that abuse. It takes courage to come forward and tell your story of being abused by a priest. It takes courage to accept the painful truth of crimes against children perpetrated by Catholic priests around the world. May I suggest you gather your courage, learn the horrifying facts, stop denying the truth, stop blaming the victims and stop distorting reality.
Abusing children is a gut-wrenching thing. BUT, not all priests do such things and it is not proper to for poeple to leave the church because of it. If this controversy has been overly used by poeple who are immoral, immature, lazy and uneducated in their faith. I also do not believe all these claims of abuse. I feel it’s poeple either that have had ideas put into their heads by incompetent counselors & poeple out for a buck.
Unfortunately, molestation happens in ALL fields—And is being proven so by the oh-so-loved game of football. So? since molestation happened at Penn State, I guess we should all hate colleges and football coaches? Teachers have molested kids—should we no longer send children to school? Parents have been known to abuse their own children—Should we hate all mothers and fathers? Let’s get real and be reasonable!
Good and bad is everywhere. The good of what the catholic church has done in regards to missionary work, education, medical assistance, helping the poor and poeple that have experienced natural disasters, in my opinion, outways the sick deeds of these priests that have been proven guilty of molesting children.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/archbishop-chaputs-stunning-letter-to-philadelphia/#ixzz1iz8PKrRl
Cardinal O’Malley was handed a very tough assignment and while he knew what he was getting into, I couldn’t help wondering why he was left nearly all alone having to deal with the mess left behind from Cardinal Law’s (mis)reign and the anvil chorus of nay-sayers, professional anti-Catholic bigots who never missed an opportunity to join in on the pig-piles they loved to create.
Outside of New York, the Boston media, especially one of its more rightist-leaning talk-shock radio hosts, is one of the most scurrilous snakepits for any public official, never mind a bishop of a long-time despised Church.
Although I’ll never cast another vote for the man again, NEVER, I’ll say this for Mitt Romney, for a while he was the only big-named politician who came to the Cardinal’s side in some of the most viscious social issue fights the Commonwealth endured back in the mid-2000’s. For all the cheap shots Mormons receive, even from Catholics, who seem to have long forgotten what it was like for our ancestors in their own state, no less, Romney the Mormon stood by the record number of ballot petition signators who fought a long and hard “street political theater” style battle in the Statehouse Halls, only to be gravely disappointed when their all-Catholic legislative “leadership” in both Houses put the kabosh during the special Constitutional Convention mandated by state law for an issue to make it on the state’s election ballot for a simple yes/no vote on whether or not to allow the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling on gay marriage to stand.
To this day, I’ll never forget what I saw on both official state websites of the then speaker and senate president (not Billy Bulger then.) Both men shamelessly listed membership in their respective hometown KofC Councils. This, along with the stab in the back by Boston Mayor Thomas “Mumbles” Menino, on the adoption issue, is what Cardinal O’Malley had to contend with, in addition to the snakepit press.
Regardless of my views on the issues of gay marriage, adoption, etc., I’ve grown to have far more respect for my State Senator, who is homosexual, and was adopted in his childhood, for his open and honest stand on these issues than that of some of his fellow (Catholic) members of the Statehouse Leadership cadre who not only quashed the ballot petition after toying with the record number of signators, not to mention Menino’s sorry “go along” cave-in then…but simply used the already very arcane and almost Byzantine tools of promulgating legislation in Massachusetts.
Compared to “Beacon Hill,” (the State Legislature) ... dealing with the Magisterium and Vatican City must be a piece of cake. Well, a good canoli filled with blueberries. . . from Massachusetts’ former colony to its north: Maine. LOL!
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