Misplaced Pages

#182817

85-605: Bernard Francis Cardinal Law (November 4, 1931 – December 20, 2017) was a senior-ranking prelate of the Catholic Church , known largely for covering up the serial rape of children by Catholic priests. He served as Archbishop of Boston , archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore , and Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna , which was the American parish in Rome until 2017, when

170-480: A disc jockey at WHOC, making him the first black disc jockey in the state. By the early 1950s, he was managing a hotel, cab company, and burial insurance business in the town. He had a cafe in Philadelphia and influenced over two hundred black citizens to pay their poll tax. Forced to leave due to local white hostility in 1956, he moved to Chicago . Low on money, he began working as a meatpacker in stockyards during

255-593: A British Catholic weekly, reported that Law was "the person in Rome most forcefully supporting" Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori 's petition to investigate and discipline the Leadership Conference of Women Religious , a large group of American nuns. After a long illness, Law died in Rome on December 20, 2017, at the age of 86. He is buried in a chapel at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. His funeral rites, following

340-692: A better person. I think Medgar's death was a cathartic experience." A decade after his death, Evers and blues musician B.B. King created the Medgar Evers Homecoming Festival, an annual three-day event held the first week of June in Mississippi. Over the opposition of more establishment figures in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) such as Roy Wilkins , Evers took over his brother's post as head of

425-583: A bid for the open seat of the 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives , facing six white opponents in the Democratic primary. Though low on funds, he led in the primary with a plurality of the votes. The Mississippi Legislature responded by passing a law mandating a runoff primary in the event of no absolute majority in the initial contest, which Evers lost. He also supported Robert F. Kennedy 's 1968 presidential campaign , serving as co-director of his Mississippi campaign organization, and

510-420: A building he owned which he leased to a federal day care program, and used some of the employees for personal business. Evers served many terms as mayor of Fayette. Admired by some, he alienated others with his inflexible stands on various issues. Evers did not like to share or delegate power. Evers lost the Democratic primary for mayor in 1981 to Kennie Middleton . Four years later, Evers defeated Middleton in

595-479: A collection of weapons, intending to assassinate Evers. A white resident tipped off the mayor and the Klansman was arrested. The Klansman defended his motives by saying, "I am a Mississippi white man". Evers' moralistic style began to create discontent; in early 1970, most of Fayette's police department resigned, saying the mayor had treated them "like dogs". Evers complained that local blacks were "jealous" of him. As

680-707: A consultor to its Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews . In the late 1970s, Law would also chair the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. In 1981, Law was named the Vatican delegate to develop and oversee a program instituted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in which U.S. Episcopal priests would be accepted into the Catholic priesthood. In

765-536: A diocesan bishop, whose jurisdiction of his diocese is denominated a "prelacy". In the Catholic Church, a territorial prelate is a prelate whose geographic jurisdiction, denominated a " territorial prelature ", is outside of and therefore not subject to any diocese. A territorial prelate is sometimes denominated a "prelate nullius", from the Latin " nullius diœceseos " (prelate of no diocese), denoting that his territory

850-586: A kind of "co-governance" of the church as the most senior ecclesiastical advisers and moral representatives of the Supreme Pontiff , and certain "superior prelates of the offices of the Roman Curia " who are not bishops, e.g., the auditors (judges) of the Roman Rota and protonotaries apostolic . By extension, it refers to "inferior" or "lesser prelates", that is priests who have the title and dress of prelates as

935-503: A laborer, and Jesse Wright Evers, a maid. He was the eldest of four children; Medgar Evers was his younger brother. He attended segregated public schools, which were typically underfunded in Mississippi following the exclusion of African Americans from the political system by disenfranchisement after 1890. Evers graduated from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi . During World War II , Charles and Medgar Evers both served in

SECTION 10

#1732894473183

1020-769: A major in medieval history before studying philosophy at Saint Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana , from 1953 to 1955, and theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio , from 1955 to 1961. On May 21, 1961, Law was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in Mississippi . He served two years as an assistant pastor of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Vicksburg, Mississippi , where he

1105-576: A member of a Ku Klux Klan chapter, fatally shot Evers's brother, Medgar, in Mississippi as he arrived home from work. Medgar died at the hospital in Jackson. Charles learned of his brother's death several hours later and flew to Jackson the following morning. Deeply upset by the assassination, he heavily involved himself in the planning of his brother's funeral. He decided to relocate to Mississippi to carry on his brother's work. Journalist Jason Berry , who later worked for Charles, said, "I think he wanted to be

