Theodore McCarrick
Theodore Edgar McCarrick is a laicized American former cardinal and bishop of the Catholic Church. Ordained in 1958, he became an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1977, then became bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, in 1981. From 1986 to 2000, he was Archbishop of Newark. He became a cardinal in February 2001 and served as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., from 2001 to 2006.
At one time, McCarrick was one of the most recognized American cardinals. A prolific fundraiser, he was connected to prominent politicians and was considered a power broker in Washington, D.C. Within the church, McCarrick was variously regarded as a moderate or as a progressive. He was a champion for progressive Catholics and was active in social justice causes, but was also "orthodox in his adherence to Roman Catholic dogma", opposing abortion and same-sex marriage and supporting the all-male priesthood.
McCarrick has been accused of engaging in sexual conduct with adult male seminarians over the course of decades. This sexual conduct was alleged to be an open secret in some church circles. Though multiple reports about McCarrick's alleged conduct with adult seminarians were made to American bishops and the Vatican between 1993 and 2016, allegations of sexual abuse against male minors were not publicly known until 2018. In June 2018, the Vatican removed McCarrick from public ministry because of credible sexual abuse allegations. In July 2018, The New York Times published a story detailing a pattern of sexual abuse of male seminarians and minors. The emergence of these reports and the lack of action from the church hierarchy infuriated Catholics and sparked demands for action against church leaders believed to be responsible.
McCarrick submitted his resignation from the College of Cardinals in July 2018, and his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis. After a church investigation and trial, he was found guilty of sexual crimes against adults and minors and abuse of power. McCarrick was dismissed from the clergy in February 2019. He is the most senior church official in modern times to be laicized and is believed to be the first cardinal ever laicized for sexual abuse.
Early life and education
An only child, McCarrick was born into an Irish American family in New York City to Theodore E. and Margaret T. McCarrick. His father was a ship captain who died from tuberculosis when McCarrick was three years old, and his mother then worked at an automobile parts factory in the Bronx. As a child, McCarrick served as an altar boy at the Church of the Incarnation in Washington Heights. He was expelled from the Jesuit Xavier High School in his junior year for missing classes.McCarrick missed an academic year due to the expulsion, but a friend in his family was able to help get him into the Jesuit Fordham Preparatory School. At Fordham, he was elected student council president and served in the ROTC program for the United States Air Force. McCarrick studied in Switzerland for a year before returning to the United States and attending Fordham University.
McCarrick later entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a Master of Arts in theology. McCarrick is a polyglot, speaking five languages.
Priesthood
McCarrick was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Francis Spellman, Archbishop of New York, on May 31, 1958. From 1958 to 1963, he furthered his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning a Ph.D. in sociology. He then served as an assistant chaplain at the Catholic University, becoming dean of students and director of development.McCarrick served as president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1969, and was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate of His Holiness in 1965. In 1969, Cardinal Terence Cooke recalled McCarrick to New York. McCarrick was an associate secretary for education and an assistant priest at Blessed Sacrament parish from 1969 to 1971. He was Cooke's secretary from 1971 to 1977. He was later accused of sexually abusing a male minor during this period.
Episcopal career
Auxiliary bishop of New York
In May 1977, McCarrick was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of New York and Titular Bishop of Rusibisir by Pope Paul VI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Cardinal Cooke, with Archbishop John Maguire and Bishop Patrick Ahern serving as co-consecrators. He selected as his episcopal motto: "Come Lord Jesus".As an auxiliary to Cardinal Cooke, he served as vicar of East Manhattan and the Harlems.
Bishop of Metuchen
McCarrick was named the founding Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, on November 19, 1981. He was installed at St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral on January 31, 1982. During his tenure, McCarrick erected new parishes in Perth Amboy, Califon, Skillman, Old Bridge, and Three Bridges. He also oversaw the development of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, Bishop's Annual Appeal, and ministries for blacks and Hispanics, pro-life activities, and the disabled.In 2001 a Catholic high school, originally established in 1885 and renamed multiple times through the years, was named Cardinal McCarrick High School in honor of McCarrick as the first bishop of the diocese. The school permanently closed in June 2015 for financial reasons.
