“I do think the people in the diocese are starting to recognize that we, not the hierarchy, are the Church,” she added.

The question also arose whether Cardinal Bernard F. Law ’53, the archbishop of Boston accused of improperly dealing with accusations of sexual abuse by clergy, should resign—an option that Coyne firmly rejected because of the uncertainty it would engender.

“Cardinal Law might resign tomorrow, and we don’t know who we’re going to get,” Coyne said.

Flynn said that Law had made a mistake, but that the public should consider the mistake in its larger context.

“It’s very painful to me to see people mistake this man,” he said. “I just ask the people of this city to look at his record.”

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.