1190-429: A million dollars in funds, which were diverted from a Vatican-owned hospital by the former president of the hospital. Even after he retired, Tarcisio Bertone used escorts of Vatican City and Italian police to move around Rome . Charles Evers James Charles Evers (September 11, 1922 – July 22, 2020) was an American civil rights activist, businessman, radio personality, and politician. Evers

1275-441: A parking lot. Evers appointed a black police force and several black staff members. He also benefitted from an influx of young, white liberal volunteers who wanted to assist a civil rights leader. Many ended up leaving after growing disillusioned with Evers' pursuit of personal financial success and domineering leadership style. Evers sought to make Fayette an upstanding community and a symbolic refuge for black people. Repulsed by

1360-505: A personal honorific, i.e., Papal chaplains, prelates of honor (formerly "domestic prelates"), and honorary protonotaries apostolic. All these enjoy the title of " monsignor ", which also is used in some nations for bishops and archbishops. The seven de numero protonotaries apostolic in Rome , who are special Papal notaries, are true prelates like bishops; others are "supernumerary" protonotaries apostolic who enjoy this as an honorific, like Papal chaplains and prelates of honor. In

1445-529: A series of successful black boycotts in southwestern Mississippi which partnered with the Natchez Deacons for Defense and Justice , which won concessions from the Natchez authorities and ratified his unconventional boycott methods. Often accompanied by a group of 65 male followers, he would pressure local blacks in small towns to avoid stores under boycott and directly challenge white business leaders. He also led

1530-520: A voter registration campaign. He coordinated his efforts from the small town of Fayette in Jefferson County . Fayette was a small, economically depressed town of about 2,500 people. About three-fourths of the population was black, and they had long been socially and economically subordinate to the white minority. Evers moved the NAACP's Mississippi field office from Jackson to Fayette to take advantage of

1615-558: Is a bishop , whose prelature is his particular church . All other prelates, including the regular prelates such as abbots and major superiors , are based upon this original model of prelacy. In a general sense, a "prelate" in the Catholic Church and other Christian churches is a bishop or other ecclesiastical person who possesses ordinary authority of a jurisdiction, i.e., of a diocese or similar jurisdiction, e.g., ordinariates , apostolic vicariates / exarchates , or territorial abbacies. It equally applies to cardinals , who enjoy

1700-673: Is directly subject to the Holy See (the Supreme Pontiff) and is not a diocese. As of 2013 , there were 44 territorial prelatures, all of which were in the Latin Church . The term also is used generically, in which case it may equally refer to an apostolic prefecture , an apostolic vicariate, or a territorial abbacy. In the Catholic Church, the personal prelature was conceived during the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) in no. 10 of

1785-676: Is elected by members of the Prelature and confirmed by the Supreme Pontiff; the laity and clergy of the Prelature remain subject to the government of the particular churches in whose territory they live, and the laity associated with the Prelature, both men and women, are organically united under the jurisdiction of the Prelate. On 15 February 2018, a motu proprio issued by Pope Francis ordered prelates and bishops to live simply and renounce any desire for power after they retired from senior offices of

SECTION 20

#1732894473183

1870-511: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992). Law oversaw the first draft of its English translation. In the mid-1980s, Law chaired the bishops' Committee on Pastoral Research and Practices at the time it distributed a report on Freemasonry . The bishops' report concluded that "the principles and basic rituals of Masonry embody a naturalistic religion, active participation in which is incompatible with Christian faith and practice". In 1989, Geoghan

1955-466: The 1971 gubernatorial election as an independent, kicking off his campaign with a rally in Decatur. He later explained his reason for launching the bid, saying, "I ran for governor because if someone doesn't start running, there will never be a black man or a black woman governor of the state of Mississippi." He endorsed white segregationist Jimmy Swan in the Democratic primary, reasoning that if Swan won

2040-541: The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore , a largely ceremonial role. Some saw this an attempt to shield Law from potential criminal prosecution as his new position conveyed citizenship in Vatican City. Law reached 80 on November 4, 2011, and lost the right to participate in a papal conclave as well as his memberships in offices of the Roman Curia . He remained as archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore until November 21, 2011, when Archbishop Santos Abril y Castelló

