By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, is seen during the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Jan. 18. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
WASHINGTON — Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, said June 20 he will no longer exercise any public ministry “in obedience” to the Vatican after an allegation he abused a teenager 47 years ago was found credible.
Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen, New Jersey, where Cardinal McCarrick served as its first bishop, said in a statement the same day that he had been advised that “Cardinal McCarrick himself has disputed this allegation and is appealing this matter through the canonical process.”
“While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence,” Cardinal McCarrick said in his statement, “I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process.”
Cardinal McCarrick said that “some months ago” he was informed of the allegation by New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan.
“My sadness was deepened when I was informed that the allegations had been determined credible and substantiated,” Cardinal McCarrick said.
Cardinal Dolan, in a June 20 statement, said it was “the first such report of a violation” against Cardinal McCarrick “of which the archdiocese was aware.”
In separate statements, Bishop Checchio and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey — where Cardinal McCarrick served in-between his appointments to Metuchen and Washington — said this was their first notice that Cardinal McCarrick had been accused of sexual abuse of a minor.
“In the past, there have been allegations that he engaged in sexual behavior with adults,” Cardinal Tobin said. “This archdiocese and the Diocese of Metuchen received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements.”
Several news accounts quoted the lawyer for the accuser, a New York-area businessman now in his early 60s, who said his client was a 16-year-old altar boy being fitted for a cassock to wear during Mass when then-Msgr. McCarrick fondled him. Patrick Noaker, the lawyer, said a similar incident happened a year later.