Theodore McCarrick, a defrocked priest who was accused of sexually abusing several boys over decades while a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, has died. He was 94.
The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) confirmed that McCarrick, who was removed from power following a Vatican-led investigation into the allegations against him, had died on Thursday.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which McCarrick had led for six years, released a statement in response to the news.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
“I am especially mindful of those who he harmed during the course of his priestly ministry,” McElroy said, according to NCR. “Through their enduring pain, may we remain steadfast in our prayers for them and for all victims of sexual abuse.”
A native of New York City, McCarrick was ordained in 1958 and became archbishop in Newark, New Jersey, in 1986 and then served as archbishop of Washington, D.C., beginning in 2000 until 2006, when he officially retired.
In 2001, Pope John Paul II elevated the D.C.-based archbishop to the level of cardinal despite mounting allegations that McCarrick had engaged in numerous acts of sexual abuse.
In July 2018, the Vatican ordered McCarrick to halt his priestly ministry due to an allegation that he assaulted a boy twice, once in 1971 and again in 1972.
Church officials released a lengthy report in November 2020 detailing what various church leaders knew and when and how they acted upon the alleged actions of McCarrick.
The detailed report from the Vatican included extensive interviews with people described as “individuals who had direct physical contact with McCarrick,” including alleged victims of his abuse.
“During extended interviews, often emotional, the persons described a range of behavior, including sexual abuse or assault, unwanted sexual activity, intimate physical contact and the sharing of beds without physical touching,” stated the introduction.
“The interviews also included detailed accounts related to McCarrick’s abuse of authority and power. The individuals’ full accounts, which proved extraordinarily helpful to the examination, were carefully reviewed, were made available to Pope Francis and are preserved in the Holy See’s archives.”
Despite the many credible accusations of abuse from multiple sources, McCarrick maintained his innocence and was never convicted of any crimes in court.
McCarrick was eventually brought to court by James Grein, a tennis coach from Virginia, who accused the former cardinal of abusing him for several years when he was young, beginning in the 1960s.
McCarrick holds the dubious distinctions of being the first U.S.-based cardinal and the second U.S.-based bishop to be criminally charged for sexual abuse.
However, in August 2023, Judge Paul McCallum of the Dedham District Court in Massachusetts agreed to dismiss the case, as both the defense and the prosecution agreed that the then-93-year-old McCarrick was no longer capable of defending himself.
“I have trouble reconciling the concept that someone who is intelligent and articulate is also not competent to stand trial and answer for his actions,” said Grein in a statement at the time.
“I brought the charges in this matter in the hope of finding justice in this court. Instead, McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing.”
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an organization originally founded to spread awareness of sex abuse within the Catholic Church, released a statement at the time claiming that “a verdict of guilty would have been rendered had the case been allowed to proceed.”
“Our hearts go out to McCarrick’s accuser. We stand in solidarity with him and commend him for his pursuit of justice,” stated SNAP. “There is another case on behalf of the same survivor being prosecuted in Wisconsin. We hope that the courts in that state will reach a different decision, and finally allow this brave survivor his day in court.”
Matthew Schmalz, professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, shared his thoughts on McCarrick’s death and reflected on its implications for Catholicism in a statement shared with The Christian Post. “While McCarrick was eventually laicized, his case is a stain on the legacies of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI,” Schmalz asserted.
“Some conservative Catholics have used the McCarrick case as part of their continuing attacks on Pope Francis, who they say was complicit in McCarrick’s crimes by not acting soon enough,” Schmalz added. “The McCarrick case exposed a culture of patronage and underhanded financial dealings in the Catholic Church since McCarrick effectively bought off fellow prelates to be sure of their support.”
According to Schmalz, “For many progressive Catholics, for whom McCarrick was a kind of standard bearer, his crimes are especially difficult to process and overturned many conventional narratives about the origins of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.” Schmalz cited McCarrick’s legacy as evidence for the Catholic Church hierarchy in the U.S. “that there is still much to be done to change clerical culture to make it more responsive to allegations of wrongdoing.”
