On the night before Easter, a group of soon-to-be Catholics stood in flowing white robes holding candles, waiting to be summoned by the cardinal. One by one, under the cathedral's soaring ceiling and stained glass windows, he dabbed oil onto their foreheads, praying, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit."
The Roman Catholic Church is an institution roiled by scandal. Its handling of an epidemic of child sex abuse has brought scrutiny from law enforcement and undermined the moral authority of bishops, who have struggled to assuage followers whose confidence in the church, and in them, has eroded.
But those lined up weren't thinking about that.
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