When Bernard Francis Law '53 dons the miter as Boston's new archbishop on March 23, he will inherit an archdiocese rich in ethnic diversity and burdened with pressing social problems.

The 52-year-old bishop, who will preside over the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, will become the spiritual leader of two million Catholics and caretaker of 410 parishes in the nation's third largest diocese.

Unlike his predecessor, the late Cardinal Humberto Madeiros, who took over an archdiocese plagued with a debt of over $50 million. Law will be spared from any major financial troubles and free to face the more serious issues of poverty and women's rights.

Chief among the issues confronting the new archbishop will be the condition of Boston's thousands of Hispanics. Currently, many immigrant Hispanics rely on the church for such community services as shelters for the homeless, instruction in English, and church-funded soup kitchens.

But Hispanics are looking for the archdiocese under Law's direction to take a more active role on such political issues as housing, employment, and education.

"I do see him as a political influence," says Carmen A. Pola, director of the mayor's office of constituent services. "I think that he could play a major leadership role both inside and outside the Church," she adds.

Hispanic leaders will also press Law to assign more Hispanic priests to parishes in Spanish-speaking communities. "It's important for congregations to identify with a clergyman from the same background," explains Joseph A. Rodriguez, Hispanic liaison to the mayor's office.

The son of an army officer. Law learned Spanish as a child while living in Mexico and Colombia. Rodriguez said that this fluency will be an asset when dealing with the Hispanic community.

"I hear people talking on the streets and they are happy that someone who understands them is coming," he says.

Much of Law's time will have to be spent dealing with Boston's chronic racial problems which have penetrated the Church. During the busing riots in the 1970s, many families used parochial schools as an escape from the integrated public school system. This forced the Church to adopt policies making it easier for Blacks and other non-Catholic minorities to attend archdiocesan schools.

Civic leaders will urge Law to continue this policy so parochial schools "won't become a dodge for avoiding integration," Hollis Professor of Divinity Emeritus George Williams notes.

Church officials say they expect the new archbishop will go beyond continuing racial balance in parochial schools and take an active role in improving Boston's race relations inside and outside the Church.

They point to Law's early support for the civil rights movement, support that began soon after his seminary training when he joined the Mississippi Human Relations Council in 1961. Law also took a strong pro-integration stand during the '60s as editor of the Natchez-Jackson Diocesan newspaper in Mississippi.

"With his background, he will have a lot of ideas for improvement," explains Father James T. McDonald of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn agrees that the new archbishop will need to address racial problems. Calling Law's record "one of concern," Flynn says that "in Boston, that is what is important."

The Fairer Sex

In Boston as well as the rest of the country, women are trying to increase their role within the Church. There is even considerable pressure now to ordain women, notes Father Thomas F. Powers, director of campus ministries for the archdiocese.

Women are currently forbidden to conduct Mass, listen to confessions or perform other duties traditionally associated with the ordained ministry.

Pope John Paul II has shown no signs of wavering from this long-held stand, and Law has not dissented publicly from the Church's view on the matter.

But Powers says that Law made an effort to bring women into the administration of his previous diocese, giving them responsibility for important church programs.

Powers anticipates that Law will do the same for Boston and adds that he sees the new archbishop as a mediator between the reformist American school of thought and the traditional Vatican view on the matter.

Law has been bishop of the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri for the past 10 years.

While at Harvard, Law majored in medieval history and was vice president of the Catholic Club.