In the end, it’s possible the McCarrick report may be remembered as the single most consequential step toward reform during the Pope Francis papacy, not only because of what it reveals about this particular case, but the precedent it sets for how all future cases ought to be handled.
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.
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.
A day after a New Jersey victims’ rights law went into effect, a 37-year-old man represented by Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson has filed a lawsuit against Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal who was Newark’s archbishop from 1986 to 2000.
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.
[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. […]
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.
McCarrick was removed from the college of cardinals last year, after he was alleged to have abused both minors and seminarians.
Correspondence obtained by Crux from an ex-aide to Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal laicized over charges of sexual misconduct and abuse, confirms that restrictions on McCarrick were imposed by the Vatican in 2008.
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.
