Cardinal Law, Bishops Subpoenaed

B O S T O N, Dec. 12 -- Boston's embattled Roman Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law and several bishops who once worked for him have received subpoenas to appear before a grand jury.

A source familiar with the investigation says state police from the officeof Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly delivered Law's subpoena to hisBoston residence last Friday. Law left for Washington that day and laterflew to Rome to confer with Vatican officials about the sex abuse crisis.

The grand jury is reportedly looking into possible criminal violations by church officials who supervised priests accused of child sexual abuse. In addition to Law, subpoenas reportedly have been issued for Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, N.H.; Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans; Bishop Robert Banks of Green Bay, Wis.; and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y.

The subpoenas came as Law was still meeting with church leaders today at the Vatican to discuss his possible resignation.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said today that Law was expected to meet with Pope John Paul II on Friday. Any resignation, if Law were to offer to resign, would not come before such a meeting, he said.

Mounting Pressure to Resign

A state grand jury investigating accusations that archdioceseofficials mishandled alleged molestation cases involving clergy hasbeen meeting for months, but so far has only demanded churchrecords. Reilly and other prosecutors have acknowledged that theyhave yet to find grounds to bring criminal charges against Law oranyone else for the scandal that erupted a year ago.

Dozens of priests endorsed a letter this week calling for Law'sresignation, and separately, the 300-member Boston Priests Forummay issue its own resolution urging Law's resignation at a meetingFriday.

The latest call for Law to step down came Wednesday from theinfluential Roman Catholic lay reform group Voice of the Faithful.

"There is a state of spiritual and moral crisis in theArchdiocese of Boston," said Jim Post, president of Voice of theFaithful, which claims a national membership of 25,000. "In myjudgment, the Archdiocese of Boston has effectively been without abishop."