Prelate

The skyline of this city is marked by two types of cloud-piercing architecture: smokestacks and steeples. Most of the smokestacks stopped working 20 years ago. The Gothic-style steeples, with their heavy bronze bells, still ring out notice that this is an old-fashioned town built by Catholic immigrants from Europe.

In a remarkable letter distributed Sunday to Roman Catholic parishes here, Cardinal Bernard Law insisted he knew nothing of the questionable history of a Boston priest charged with child rape. The cardinal said he had "absolutely no memory" of anyone personally informing him as early as 1984 that Father Paul Shanley had molested a child. Law also acknowledged the damage the massive sexual abuse scandal has caused him personally. "Bewilderment has given rise to anger and distrust," Law wrote.

A Connecticut priest who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct apparently killed himself Thursday at a Catholic psychiatric hospital, church officials said. The Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., identified the priest as Father Alfred J. Bietighofer, 64, who left his parish in April and was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Bietighofer was found hanged in his room Thursday at St. Luke Institute, according to Prince George's County police and hospital officials.

In his second day of testimony about an alleged cover-up of a sex abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese, Cardinal Bernard Law on Friday once again stated that he relied on subordinates to keep track of a priest suspected of child molestation. A plaintiff's lawyer and an alleged victim of former priest John J. Geoghan related their impressions of responses that Law gave at a daylong deposition at the chancery here.

Too many victims were coming forward, Cardinal Bernard Law said Sunday to explain why the Archdiocese of Boston suddenly withdrew from a settlement with 86 alleged sexual abuse victims. At a nearby parish, however, that account rang hollow. And the lawyer for the 86 victims said the church's retreat from its agreement was tantamount to revictimization.

Cardinal Bernard Law, firing back in an increasingly contentious clerical sexual scandal, has declared in court papers that unspecified "negligence" of a then-6-year-old boy and his parents contributed to the alleged abuse. The nation's longest-serving Catholic prelate made the assertion in response to a lawsuit filed against him and the archdiocese by Gregory Ford and his parents. Now 24, Ford claims he was molested for six years by Father Paul Shanley, a priest in the Boston archdiocese.

Making his first public address since his return from an emergency Vatican summit, Cardinal Bernard Law told Sunday worshipers here that a national policy about clerical sexual abuse will not be established before a U.S. bishops meeting in June. Celebrating Mass at Holy Cross cathedral, Law said: "The focus of that meeting will be the whole question of sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and how the church can respond to that issue."

Under intense public pressure to act decisively against abusive priests, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua joined Roman Catholic leaders Friday who want a "one-strike-and-you're-out" policy. The U.S. cardinals returned from this week's Vatican summit on the clerical sex-abuse crisis struggling to build consensus for a tough approach among the nation's bishops. On Friday, they seemed closer. In addition to Bevilacqua, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Archbishop Harry Flynn of St.

Cardinal Bernard Law, in the midst of a massive clerical sexual abuse scandal, disclosed late Tuesday that he made an unannounced trip to Rome over the weekend and discussed resigning with Pope John Paul II but had decided to remain in his job. Law vowed that "as a result of my stay in Rome, I return home encouraged in my efforts to provide the strongest possible leadership."

Although well aware of sexual abuse complaints against Father Paul Shanley, Catholic Church officials here failed to disclose his history when they approved his 1990 transfer to a Southern California parish, documents released Monday show. On the contrary, a recommendation to the diocese of San Bernardino described Shanley as "a priest in good standing."