Archbishop of Newark
On May 30, 1986, McCarrick was appointed the fourth Archbishop of Newark. He succeeded Peter Leo Gerety, and was installed at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on the following July 25. During his tenure, he established the Office of Evangelization, ministries for Hispanics and victims of HIV, and a drug prevention program. He also promoted vocations, and ordained a total of 200 priests for the Archdiocese.McCarrick became known as an advocate for social justice, once saying, "he Church cannot be authentic unless it takes care of the poor, the newcomers, the needy." During the 1980s, he served as an official observer to the Helsinki Commission and the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, serving at the behest of the State Department. In 1988, he participated in an interfaith meeting with Fidel Castro to promote religious freedom in Cuba, the first meeting of its kind subsequent to the fall of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. McCarrick, as a representative of Irish immigrant families, was chosen to be placed in the Ellis Island Hall of Fame on December 8, 1990.
Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, he served as chairman of the Committee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe from 1992 to 1997. In this capacity, he visited such countries as Yugoslavia, the Baltics, and Kazakhstan. He was twice elected to head the USCCB's Committee on Migration, and once asked the Congress "to recognize and support the important task of nurturing new citizens so that they may begin to play a full role in the future of this nation." He later became a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.
He was elected chairman of the Bishops' Committee on International Policy in 1996. His other visits included Bosnia, China, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, and Switzerland. Joined by Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, he announced an initiative in 1997 to assure that Catholic school uniforms in his Archdiocese would not be manufactured in sweatshops.
In 1998, in addition to his duties as archbishop, McCarrick was designated as superior of the Roman Catholic Mission sui iuris of the Turks and Caicos Islands; he delegated this mission to priests of the Neocatechumenal Way.
Archbishop of Washington
appointed McCarrick Archbishop of Washington, D.C. in November 2000. McCarrick was formally installed as the fifth archbishop of Washington at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on January 3, 2001. On February 21, 2001, John Paul made him a cardinal, assigning him as cardinal priest to the titular church of Ss. Nerei e Achilleo. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.In June 2004, McCarrick was accused by conservative Catholics of intentionally misreading a document from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, recommending that Catholic politicians who supported abortion be denied the Eucharist. McCarrick led a successful push to have the USCCB allow the bishops of individual dioceses to make a determination on who was or was not eligible to receive the sacrament rather than forbid all pro-abortion American politicians from doing so. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus said, "The bishops I have talked to have no doubt that presentation did not accurately represent the communication from Cardinal Ratzinger." McCarrick said that he did not want to cause "a confrontation with the Sacred Body of the Lord Jesus in my hand," and added that "the individual should be the one who decides whether or not he is in communion with the Church" and therefore eligible to receive the sacrament. McCarrick later had a meeting with John Kerry, a Catholic and the Democratic nominee in that year's presidential election. Some Catholics felt that due to Kerry's pro-choice position on public policy, he should not have been allowed to receive Communion.
Although McCarrick was sometimes labelled a liberal, he was noted for adhering to church teaching on abortion, same-sex marriage, and the male-only priesthood.
Retirement as archbishop
On May 16, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI accepted McCarrick's resignation as Archbishop of Washington, after the latter's reaching the customary age limit of 75, and appointed Donald Wuerl, Bishop of Pittsburgh, as the 6th Archbishop of Washington, DC. From May 16, 2006, until Wuerl's installation on June 22, 2006, McCarrick served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Washington, an interim post.After his retirement, McCarrick resided for some time at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington. He subsequently moved to the grounds of the provincial headquarters of the Institute of the Incarnate Word in Chillum, Maryland, in a building on a complex that included a seminary.
McCarrick was named a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2007.
In 2009, McCarrick presided over the graveside service of U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery, where he read from a letter Kennedy had written to Pope Benedict XVI. In 2015, he served as one of the concelebrants at the funeral of Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, and delivered the closing Mass as well.
Within the church, McCarrick "was always seen as a moderate, centrist presence in the hierarchy, a telegenic pastor who could present the welcoming face of the church, no matter what the circumstances." The Washington Post identified him in a 2014 article as "one of a number of senior churchmen who were more or less put out to pasture during the eight-year pontificate of Benedict XVI," adding that after the election of Pope Francis he found himself put "back in the mix." During his retirement, McCarrick pressed House Speaker John Boehner to take up immigration reform. McCarrick spent a significant amount of time traveling and engaging in inter-religious dialogue. In April 2014, at the request of the U.S. State Department, McCarrick made a trip to the Central African Republic, a country suffering from ethnic and interreligious violence. In May 2014, he traveled with Pope Francis to the Holy Land. McCarrick also traveled to Armenia to discuss Syria with Eastern Orthodox clerics, the Philippines to visit typhoon victims, China for discussions on religious freedom, Iran for talks on nuclear proliferation, and served as a Vatican intermediary for the U.S.-Cuba talks.
