BOSTON — Scot Landry felt a need to do something constructive in the wake of the Archdiocese of Boston's sex abuse scandal.

“I was sick of the Catholic Church being under assault,” the 35-year old father of two recalled. Landry, a software executive with an easy smile and a can-do attitude, already drew strength from his men's prayer group. They were “just a group of regular guys searching for a closer relationship with God” who met at St. Paul's in Cambridge.

“Remember last year?” Landry said. “The Red Sox were down 3-0, but fans kept saying, ‘Why not us?’ We started saying the same thing — why not us?”

The Sox went on to win the World Series, and the faithful in Boston have started to make a “comeback” as well.

Almost three years since Boston newspapers made the archdiocese's failure to deal with sexual abuse by clergy into a national scandal, there are signs that prayer and faithfulness are helping the archdiocese to get back on its feet.

Landry and five friends hoped that a men's conference could lift the gloom that demoralized Catholics in Boston, the nation's fourth largest diocese. But then as now, many were telling Archbishop Sean O'malley how to shepherd 2 million people.

How could these six men discern if they were the right team with the right idea?

“We prayed concretely that the archbishop would confirm this if it was meant to be,” Landry said. “If it was, he would say okay and if not, he would redirect us.”

He said okay.

“For a speaker we got Jim Caviezel [the actor who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ] — a minor miracle. We expected 500 men. It became a bear; we had 2,200,” Landry said. “Everything fell into place. There was a need that just resonated. Priests had tears in their eyes at the closing. They’d heard confessions all day.”

From that March event, 25 new men's prayer groups were created. The Boston Catholic Men's Conference was one signal grace among several recent bright spots for the archdiocese, weakened by scandal and disheartened over the closing of one-third of its parishes.

Another hopeful sign: the public witness of young men from St. John's Seminary with rosaries in hand at an October pro-life rally on Boston Common.

Despite lawsuits and parishioner occupations of churches slated to close, hints of renewal can be gleaned where the faithful have concluded that they are strongest when on their knees.

Archbishop O'malley urged all 300 parishes to hold Forty Hour devotions during the Year of the Eucharist, and to pray for vocations.

Some parishes have complied with and exceeded this request by expanding Eucharistic adoration. Some now have committees to encourage vocations.

“We began with one day of adoration for life,” said Father William Salmon, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Weymouth. “An incredible feeling of peace hit me that day — in the church, even in the parking lot.”

His church now holds adoration six days a week.

While the archdiocese was down, the culture war kicked it further as Massachusetts judges imposed homosexual “marriage,” and lawmakers legalized cloning and human embryonic stem-cell research. There is political pressure for the Church to close its mouth on moral issues but open its books to state scrutiny (a proposed law would force all churches to report their finances to the state attorney general). The media continues to feed on bad news and foment controversy.

This year, the Church is making an organized effort to defend the family in the legal arena. All four Massachusetts dioceses are collecting signatures for a ballot initiative, a proposed state Protection of Marriage Amendment.

The state's Knights of Columbus also are on board. Knights also backed the men's conference and another first, a Northeast Regional Catholic Family Conference in July.

“We have a statewide organization with 46,000 members. We can get the message out quickly,” State Deputy Richard Guerriero said.

Since Archbishop O'malley became archbishop of Boston two years ago following Cardinal Bernard Law's resignation, he has fielded criticism not only from those who view the Church hierarchy as an adversary. While the 61-year-old Franciscan Capuchin is widely admired for his sincerity and holiness, some supporters just don't share his low-key style.

One major frustration has been priests who have clearly and repeatedly bucked Church teaching.

“Another Straw” was the Sept. 23 posting on bettnet.com, the blog of Domenico Bettinelli, editor of “Catholic World Report”: “Father Walter Cuenin of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton, Mass., is at it again. In this week's bulletin, he openly challenges Archbishop Sean O'malley and the Church's teaching on homosexuality and legal unions between same-sex persons. … What will the archbishop do about it?”

His answer came the next day: “The Camel's Back Broke.” On Sept. 24, Father Cuenin announced he would resign as pastor after a parish audit found financial irregularities. Bettinelli urged blog readers to thank the archbishop.

Compassion and Humility

In an interview, Archbishop O'malley spoke of the importance of working “in earnest to restore credibility.” His solution: “By always holding up Jesus Christ as the source of all truth and calling our people to receive the grace and strength of the Eucharist.”

One of his major challenges is “to speak in faith-based terms to people who may not embrace faith and religion,” he told the Register in an Oct. 11 e-mail exchange through a spokesman. The archbishop sees another challenge in carrying out the Church's mission — its regular daily work — while simultaneously rebuilding. But the witness of worshipping families and support of priests encourages him.

As for a priest's perspective, Father Mark Coiro, 38, pastor of St. Mary's in Holliston, said he appreciates the “wholeness with which the archbishop is approaching the situation.

“It's one thing to have plans and programs,” he said, “but we're first and foremost a people of faith. If we ever stop praying, we're in trouble.”

Gail Besse is based in Hull, Massachusetts.