2125-598: The Boston Globe ' s public exposure of the cover up by Cardinal Law (and his predecessor Cardinal Humberto Medeiros ) of offending priests in the Boston Archdiocese, Law consulted with Pope John Paul II and other Vatican officials and said he was committed to staying on as archbishop and addressing the scandal: "It is my intent to address at length the record of the Archdiocese's handling of these cases by reviewing

2210-531: The Mississippi Register , of which he was editor, he received death threats. Charles Evers , activist and brother of murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers , praised Law and said he acted "not for the Negro, but for justice and what is right." Law's brave civil rights activity led him to develop ties with Protestant church leaders and he received national attention for his work for ecumenism, and in 1968 he

2295-680: The United States Army . Charles fell in love with a Philippine woman while stationed overseas. He could not marry her and bring her home to Mississippi because the state's constitution prohibited interracial marriages. During the war he established a brothel in Quezon City which catered to American servicemen. After serving a year of reserve duty following the Korean War , he settled in Philadelphia, Mississippi . In 1949, he began working as

2380-501: The jurisdiction of the prelate is not territorial and instead is of specific persons wherever they are located. The establishment of personal prelatures is an exercise of the theologically inherent power of self-organization which the Church has to pursue its mission, though a personal prelature is not a particular church , as are dioceses and military ordinariates . Personal prelatures are fundamentally secular organizations operating in

2465-596: The American community was relocated to San Patrizio . Law was Archbishop of Boston from 1984 until his resignation on December 13, 2002, after his involvement in the Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal became public knowledge. Law was proven to have ignored or concealed the molestation of many underage children; Church documents demonstrate that he had extensive knowledge of widespread child sexual abuse committed by dozens of Catholic priests in his archdiocese over almost two decades; he failed to report these crimes to

2550-626: The NAACP in Mississippi. Wilkins never managed a friendly relationship with Evers, and Medgar's widow, Myrlie , also disapproved of Charles' replacing him. A staunch believer in racial integration, he distrusted what he viewed as the militancy and separatism of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party , a black-dominated breakaway of the segregationist Mississippi Democratic Party . In 1965 he launched

2635-663: The NAACP in Mississippi. In this role, he organized and led many demonstrations for the rights of African Americans. In 1969, Evers was named "Man of the Year" by the NAACP. On June 3, 1969, Evers was elected in Fayette, Mississippi , as the first African-American mayor of a biracial town in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era , following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enforced constitutional rights for citizens. At

Bernard Francis Law - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-566: The RCNL's annual conferences in Mound Bayou , a town founded by freedmen, on such issues as voting rights. His brother Medgar continued to be involved in civil rights, becoming field secretary and head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Mississippi. While working in Chicago he sent money to him, not specifying the source. On June 12, 1963, Byron De La Beckwith ,

2805-631: The Republican Party in the state (and the rest of the South), Cochran was continuously re-elected to his Senate seat. After his failed Senate race, Evers briefly switched political parties and became a Republican . In 1983, Evers ran as an independent for governor of Mississippi but lost to the Democrat Bill Allain . Republican Leon Bramlett of Clarksdale , also known as a college All-American football player, finished second with 39 percent of

2890-453: The Roman Curia. Several such officials and bishops had been criticized in the preceding years for luxurious living, such as having large apartments and police escorts after they retired. One notable incident involved Tarcisio Bertone , an Italian prelate and former Cardinal Secretary of State removed from office in 2013, who used an apartment that had been renovated at the cost of nearly half

2975-400: The U.S. Senate seat vacated by Democrat James Eastland . He finished in third place behind his opponents, Democrat Maurice Dantin and Republican Thad Cochran . He received 24 percent of the vote, likely siphoning off African-American votes that would have otherwise gone to Dantin. Cochran won the election with a plurality of 45 percent of the vote. With the shift in white voters moving into

3060-695: The Year. Evers popularized the slogan, "Hands that picked cotton can now pick the mayor." The local white community was bitter about his victory, but he became intensively popular among Mississippi's blacks. To celebrate his victory, he hosted an inaugural ball in Natchez , which was widely attended by black Mississippians, reporters from around the country, and prominent national liberals including Ramsey Clark , Ted Sorensen , Whitney Young , Julian Bond , Shirley MacLaine , and Paul O'Dwyer . The white-dominated school board refused to let Evers swear-in on property under their jurisdiction, so he took his oath of office in