The release of some of McCarrick's correspondence in May 2019 indicates that he attempted to influence the selection of a United States ambassador to the Holy See. On January 27, 2017, responding to rumors that President Donald Trump would appoint Catholic commentator George Weigel to be the ambassador to the Vatican, McCarrick wrote to Pope Francis stating that Weigel was "very much a leader of the ultra-conservative wing of the Catholic Church in the United States and has been publicly critical of Your Holiness in the past." He added, "Many of us American bishops would have great concerns about his being named to such a position in which he would have an official voice, in opposition to your teaching." McCarrick indicated he would be happy to discuss the topic further with the Pope, but there are no indications in their correspondence of whether he did so.
Accusations of sexual abuse, investigations, and punishments
Warnings of alleged misconduct
Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan said that during his time as papal nuncio to the United States in 1994, prior to Pope John Paul II's visit to the United States in 1995, he received a phone call from a woman who was concerned that there would be a "media scandal if the Pope goes to Newark" because of "voices about McCarrick's behavior with seminarians." Cacciavillan then told Cardinal John O'Connor, Archbishop of New York, about the woman's call. O'Connor reportedly conducted an "investigation, an inquiry" and eventually told Cacciavillan that "there was no obstacle to the visit of the Pope to Newark." Cacciavillan stated that he did not attempt to contact the Vatican. According to the 2018 book Il giorno del giudizio, Italian journalists Andrea Tornielli and Gianni Valente state that Cardinal O’Connor, in fact, "objected strongly to John Paul II's idea of rewarding McCarrick and the diocese of Newark with a stop during his papal visit to the United States in 1995." But according to Tornielli and Valente, John Paul's personal secretary, Msgr. Stanisław Dziwisz was able to intercept these objections before they reached the pope. The authors suggest that this was because as bishop, McCarrick was an efficient fundraiser for the pope's causes, including anti-Communist efforts in Poland.Father Boniface Ramsey, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Yorkville, in New York City, stated that he spoke to Thomas C. Kelly, Archbishop of Louisville, about McCarrick in 1993. In 2000, Ramsey wrote to the Papal Nuncio Gabriel Montalvo Higuera to complain about McCarrick's behavior. The letter was forwarded to Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. Ramsey said that he tried to speak with Cardinal Edward Egan, then Archbishop of New York, about McCarrick's history, but that Egan "didn't want to hear it." In 2015, Ramsey wrote to Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, about McCarrick. O'Malley stated that he never saw the letter, and that it had been handled "at the staff level."
Richard Sipe stated that he wrote a letter to Benedict XVI in 2008 saying that McCarrick's activities "had been widely known for several decades." Sipe sent a letter to Bishop Robert W. McElroy in 2016 concerning sexual misconduct by McCarrick. McElroy asked if Sipe would be willing to share corroborating material that would substantiate his allegations. Sipe said that he was precluded from sharing specific documentary information. McElroy said "he limitations on his willingness to share corroborating information made it impossible to know what was real and what was rumor."
Mike Kelly of the New Jersey Record reported that in a conversation with Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, Tobin said that around the time he became Archbishop of Newark in 2016, he heard "rumors" about McCarrick having slept with seminarians, but chose not to believe them, stating that at the time they seemed too "incredulous" to be true. Kelly also mentioned that in 1998, based on a tip, he himself had attempted to investigate the rumors, "but no seminarians would talk".
Settlements
Between 2005 and 2007, the Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of Newark paid financial settlements to two priests who had accused McCarrick of abuse. These settlements totalled $180,000.In 2005, the Archdiocese of Newark and the Dioceses of Trenton and Metuchen paid a total of $80,000 to a former priest, who stated that McCarrick would touch him in bed, but only above the waist, and that they never kissed. The Diocese of Metuchen's contribution was not in reference to McCarrick, but to an allegation regarding previous conduct of a teacher at a high school located at that time in the diocese.
Documents obtained by The New York Times reveal that in 1994 a priest wrote a letter to Bishop Edward T. Hughes, McCarrick's successor as Bishop of Metuchen, stating that McCarrick had inappropriately touched him. In 2006, $100,000 was paid by the Diocese. The payments were authorized by Metuchen bishop Paul G. Bootkoski, who also reported the offenses to law enforcement. According to Donald Cardinal Wuerl, McCarrick's successor as Archbishop of Washington, nobody from these dioceses informed him of these settlements, even after the retired McCarrick began living on the grounds of a seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington. In 2010, Sipe published excerpts from the 2005 and 2007 settlement documents.
