Cardinal Law Finally Relents

Cardinal Bernard Law sat down with members of the Voice of the Faithful for the first time to discuss the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church, months after spurning requests to meet with leaders of the lay reform group.

The meeting, which was long-sought after by the Voice of the Faithful, was an attempt to ease tensions over the group's role. Both sides described the meeting as cordial and candid, though no breakthroughs were announced.

Law and the group have had a contentious relationship, with the cardinal refusing to accept its donations and barring new chapters from meeting on church property. Those were among the topics of discussion Tuesday.

"We saw that there are areas that we agree on and others that we don't," said Bill Cadigan, vice president of the group and one of the four who met privately with Law for more than two hours. "We didn't solve all of our problems in this meeting."

Law twice told the leaders that he wished they had consulted with him before forming the group, said Cadigan. The meeting was mainly agreeable, but there were some "moments of tension," he said.

Voice of the Faithful started in a suburban parish early this year as the clerical sex abuse crisis unfolded in Boston. It now counts 25,000 members worldwide.

The group's critics say Voice of the Faithful is using the abuse crisis to change church teachings. But Voice leaders says they only want to help the church become stronger, partly through greater involvement of the laity.

Last month, Law banned Voice chapters formed after mid-October from meeting on church property. Voice leaders said Tuesday that the cardinal said he would keep that directive in force for now.

Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Law viewed the meeting as a chance for the group to define its goals and how it viewed its relationship to the church.

"While the emergence of new groups is a constant in the history of the church, a proper discernment must always take place to insure their compatibility with the faith, discipline and mission of the church," she said.

Morrissey would not detail what was said at the meeting, which she described as "cordial, respectful." According to Post, the cardinal "squarely told us he was concerned about who we are and who we aspire to be."

Morrissey said Law is willing to meet with the group again. Additional meetings also are planned with Bishop Walter Edyvean, the vicar general who has met three times with the group since May.

Voice of the Faithful's Compassion Fund has raised about $56,000 for the same charitable causes supported by the Cardinal's Appeal, the church's annual fund-raising drive. However, the Voice fund was set up so no money would go to archdiocese administrative costs.

The group said Law has seemed to view the fund as competition for his own money-raising efforts. "We reaffirmed we are not in competition with the Cardinal's Appeal," Post said.

In other developments Tuesday related to the abuse scandal: