BOSTON (AP) – One day after being installed as the new leader of the Boston archdiocese, Archbishop Sean O’Malley on Thursday shook up the legal team representing the archdiocese in more than 500 civil lawsuits by people who claim they were sexually abused by priests.

O’Malley also announced church personnel changes, including the promotion of temporary administrator Bishop Richard Lennon to the No. 2 position in the archdiocese.

O’Malley appointed Boston attorney Thomas Hannigan as lead counsel for the archdiocese in handling the sex abuse claims. Hannigan is the attorney who helped O’Malley settle abuse cases in the Rev. James Porter cases in 1992 and 1993 when O’Malley was bishop in the Fall River diocese. O’Malley had brought Hannigan into the settlement talks shortly after he was named as Boston’s new archbishop on July 1.

The Rogers Law Firm, which has handled the archdiocese’s legal affairs for more than 20 years, will continue to have some role in the settlement talks, although that has not been defined yet, said the Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

The Rogers firm will continue to handle all other legal matters for the archdiocese.

By naming Hannigan as lead counsel, O’Malley drew praise from alleged victims of clergy sex abuse and their lawyers, who have long complained that lawyers in the Rogers firm used hardball tactics to try to settle the lawsuits.

“It is my hope that Attorney Hannigan’s expertise in facilitating settlements in matters such as this will move the process towards a just and timely resolution,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Attorneys Wilson Rogers III and Wilson Rogers Jr. of the Rogers firm did not immediately return telephone messages Thursday seeking comment. Hannigan also did not return a call seeking comment.

Attorney Jeffrey Newman, whose firm represents more than 250 alleged victims, praised the decision to name a new lawyer to lead the settlement talks.

“Lawyers who have been involved in the past for so many years, and involved in the coverup and the protection of priests and the church … simply cannot make enlightened decisions,” Newman said.

O’Malley named Lennon – who acted as interim leader of the archdiocese after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop in December – as vicar general and moderator of the curia, the second-highest position in the archdiocese. The curia is a collective term for the institutions, offices and individuals who assist a bishop in governing the diocese.

Lennon will replace Bishop Walter J. Edyvean, whom O’Malley named as regional bishop for the west region of the archdiocese, which includes parishes in Watertown, Framingham and Natick.

“Bishop Lennon, with all of the work he’s done as apostolic administrator, at this moment is a better fit for the job of the moderator of the curia just because he brings all that extra knowledge to the role now for Bishop O’Malley,” Coyne said.

O’Malley, 59, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, became the sixth archbishop of Boston in ceremonies Wednesday that were marked by O’Malley’s apology to victims of clergy sex abuse.

As bishop of Fall River, O’Malley carved out a reputation for healing dioceses troubled by sex abuse allegations. Last October, the pope sent him to be bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., where his two immediate predecessors both resigned after admitting to sexual abuse of minors.

While generally praising O’Malley for the work he’s done in other clergy sex abuse cases, lawyers for alleged victims said they may file a contempt lawsuit against the archdiocese to force it to turn over the records of additional priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Newman’s law partner, Roderick MacLeish Jr., has sent a letter to the Rogers law firm demanding that the church turn over all the records it gave to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly during his recent 16-month investigation into the scandal.

In a report issued last week, Reilly said the archdiocese had records of 237 priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children over the last six decades. MacLeish said his office has received only 141 priest personnel files, despite a court order to turn over all the files of priests accused of abuse.

“It is critically important that the entire history of what happened here come out, that there be no secrets about the extent of this,” said MacLeish.

Coyne said the archdiocese is puzzled by the discrepancy.

“Everyone is scratching their heads trying to figure out what extra cases Attorney General Reilly was referring to, and who are the priests he said were part of this,” Coyne said.

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On the Net:

Boston Archdiocese: http://www.rcab.org

AP-ES-07-31-03 1638EDT

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