3145-824: The annual July 4 Independence Day parties held by the United States Embassy to the Holy See. In March 2013, Law was living at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore . As of 2015, he was living in the Palazzo della Cancelleria . He visited the United States for the last time in August 2015 for the funeral of Cardinal William Wakefield Baum in Washington, D.C. In May 2012, the National Catholic Reporter and The Tablet ,

3230-506: The arrival of his campaign caravan. A total of 269 other black candidates were running for office in Mississippi that year, and many of them complained that Evers was self-absorbed and hoarding resources, despite his slim chances of winning. Evers did little to support them. In the general election, Evers faced Democratic nominee Bill Waller and independent segregationist Thomas Pickens Brady . Waller and Evers were personally acquainted with one another, as Waller had prosecuted Beckwith for

3315-601: The authorities, instead merely transferring the accused priests between parishes . One priest in Law's archdiocese, John Geoghan , raped or molested more than 130 children in six different parishes in a career of 30 years. Law was widely denounced for his handling of the sexual abuse cases, and outside the church his public image was destroyed in the aftermath of the scandal. Two years after Law resigned from his position in Boston, which Bishop William Skylstad called "an important step in

3400-555: The behavior of poor blacks in the town, he ordered the police force to enforce a 25-mile per hour speed limit on local roads, banned cursing in public, and cracked down on truancy . He also prohibited the carrying of firearms in town but kept a gun on himself. He quickly responded to concerns from poor blacks while making white businessmen wait outside of his office. Rhetorically, he would vacillate between messages of racial conciliation and statements of hostility. Fayette's white population remained bitter about Evers' victory. Many avoided

3485-451: The candidate had a record of supporting the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Evers befriended a range of people from sharecroppers to presidents. He was an informal adviser to politicians as diverse as Lyndon B. Johnson , George C. Wallace , Ronald Reagan and Robert F. Kennedy . Evers severely criticized such national leaders as Roy Wilkins , Stokely Carmichael , H. Rap Brown and Louis Farrakhan over various issues. Evers

Bernard Francis Law - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-481: The carrying of firearms within city limits. He ran for governor in 1971 and the United States Senate in 1978, both times as an independent candidate. In 1989, Evers was defeated for re-election after serving sixteen years as mayor. In his later life, he became a Republican, endorsing Ronald Reagan in 1980, and more recently Donald Trump in 2016. This diversity in party affiliations throughout his life

3655-522: The city hall where they used to socialize and The Fayette Chronicle regularly criticized him. He argued with the county board of supervisors over his plan to erect busts of his brother, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Kennedys on the courthouse square. He told the press, "They're cooperating because they haven't blown my head off. This is Mississippi." In September 1969, a Klansman drove into Fayette with

3740-473: The council before resigning from the governance of the Archdiocese of Boston, and at that time was also a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture . He became even more influential in those Vatican congregations and, being based in Rome, he could attend all their meetings, unlike cardinals based in other countries. In May 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed Law to a post in Rome , as Archpriest of

3825-581: The day and as an attendant for the men's restroom at the Conrad Hilton Hotel at nights. He also began pimping and ran a numbers game , taking $ 500 a week from the latter. He gained enough money to purchase several bars, bootlegged liquor, and sold jukeboxes. In Mississippi about 1951, brothers Charles and Medgar Evers grew interested in African freedom movements. They were interested in Jomo Kenyatta and

3910-495: The decree Presbyterorum ordinis and Pope Paul VI later enacted it into law in the motu proprio Ecclesiae sanctae . The institution was later reaffirmed in the Code of Canon Law of 1983. Such a prelature is an institution having clergy and, possibly, lay members which would execute specific pastoral activities. The adjective "personal" refers to the fact that in contrast with previous canonical use for ecclesiastical institutions,

3995-517: The editor of the Boston Phoenix weekly, wrote "Cardinal sin", an article about the cases. Mark Keane, a victim of Geoghan, believed that Law had direct knowledge that Geoghan, who worked in the Archdiocese of Boston from 1962 to 1993, was repeatedly molesting children. Keane said that the archbishop not only allowed the priest to continue working, but repeatedly moved him from parish to parish where he had daily contact with many children (one of whom

4080-474: The editorial said that this letter was "surely one of the precipitating events in his departure". The Globe ' s exposé of the scandal was the subject of an Oscar-winning film, Spotlight released in the United States in November 2015, in which Law was portrayed by Len Cariou . In a statement, Cardinal Law said, "It is my fervent prayer that [my resignation] may help the Archdiocese of Boston to experience

