CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 17 — Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston was ordered today by a Massachusetts judge to give a deposition in a lawsuit involving his failure to remove a priest despite repeated accusations that the priest had abused boys.
Lawyers for the cardinal sought to have the case dismissed or to win special protection exempting him from giving a sworn deposition. But the judge, Leila Kearns of Middlesex County Superior Court, rejected the their assertions that Cardinal Law was protected by the First Amendment's separation of church and state, and she ordered him to submit to the deposition process on June 5.
Lawyers and church scholars said that it would be the first time they knew of that an American cardinal would be deposed in legal case.
In a further setback for Cardinal Law, who has been criticized for his handling of the sexual abuse scandals in the Boston archdiocese, Judge Kearn also granted a request by Roderick MacLeish, the lawyer for Gregory Ford, the young man suing the cardinal, that the cardinal's deposition be made public.
It was Mr. MacLeish's release of 800 pages of internal church documents in the case last week, involving accusations of sexual abuse by the Rev. Paul Shanley, that touched off the most severe criticism of Cardinal Law by priests, wealthy supporters and other lay Catholics.
Father Shanley has repeatedly been accused of molesting boys since the 1960's and of publicly speaking in favor of sex between men and boys.
Cardinal Law revealed on Tuesday that he had flown to Rome over the weekend to meet with Pope John Paul II and senior Vatican officials to discuss how to respond to the sexual abuse scandal. After the meeting, the cardinal repeated a statement made on Friday that he would not resign, despite increasing pressure to do so.
But today church officials and others close to the archdiocese said it was far from clear that Cardinal Law would stay in office much longer, despite his statement on Friday that he intended to remain as archbishop "as long as God gives me the opportunity."
Philip Lawler, a former editor of the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, said: "As I read his statement, I see an ambiguity there which I think has to be deliberate. He doesn't say anywhere that `I'm going to stay.' He talks about serving the church, but he could do that from anywhere."
The Vatican has summoned Cardinal Law and his fellow American cardinals to Rome next week to discuss the sexual abuse crisis.
Two people, one a church official and the other an adviser to the archdiocese, said they would not be surprised if Cardinal Law was given an assignment to Rome soon.
These sources, both of whom insisted on anonymity, described what they knew of Cardinal Law's visit to Rome and the events leading to it.
They said that last Thursday Cardinal Law informed the papal nuncio in Washington that he was willing to resign, and was told not to do so yet.
The archdiocesan adviser said other American bishops were concerned that the cardinal would be bowing to public pressure, which might lead to pressure for the resignation of other bishops who had dealt with accusations of sexual abuse.
"The response that we had heard," the adviser said, "was that the bishops were saying: `You can't resign under media pressure. That isn't how the church runs. There's a problem. Let's collectively fix it.' "
As a result, they say, Cardinal Law, the senior American prelate, was summoned to Rome.
"I think he went to Rome seeking guidance, having offered to resign, and was told, `Why don't you go back home and let's consider some options,' " the church official said. "I think maybe the Holy Father did not have a sense for the true gravity of situation until his senior and most respected prelate could inform him of it firsthand."
On Tuesday, Cardinal Law issued a statement saying he had met with the pope and Vatican officials and that "the fact that my resignation has been proposed as necessary was part of my presentation."
He said he would use Catholic television and the archdiocesan newspaper to "address at length the record of the archdiocese's handling of these cases by reviewing the past in as systematic and comprehensive way as possible, so that legitimate questions which have been raised might be answered."
But in court in Cambridge today, Mr. MacLeish, the lawyer for Mr. Ford, one of Father Shanley's alleged victims, said Cardinal Law would not be able to control how the facts about his handling of Father Shanley came out.
"The story of Paul Shanley will be told in public, not by the Catholic media as the cardinal said," Mr. MacLeish said, describing Judge Kearn's order as "a major victory." Cardinal Law had been scheduled to be deposed on two dates in March, but had backed out of each, citing scheduling conflicts, Mr. MacLeish said. With the date now fixed by a judge, Cardinal Law will not be able to avoid being deposed again, Mr. MacLeish said.
Cardinal Law had earlier been scheduled to be deposed several times in the case of another priest accused of child sexual abuse, the Rev. John J. Geoghan, but the cardinal postponed those dates, according to Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer who brought the lawsuit. Mr. Garabedian allowed Cardinal Law to back out, because the archdiocese was negotiating a settlement with him that was finally reached on April 3.
Wilson Rodgers Jr., Cardinal Law's lawyer, argued in court today that Judge Kearn had no jurisdiction to compel the cardinal to be deposed, because of the First Amendment's guarantee that the government will not make any laws about religion. But Mr. MacLeish argued that this would be like saying, "The cardinal is above the law," and that courts had a right to hold even cardinals responsible for negligence with children, like any other people. Judge Kearn agreed.
It remained unclear today how Cardinal Law managed to slip out of Boston and travel to Rome and keep it a secret from virtually everyone, including archdiocesan officials and some influential American bishops who were just finishing up their own trip to Rome.
Today, Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman, said Cardinal Law would not attend commencement at Boston College, a Catholic university, where students have protested his plan to give the benediction.
Priest Convicted in Sex Case
SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 17 (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest faces up to 14 years in prison after his conviction for molesting a 13-year-old girl more than two decades ago. The priest, the Rev. Don Kimball, was convicted on Tuesday on the molestation charge, which dated from 1981. Father Kimball, 58, was acquitted of charges of raping another teenage girl in a church in 1977.