THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

Law will face many skeptics on his return

By Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff, 6/16/2002

ALLAS - As he left the conference early yesterday afternoon, Cardinal Bernard F. Law waved to the reporters and camera crews who had staked out his departure.

''I think we accomplished something significant,'' the cardinal said.

Earlier, as he walked through the hotel lobby, he stopped briefly to speak with three members of the Coalition of Catholics and Survivors, Joseph E. Gallagher Jr. of Wellesley, Anne Barrett Doyle of Reading, and Jan Leary of Natick. Leary is also a member of the Wellesley-based Voice of the Faithful.

''I'm sure he doesn't know who we are in any way, shape, or form, nor should he, but we see him every Sunday and no matter what our efforts are we can't draw him out to talk to us,'' Gallagher said.

''He's coming down the hall and we're talking about what our next step is and we came to the conclusion that one of the things we had to refocus on was some way to shift the debate on getting him to resign. I turn around and there he is.''

Law shook Gallagher's hand and said hello to other members of the survivors group.

''One of his comments was that he was so pleased with the charter,'' Gallagher said. ''I told him we've got several problems with the charter. And he said, `Yes, I've heard that.' I just have a sense he doesn't want to talk to people who he doesn't think are safe, so I was stunned that he stopped by.''

This story ran on page A26 of the Boston Globe on 6/16/2002.
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