4165-475: The hands of Waller supporters in Jackson and then went to a local television station where his opponent was delivering a victory speech. Learning that Evers had arrived, Waller's nervous aides hurried the governor-elect to his car. Evers approached the car shortly before its departure and told Waller, "I just wanted to congratulate you." Waller replied, "Whaddya say, Charlie?" and his wife leaned over and shook Evers' hand. In 1978, Evers ran as an independent for

4250-471: The healing process", Pope John Paul II appointed him Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 2004. He resigned the position upon reaching age 80 in November 2011, and died in Rome on December 20, 2017 at age 86. Law was born in Torreón , Coahuila , Mexico , on November 4, 1931, the only child of Bernard Aloysius Law (1890–1955) and Helen A. Law (née Stubblefield; 1911–1991). His father

4335-440: The healing, reconciliation and unity which are so desperately needed. To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness." While no longer Archbishop of Boston, Law remained a bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church in good standing; as a cardinal, he participated in the 2005 papal conclave . By the time of the 2013 papal conclave , he had become ineligible to vote as he

SECTION 50

#1732894473183

4420-408: The judge in the municipal court, he personally issued fines for infractions such as cursing in public. He regularly ignored the input of the town board of aldermen, and town employee Charles Ramberg reported that he said he would fire municipal workers who would not vote for him. During Evers' tenure, Fayette benefitted from several federal grants, and ITT Inc. built an assembly plant in the town, but

4505-430: The late 1960s. Prosecutors further accused him of depositing town funds in a personal bank account. His attorney told the court that Evers had indeed concealed the income, but argued that the charge was invalid since this had been done before the late 1960s, as the indictment specified. The case resulted in a mistrial , but Evers' reputation permanently suffered. In the late 1970s he used a $ 5,300 federal grant to renovate

4590-719: The law requiring abuse to be reported was not expanded to include priests until 2002. Law was a member of the Congregations for the Oriental Churches , the Clergy , Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments , Evangelisation of Peoples , Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life , Catholic Education , Bishops as well as the Pontifical Council for the Family . He held membership in all these congregations and of

4675-402: The murder of Medgar. Despite the fears of public observers, the campaign was largely devoid of overt racist appeals and Evers and Waller avoided negative tactics. Though about 40 percent of the Mississippi electorate in 1971 was black, Evers only secured about 22 percent of the total vote; Waller won with 601,222 votes to Evers' 172,762 and Brady's 6,653. The night of the election, Evers shook

4760-472: The nomination, moderate whites would be more inclined to vote for himself in the general election. He campaigned on a platform of reduced taxes—particularly for lower property taxes on the elderly, improved healthcare, and legalizing gambling along the Gulf Coast . Low on money, his candidacy was largely funded by the sale of campaign buttons and copies of his recently published autobiography. His campaign staff

4845-520: The past in as systematic and comprehensive way as possible, so that legitimate questions which have been raised might be answered." Even so, Law submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Boston to the Vatican , which Pope John Paul II accepted on December 13, 2002. Law wrote in a personal declaration, "The particular circumstances of this time suggest a quiet departure. Please keep me in your prayers." and moved to Rome. In July 2003, Seán O'Malley , OFMCap

4930-532: The potential of the black majority and achieve political influence in Jefferson and two adjacent counties. He explained, "My feeling is that Negroes gotta control somewhere in America, and we've dropped anchor in these counties. We are going to control these three counties in the next ten years. There is no question about it." With his voter registration drives having made Fayette's number of black registered voters double

5015-408: The priest was unfit to return to parish ministry. On May 25, 1985, Law was created cardinal, and Santa Susanna was assigned as his titular church . In 1985, delivering one of the few speeches in Latin at the Synod of Bishops, he called for the creation of a "universal catechism" to guard against dissent, especially by theologians. He was the second prelate to call for such a document, which became

5100-404: The primaries and won back the office of mayor. In 1989, Evers lost the nomination once again to political rival Kennie Middleton. In his response to the defeat, Evers accepted, said he was tired, and that: "Twenty years is enough. I'm tired of being out front. Let someone else be out front." Evers began mulling the possibility of a campaign for the office of governor in 1969. He decided to enter

