I knew Law when he was bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and we both left the area when he moved on up to east side ;-) I met him many many times and always liked him then.  He was nowhere near the right winger that he later became.    The only thing he was hard line about was abortion, even then it was only through his letters in the diocesan newspaper.   But then, southern Missouri wasn't exactly a hotbed of abortion clinics.    It was only years later that I learned he was covering up and moving around abusing priests in Missouri, too.  One of which was an associate in my parish there.   When all the stuff in Boston started coming out, I was shocked, as that was not the Law I had known.   By this time he had been in Boston for a long time and JPII the great enabler was pope and the church had changed a lot for the worse.   Now it no longer surprises me.  I often wonder what I would say if I ever met the man again.