BOSTON - The man chosen yesterday by Pope John Paul II as the interim leader of the Archdiocese of Boston is a welcome contrast to Cardinal Bernard F. Law, according to priests and Catholic lay leaders who know the new appointee.
These priests and lay Catholics say the pope's choice, Auxiliary Bishop Richard G. Lennon, is a good listener and easy to get along with and has made a genuine effort to get to know people who worked under him in Boston's western suburbs, where until now he was in charge of one of the archdiocese's five regions.
By comparison, many people inside and outside the church say, Law got in trouble partly because he seemed aloof and showed little interest in the daily concerns of his priests and parishioners.
Lennon, 55, named by the pope as apostolic administrator of Boston, is a native of the Boston area who was elevated to auxiliary bishop 18 months ago.
An administrator
He has been somewhat removed from the sex abuse scandal because for the last three years, even during the period since his promotion, he has been rector of St. John's Seminary here, the school that produces most of Boston's priests (including himself), and has not been involved in key decision-making inside the archdiocese. Before that, he worked as an administrator in the chancery.
As auxiliary bishop in charge of the archdiocesan West Region, he has shown a "willingness to go to the parishes and participate in a listening session, and he's heard what people have on their minds," said Jim Post, the president of Voice of the Faithful, a rapidly growing group of lay Catholics organized in response to the scandal.
"He knows what it's like to speak with survivors" of priests' sexual abuse, "and with the laity of this troubled diocese," Post said. "As we look ahead, there's no quality that's more important."
One critic of Law, the Rev. Walter Cuenin, pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Newton, a West Region town, called Lennon "a very decent man."
'Easy to work with'
"He is easy to work with," Cuenin said, "and will be a good person to guide us during the transition."
Lennon, he added, "has been out here to say Mass and for dinner and to get to know people; he is a very bright man."
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who represented victims of John J. Geoghan, the former priest whose sexual abuse of children started the scandal, said he had deposed Lennon in several lawsuits but had found nothing incriminating about his actions as a one-time low-level administrator in the chancery.
"We didn't link him to any negligence," Garabedian said.
Lennon made no formal public appearances yesterday but issued a brief statement through the archdiocese in which he pledged "to work towards healing as a church."