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NEW: What the 400+ page McCarrick report tells us about who knew what and when with regard to the ex-cardinal's sexual abuse of minors, seminarians, and young priests: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/opinion/theodore-mccarrick-investigation.html
There were quite a lot of people who suspected that the long-awaited McCarrick report published today after two years of archival research, investigation and interviews would exonerate Pope Francis and center blame on Pope John Paul II. They won't be disappointed.
The report finds that John Paul II was well aware of the allegations against McCarrick as early as 1999, nearly twenty years before he was finally laicized. This was in part thanks to a detailed letter outlining the allegations, sent by Archbishop John O'Connor that year.
O'Connor, who had looked into the allegations in 1994, prior to the pope's 1995 visit to Newark and cleared McCarrick, felt by 1999 that McCarrick ought not be made archbishop of Washington D.C. as planned. He told Pope John Paul II as much, then shortly passed away.
At that point, McCarrick wrote the Pope himself, presenting the allegations as shocking to him and insisting on his virginity. Pope John Paul II apparently bought it, and McCarrick was installed in Washington D.C., where he would remain until his retirement in 2006.
The report observes that Benedict XVI had the same knowledge that John Paul II did, but that — and the passive voice is remarkable — "the path of
a canonical process to resolve factual issues and possibly prescribe canonical
penalties was not taken."
a canonical process to resolve factual issues and possibly prescribe canonical
penalties was not taken."
Instead, Benedict XVI recommended that McCarrick step back from public life. These recommendations were later described as 'sanctions,' but they weren't; more like paternal advice. In the Vatican's eyes, there was no (known) child abuse, and all the allegations were decades old.
This touches on a crucial, continuing problem: The Church seems to have learned the wrong lessons from 2002, namely that child abuse is a PR disaster. In fact, it is a sin and a crime, as is the sexual abuse of adults. Both should be treated as such, not as reputational hazards.
The report holds that, as soon as Pope Francis learned of a credible allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor victim, he requested McCarrick's historic resignation from the College of Cardinals, leading to his eventual laicization via an administrative penal process in 2019.
In the report, there's quite a bit of credence given to the idea that, once McCarrick's abuses were well in the past and he was elderly and frail, acting with urgency felt misplaced. Age and cessation can be good reasons for clemency. But not in this case.
Clergy have more power, more authority, and more access to vulnerable victim pools than your average offender, and they deserve to be held to a higher standard accordingly. It isn't hard not to sexually exploit people, and it's never too late to exact justice for those crimes.
Here are some recommendations I would make based on this entire sorry case:
1.) There ought to be a commission on protecting adult victims of sexual abuse — not just "vulnerable" adults, all adults. "But he was an adult" isn't even remotely close to a mitigating factor.
1.) There ought to be a commission on protecting adult victims of sexual abuse — not just "vulnerable" adults, all adults. "But he was an adult" isn't even remotely close to a mitigating factor.
2.) There has to be much, much, much more lay oversight.
3.) We've got to get over the allergy to scandal. It's unfortunate to damage the reputation of the Church by publicizing these things, but it's even more morally catastrophic to hush them up. Tell people the truth.
3.) We've got to get over the allergy to scandal. It's unfortunate to damage the reputation of the Church by publicizing these things, but it's even more morally catastrophic to hush them up. Tell people the truth.
4.) It's now apparent that there's a serious, ongoing sexual harassment and abuse problem in Catholic seminaries. The Holy See needs to fund an independent investigation into the extent of the problem and its current status, and should aim for a total cultural overhaul.
5.) It's further apparent that many priest sexual abusers were themselves sexually abused; at least one such case is mentioned in the report. There is a cyclical element to this, so reliable reporting methods for seminarians/priests, complete with treatment options, are essential
6.) Might want to reinstate that 50 year waiting period for canonization.
7.) The Church should stop fighting legislation to remove statutes of limitation on sex abuse cases and accept the forthcoming reckoning as due penance for sins committed.
7.) The Church should stop fighting legislation to remove statutes of limitation on sex abuse cases and accept the forthcoming reckoning as due penance for sins committed.
8.) There's a black-and-whiteness to spiritual formation regarding sexuality, especially outside of religious orders. Holy celibacy is everything; everything else is just different shades of sin. But this is not the case, and only better formation can ameliorate the harm caused.
9.) A clearer, more transparent account of the reporting process needs to be made public and available to victims, so that they know whether they're reporting strictly to church authorities or also to law enforcement, and what next steps should be for each process.
I'm going to share my reporting on McCarrick. But before that, this is my takeaway from the McCarrick report: The Catholic sex abuse crisis is not over. For its victims, and as the report indicates, for the Church itself, it is still ongoing and still causing measurable damage.
This summer, we published an exclusive report on the aftermath of McCarrick's abuse through the eyes of some of his minor victims:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/opinion/sunday/theodore-mccarrick-catholic-abuse.html
In '18, I interviewed the first seminarian to come forward publicly about McCarrick's abuse: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/he-wanted-to-be-a-priest-he-says-archbishop-mccarrick-used-that-to-abuse-him/2018/09/12/eff6e726-b606-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/opinion/sunday/theodore-mccarrick-catholic-abuse.html
In '18, I interviewed the first seminarian to come forward publicly about McCarrick's abuse: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/he-wanted-to-be-a-priest-he-says-archbishop-mccarrick-used-that-to-abuse-him/2018/09/12/eff6e726-b606-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html