5185-556: The program's first year, sixty-four Episcopal priests applied for acceptance. This brought married priests with their families into U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses for the first time. On January 11, 1984, Law was appointed Archbishop of Boston by Pope John Paul II and was installed on March 23, 1984. That same year, Law reassigned a local priest, Fr John Geoghan , to St. Julia's in Weston, on the recommendation of medical professionals. Geoghan had previously been known to abuse children, and at least one auxiliary bishop in Boston warned Law that

SECTION 60

#1732894473183

5270-412: The region's economy largely remained depressed. By 1981, Jefferson County had the highest unemployment rate in the state. Whites' perception that Evers was venal and self-interested persisted and began to spread among the black community. This problem ballooned when in 1974 the Internal Revenue Service arranged for him to be indicted for tax evasion by failing to report $ 156,000 in income he garnered in

5355-407: The resettlement in his diocese of 166 Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the United States, and were members of a Vietnamese religious congregation , the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix . In continuing his ecumenical work, Law formed the Missouri Christian Leadership Conference. He was made a member of the Vatican's Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and served from 1976 to 1981 as

5440-419: The rise of the Kikuyu tribal resistance to colonialism in Kenya , known as the Mau Mau uprising as it moved to open violence. Along with his brother, Charles became active in the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), a civil rights organization that promoted self-help and business ownership. He also helped his brother with black voter registration drives. Between 1952 and 1955, Evers often spoke at

5525-469: The size of the white electorate, Evers helped elect a black man to the local school board in 1966. He also established the Medgar Evers Community Center at the outskirts of town, which served as a center for registration efforts, grocery store, restaurant, and dance hall. By early 1968 he had established a network of local NAACP branches in the region. The president of each branch served as Evers' deputies, and he attended all of their meetings. That year he made

5610-448: The sort of Vatican appointments he enjoyed after leaving Boston "but unfortunately we're living with the consequences of that". The Guardian noted at the time that Law had become "a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church's systematic protection of paedophile priests" because of his refusal to stop sexual abuse in Boston. Law is portrayed by Len Cariou in the 2015 biographical drama Spotlight . Prelate The archetypal prelate

5695-444: The standard for a cardinal who dies in Rome, included Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on December 21 at which Pope Francis said the final prayers. Vatican TV did not livestream the Mass as it normally does. Upon his death, his successor as Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Seán O'Malley , OFMCap , said it was "unfortunate" that Law "had such a high-profile place in the life of the Church". He speculated that today Law would not receive

5780-417: The strict canonical sense, "prelate" denominates a priest or bishop who is ordinary of a personal prelature (see below), which is a functional equivalent of a diocese that has a "particular pastoral or missionary work for various regions or for different social groups" (cf. Code of Canon Law , Canon 294) yet no territorial jurisdiction. In the Armenian Apostolic Church , "prelate" (in English) denominates

5865-489: The time of Evers's election as mayor, the town of Fayette had a population of 1,600 of which 75% was African-American and almost 25% white; the white officers on the Fayette city police "resigned rather than work under a black administration," according to the Associated Press . Evers told reporters "I guess we will just have to operate with an all-black police department for the present. But I am still looking for some whites to join us in helping Fayette grow." Evers then outlawed

5950-421: The vote. Evers endorsed Ronald Reagan for President of the United States during the 1980 United States presidential election . Evers later attracted controversy for his support of judicial nominee Charles W. Pickering , a Republican, who was nominated by President George H. W. Bush for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Evers criticized the NAACP and other organizations for opposing Pickering, as he said

6035-410: The world (members do not take vows and live normal lives), whereas religious institutes are religious organizations operating out of the world (members take vows and live by the proper law of their institute). The first, and presently only, personal prelature is Opus Dei , which Pope John Paul II erected as such in 1982 by the Apostolic constitution Ut sit . In the case of Opus Dei, the Prelate

6120-611: Was Keane). Even though abuse by Geoghan had been reported repeatedly in the media since 1996, the new editor of the daily Boston Globe newspaper Martin Baron set the Spotlight investigatory team to work on the case in September 2001. Lombardi acknowledged that the Globe may have had the story before she did, but was delayed somewhat pending the release of sealed records. In April 2002, following

6205-655: Was a United States Air Force colonel and a veteran pilot of World War I . Law grew up on military bases in the United States and Latin America. He attended schools in New York ; Florida ; Georgia ; Barranquilla, Colombia ; and graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School in Saint Thomas , U.S. Virgin Islands . While in high school, he was employed by The Virgin Islands Daily News . He graduated from Harvard College with