On December 27, 2019, The Washington Post revealed that McCarrick gave $600,000 to high-ranking church officials, including two popes, multiple priests, cardinals and archbishops, when he was Archbishop of Washington between 2001 and 2006 amid a sexual abuse probe. The Post article stated that "Several of the more than 100 recipients were directly involved in assessing misconduct claims against McCarrick, documents and interviews show." However, some of these recipients, including both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, had little oversight over these transactions. Robert Hoatson, a former New Jersey cleric who was involved in the transactions, described these payments as "hush money."
In February 2020, America magazine revealed that the Diocese of Metuchen, the Archdiocese of Newark, and Diocese of Trenton had beginning in 2005 worked together to secretly pay victims of McCarrick. Other suspected participants in hush money payments over McCarrick's acts of sex abuse include individuals involved with either the U.S. nunciature, the Congregation of Bishops and the Vatican Secretariat of State. Former substitute for general affairs at the Secretariat of State Leonardo Sandri, who received the letter of concern from Ramsey in 2000, was suspected of participating in the cover-up of McCarrick's acts as well, and America Magazine journalist Thomas J. Reese recommended that he be part of the Vatican's investigation against the former cardinal.
Allegations involving seminarians and priests
In 2018, multiple media outlets reported a number of priests and former seminarians under McCarrick had come forward alleging that McCarrick had engaged in inappropriate conduct with seminarians. These included reports that he made sexual advances toward seminarians during his tenure as Bishop of Metuchen and Archbishop of Newark. McCarrick reportedly routinely invited a number of seminarians to a house on the shore with limited sleeping accommodations, resulting in one of them sharing a bed with the bishop. According to former seminarian Desmond Rossi, he and a friend later realized that the archbishop would cancel weekend gatherings "...if there were not enough men going that they would exceed the number of available beds, thus necessitating one guest to share a bed with the archbishop." Rossi subsequently transferred before ordination from the Archdiocese of Newark to a diocese in New York State.Wuerl denied having any prior knowledge of claims regarding sexual abuse on the part of McCarrick. On January 10, 2019, The Washington Post published a story stating that Wuerl was aware of allegations against McCarrick in 2004 and reported them to the Vatican. In a January 12, 2019 letter, Wuerl stated that when "the allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was brought against Archbishop McCarrick, I stated publicly that I was never aware of any such allegation or rumors." But the context, he said, was in discussions about sexual abuse of minors, not adults. He later said in a letter January 15 to the priests of the Archdiocese that the survivor in the previous Pittsburgh case had asked that the matter be kept confidential, and he heard no more about it: "I did not avert to it again," and "only afterwards was I reminded of the 14-year-old accusation of inappropriate conduct which, by that time, I had forgotten."
In August 2019, letters and postcards that McCarrick sent to his alleged victims were made public. Two abuse prevention experts who reviewed the letters and postcards for the Associated Press described the correspondence as "a window into the way a predator grooms his prey."
Removal from ministry and resignation as cardinal
On June 20, 2018, McCarrick was removed from public ministry by the Holy See after a review board of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York found an allegation "credible and substantiated" that he had sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy while a priest in New York. Patrick Noaker, the attorney for the anonymous complainant, alleged two incidents at St. Patrick's Cathedral, one in 1971 and the other in 1972. Noaker stated that when measuring the teen for a cassock, McCarrick "unzipped pants and put his hands in the boy's pants." McCarrick stated that he was innocent of these charges: "I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence." He also stated, "In obedience I accept the decision of The Holy See, that I no longer exercise any public ministry." Also on June 20, 2018, Cardinal Tobin revealed that during McCarrick's ministry in New Jersey, there had been accusations of sexual misconduct with three adults, and that two of the allegations had resulted in confidential financial settlements with the complainants.On July 5, Fordham University rescinded an honorary degree and other honors it had granted McCarrick. The Catholic University of America, where McCarrick earned two degrees and served in a variety of spiritual and administrative positions, revoked the honorary degree it awarded him in 2006. On July 16, 2018, The New York Times published a front-page article describing McCarrick's abuse of adult seminarians. On July 19, The New York Times published an article based on the story of a man named James, whose last name was withheld. A New Jersey man whose uncle had known McCarrick since high school, James alleged that McCarrick had sexually abused him beginning at age 11. James had been the first boy McCarrick had ever baptized. James claimed that McCarrick had exposed himself to him when he was 11 and had sexually touched him beginning when he was 13. He explained that he tried to tell his father a couple of years later but was not believed. On November 13, James revealed himself as James Grein, and gave a public speech at the "Silence Stops Now Rally" in Baltimore, where he called on Catholics to "reform and reclaim the Church." Speaking about alleged mishandling of allegations by Catholic bishops, he said, "Our bishops must know that the jig is up."
