\u201cWhat happened with Law emboldened people to come forward. It made them realize they can challenge a powerful institution like the Catholic Church and that change can happen,\u201d said Jennifer Drobac, an Indiana University law professor and an expert on sexual harassment in the workplace.<\/p>\n
The downfall of Law, who died Wednesday<\/a> at the Vatican, was \u201ca cultural change and not just in the Catholic Church,\u201d Drobac added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened has had a ripple effect on all kinds of other institutions in our country, and it has a ripple effect all over the world,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t even know how wide the ripple effect will go.\u201d<\/p>\n Barbara Dorris, executive director of SNAP<\/a>, a sex-abuse victims group that has been pressuring the Vatican for justice, said she sees a direct line from Law to Weinstein and other recently accused abusers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the [Catholic church] survivors who first had the courage to come forward,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was the start of people finding the courage to speak out against powerful people and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n And the current spate of sex harassment and rape accusations that have crashed the careers of some of America\u2019s most famous men has, in turn, convinced other alleged victims of priestly abuse to come forward, Dorris said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent days, I\u2019ve talked to two families with children who have been abused,\u201d she said. \u201cBishops continue, to this day, to protect the predators.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Weinstein, who resigned from his company<\/a> after he was hit with a raft of rape and sexual harassment accusations, has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sexual encounters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe church is not alone in this,\u201d said veteran Vatican watcher Rocco Palmo, editor of the widely read website Whispers in the Loggia<\/a>. \u201cIt extends to Hollywood, it extends to Congress, to Wall Street to the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very intriguing parallels with what happened in Boston to what is happening now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There likely won\u2019t be many mourners at Law\u2019s funeral on Thursday. His sendoff will follow the centuries-old protocol for departed cardinals at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in Vatican City.<\/p>\n Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the funeral mass. When that is over, Pope Francis will stand at the foot of Law\u2019s coffin and give the standard \u201cfinal commendation,\u201d or blessing. Then, his casket will be carried off to its final resting place at the Saint Mary Major Basilica, which was his last assignment after he left Boston in 2002.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderscoring how toxic he is in the Vatican\u2019s eyes, they\u2019re moving unusually fast with the funeral,\u201d Palmo said. \u201cThey were not going to wait until after Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n So there will be only a clutch of Rome-based cardinals on hand to see him off along with his longtime secretary Monsignor Paul McInerny and possibly a handful of relatives, Palmo said. Notably absent will be Law\u2019s successor in Boston, Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n