6290-505: Was a member of more congregations than any other bishop ... Cardinals that are members of these offices can't always go to the meetings—they are not in Rome—but Bernie Law did and he goes everywhere and he keeps his head held high." It was "commonly believed that [Law would] live out his retirement in Rome" (when he reached 80 years of age). After his retirement in 2011, Law continued to live in Vatican City, and regularly attended

6375-539: Was a member of the Republican Party for 30 years when he spoke warmly of the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States. During the 2016 presidential election , Evers supported Donald Trump 's presidential campaign . Evers wrote two autobiographies or memoirs: Evers (1971), written with Grace Halsell and self-published; and Have No Fear, written with Andrew Szanton and published by John Wiley & Sons (1997). Evers

6460-411: Was appointed as the new archpriest. In Rome, Law was considered an active and important conservative voice within many of the Vatican offices in which he served. Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican journalist, reported that Law believed he had been "badly done by", and that other cardinals saw him as a victim rather than a guilty party. Until his retirement, Mickens said, "He did not lose his influence. He

6545-489: Was known for his role in the civil rights movement along with his younger brother Medgar Evers . After serving in World War II, Evers began his career as a disc jockey at WHOC in Philadelphia, Mississippi . In 1954, he was made the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) State Voter Registration chairman. After his brother's assassination in 1963, Evers took over his position as field director of

6630-501: Was largely young and inexperienced and lacked organization. Evers' rallies drew large crowds of blacks. The Clarion-Ledger , a leading Mississippian conservative newspaper, largely ignored his campaign. To gain attention, he unexpectedly gatecrashed the annual Fisherman's Rodeo in Pascagoula and stopped and spoke to people on the streets of Jackson during their morning commute. Police departments in rural towns were often horrified by

6715-408: Was named the new Archbishop of Boston. The Boston Globe said in an editorial the day after Law's resignation was accepted that "Law had become the central figure in a scandal of criminal abuse, denial, payoff, and coverup that resonates around the world". A letter urging Law's resignation had been signed by 58 priests, mostly diocesan priests who had sworn obedience to Law as their direct superior;

6800-427: Was once again removed from ministry due to continued child sex abuse, but was later allowed to return to St Julia's. Further incidents resulted in his permanent removal in 1993, and his defrocking in 1998. In January 2001, Law was named a defendant in several high-profile cases involving pedophile priests, including one involving Geoghan. Reporter Kristen Lombardi, who was assigned to investigate by Susan Ryan-Vollmar,

6885-533: Was over the age of 80. Within weeks of his resignation, Law moved from Boston to Rome. When the state attorney general issued his report entitled Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston (July 23, 2003), he severely criticized Law, mentioning that "the Archdiocese has shown an institutional reluctance to adequately address the problem and, in fact, made choices that allowed the abuse to continue," but did not allege that Law had tried to evade investigation. He said that Cardinal Law had not broken any laws, because

6970-579: Was reflected in his fostering of friendships with people from a variety of backgrounds, as well as his advising of politicians from across the political spectrum. After his political career ended, he returned to radio and hosted his own show, Let's Talk . In 2017, Evers was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for his contributions to the music industry. Charles Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi , on September 11, 1922, to James Evers,

7055-603: Was tapped for his first national post, as executive director of the US Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs . Pope Paul VI named Law bishop of the Diocese of Springfield–Cape Girardeau in Missouri on October 22, 1973, and he was consecrated on December 5 of that year. Law's predecessor in Springfield–Cape Girardeau was William Wakefield Baum , another future cardinal. In 1975, he arranged for

7140-524: Was the editor of The Mississippi Register , the diocesan newspaper. He also held several other diocesan posts from 1963 to 1968, including director of the family life bureau and spiritual director of the minor seminary. The young Fr. Law was a civil rights activist. He was a member of the Mississippi Leadership Conference and Mississippi Human Relations Council. For his civil rights activities and his strong positions on civil rights in

7225-504: Was with Kennedy in Los Angeles when he was assassinated . In May 1969, Evers ran for the office of Mayor of Fayette and defeated white incumbent R. J. Allen, 386 votes to 255. This made him the first black mayor of a biracial Mississippi town (unlike the all-black Mound Bayou ) since Reconstruction . Evers' election as mayor had great symbolic significance statewide and attracted national attention. The NAACP named Evers their 1969 Man of

#182817