On July 27, 2018, Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe "a life of prayer and penance in seclusion" and accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals. McCarrick became the first person to resign from the College of Cardinals since Louis Billot, a French prelate, resigned in 1927 when he refused an order to withdraw his support of Action Française, a monarchist movement that Pope Pius XI had condemned. He is also the first cardinal to resign following allegations of sexual abuse. The Pope took this action before the accusations were investigated by church officials, the first time an order of penance and prayer has been issued before a church trial. McCarrick was not laicized pending the completion of a canonical trial. The Vatican announced on July 28, 2018, that Pope Francis had ordered Archbishop McCarrick to obey an "obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him" and also observe "a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial."
In December 2019, McCarrick was sued by a man named John Bellocchio, who alleged that McCarrick sexually abused him when he was a 14-year old boy in the 1990s.
Viganò allegations
On August 25, 2018, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, released an 11-page letter describing a series of warnings to the Vatican regarding McCarrick. Viganò stated that Montalvo, then nuncio to the United States, had informed the Vatican in 2000 of what Vigano characterized as McCarrick's "gravely immoral behaviour with seminarians and priests." He further stated that Archbishop Pietro Sambi had also informed the Vatican. Viganò says that in 2006 – when working at the Vatican – he wrote his own memo regarding McCarrick. However, he says, nothing was done to stop McCarrick. In 2008, Viganò says he wrote a second memo, including material from Sipe.In 2009 or 2010 according to Vigano, Pope Benedict XVI placed severe restrictions on McCarrick's movements and public ministry, not allowing him to travel beyond the grounds of the seminary where he was living and not permitting him to say Mass in public. However, according to Viganò, Pope Francis subsequently removed these sanctions and made McCarrick "his trusted counselor," even though Francis "knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator. He knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end."
However, Italian journalists "Tornielli and Valente report that it was in 2007 – not 2009, as Viganò has claimed – that Pope Benedict XVI issued his “instructions” to McCarrick." McCarrick responded in a 2008 letter to Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, writing that he had shared his bed with seminarians. He said that "this was never done in secret or behind closed doors," and that he had never "had sexual relations with anyone, man, woman or child, nor have I ever sought such acts." Having given his explanation, the Archbishop then proceeded to largely ignore the Pope's instructions.
Viganò called on Pope Francis and all others who covered up McCarrick's conduct to resign. It was observed that during the time McCarrick was allegedly under sanction, he maintained a "robust public presence" full of international travel, public masses, speeches, and the acceptance of awards, although in July 2010, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, he declined an interview with The Washington Post. The reporter noted that the Cardinal seemed to be avoiding the media.
Viganò stated that he discussed McCarrick's conduct and the penalties surrounding it with McCarrick's successor as Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl, who through a spokesperson denied that he was aware of any restrictions on McCarrick. “Archbishop Vigano presumed that Wuerl had specific information that Wuerl did not have.” McCarrick’s situation reportedly became easier when Nuncio Pietro Sambi died unexpectedly in July 2011 and was succeeded by Carlo Maria Viganò, who, according to Tornielli and Valente, proved less eager to enforce Benedict XVI’s instructions to McCarrick. Vigano subsequently acknowledged that Pope Benedict had made the restrictions private, perhaps "due to the fact that he was already retired, maybe due to the fact that he was thinking he was ready to obey."
The McCarrick case, along with the conclusion of the Grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, which alleged systematic cover-up of clergy sex abuse by bishops in Pennsylvania over decades, triggered a general call from Catholics across ideological boundaries for greater accountability and transparency in the Church. However, these issues, in particular the Vigano allegations, have also escalated tensions in the Catholic Church between ideological liberals and conservatives, especially over the possible role of homosexuality in clergy sex abuse and the alleged complicity of Pope Francis in protecting McCarrick.
