Analysis: A Reader’s Guide to McCarrick Report: Beware of Bad Guys, Smoking Guns

It’s taken far too long to get here, with agonizing delays, chaos, confusion, and reversals of fortune along the way, not to mention accusations of fraud and cover-up. Even now that we have a final result, heated arguments over its meaning and legitimacy probably are only beginning. That’s not a summary of the 2020 U.S. election, though it easily could be. The reference instead is to the Vatican’s release today of its long-awaited report on ex-cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick, promised more than two years ago and finally at hand.

McCarrick Report Summary Cites Lack of Serious Investigations of Rumors

Although dogged for years by rumors of sexual impropriety, Theodore E. McCarrick was able to rise up the Catholic hierarchical structure based on personal contacts, protestations of his innocence and a lack of church officials reporting and investigating accusations, according to the Vatican summary of its report on the matter.

Case of Bishop Hart Shows Role Clericalism Plays in Abuse Cover-Up

For years, clergy abuse survivors fought to have Bishop Joseph Hart’s name stripped from the building of St. Joseph’s Children’s Home in Torrington, Wyoming – a residence for troubled teenage boys known as the Hart’s Children Center. 

Cheyenne Diocese Struggles With Abuse Revelations About Popular Bishop

[This is part two of The Tablet’s three-part investigative series into Bishop Joseph Hart, who could become the first U.S. bishop to face criminal prosecution for abuse. Read part one here.] By Christopher White, The Tablet’s National Correspondent CHEYENNE, Wyoming – Nearly three decades had passed since Martin last stepped foot inside a Catholic church. […]

Ex-Seminarian’s Struggle Shows ‘Overlapping Jurisdictions’ Gap in Abuse Crisis

Seventeen years ago, a young foreign-born seminarian was packing his bags for the opportunity of a lifetime. During a chance meeting at a Labor Day BBQ, the highly influential and now disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick encouraged him to transfer to Washington, D.C., where he enrolled in the Theological College, the national seminary located at Catholic University of America.

A Simple Defrocking Won’t Mean the McCarrick Case Is Over

Various news agencies have reported that the Vatican will shortly announce a ruling in the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, accused of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago as well as various incidents with adult priests and seminarians.