In October 2018, the Vatican announced that it would conduct an investigation into how allegations against McCarrick were handled. On May 28, 2019, McCarrick's private secretary Msgr. Anthony J. Figueiredo released letters written by McCarrick suggesting that while senior Vatican officials placed restrictions on the former Cardinal after abuse allegations surfaced, they were not official sanctions and were not strictly enforced under the papacies of either Pope Benedict XVI or Pope Francis. In an interview published on May 28, 2019, Francis directly addressed the accusations made in Viganò's letter for the first time. He stated that he "knew nothing" about McCarrick's conduct. McCarrick claimed to have discussed restrictions that were placed on him with Wuerl, but Wuerl denied that he had any knowledge of such restrictions.
Vatican trial and laicization
On September 28, 2018, it was announced that McCarrick was living at the Capuchin St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kansas. The move to the friary was announced the day after it took place. The announcement was unpopular with many of the citizens of Victoria, especially because of the fact that the friary is near an elementary school. Before McCarrick was laicized, the Archdiocese of Washington was paying a little over $500 a month for his lodging. After he was laicized, the archdiocese stopped the payments and the friary stated that it would not be receiving remuneration from McCarrick or the local Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina for McCarrick's stay even though McCarrick offered to pay.On February 16, 2019, the Vatican announced that McCarrick had been laicized. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a church penal process, found McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power". The guilty verdict was issued by the CDF on January 11, 2019, and McCarrick appealed. The CDF rejected the appeal on February 13 and McCarrick was notified on February 15. Pope Francis "recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accord with law, rendering it a res iudicata ", meaning it is final and McCarrick has no further opportunity to appeal. The CDF used an expedited administrative process designed for cases in which evidence is overwhelming. McCarrick's ordination as a priest cannot be undone according to sacramental theology, but McCarrick cannot licitly perform any priestly duties, including celebrating Mass, although he may administer the sacrament of Penance to a penitent in danger of death; McCarrick can be stripped of the right to financial support from the church; and his laicization is permanent. McCarrick is the most senior church official in modern times to be laicized.
In an interview with Slate at St. Fidelis Friary published in September 2019, McCarrick stated, "I'm not as bad as they paint me.... I do not believe that I did the things that they accused me of." McCarrick stated he believed the persons making accusations against him were "encouraged to do that" by his "enemies", and noted repeatedly that many young men had come to the beach house without having any problems. McCarrick revealed that he never left the friary and participated in the daily routine of the other men who lived there. In January 2020, it was announced that McCarrick had moved out of the friary to an undisclosed location, which was described as "secluded and away from public attention". McCarrick reportedly made the decision to move over concerns that media attention regarding his presence there might have a negative impact on the friary and because he wanted to be closer to his family.
Title IX
On September 5, 2019, it was revealed that an investigation conducted by Seton Hall University found that McCarrick's acts of sexual abuse against seminarians at the University were classified as a Title IX offense. Incidents of sex abuse McCarrick committed at both Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Seminary were not reported to the university because at the time, they were not compliant with Title IX. The report, which was reviewed by the law firm of Latham & Watkins, also accused McCarrick of creating a "culture of fear and intimidation" at Seton Hall University when he led the University as Archbishop of Newark.Lawsuits
In August 2019, one of McCarrick's alleged victims, James Grein, filed a lawsuit against McCarrick and the Archdiocese of New York. In December 2019, Grein extended his lawsuit to the New Jersey-based Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Metuchen, claiming that the two dioceses committed gross negligence when they allowed McCarrick, who Grein stated was a friend of his family, to continue to visit and sexually abuse him. That same month, a new law went into effect throughout New Jersey which allowed more sex victims to file lawsuits. This resulted in more of McCarrick's alleged New Jersey victims filing lawsuits against McCarrick and the two Dioceses he served in that state. One of these cases was also reported to be the first sex abuse lawsuit brought against the Vatican, which was accused of receiving reports of sex abuse committed by McCarrick in 1988 and 1995.A lawsuit was filed on July 21, 2020 by an anonymous person claiming that McCarrick operated a sex ring out of his New Jersey beachouse. The alleged victim maintained that McCarrick abused him with the assistance of other priests beginning in 1982 when he was 14. The lawsuit stated that boys were assigned different rooms in the house and paired with adult clergymen. The alleged victim, who attended schools operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, alleged priests and others under the control of McCarrick engaged in "open and obvious criminal sexual conduct" that was kept cloaked by the church and also served as "procurers" for McCarrick. The Archidocese of Newark, Diocese of Metuchen, where McCarrick was serving as Bishop of at time of the alleged abuse, and the Catholic schools the alleged victim attended where named as defendants in the lawsuit as well.