McCarrick, Theodore

The only child, Theodore Edgar McCarrick, was born in New York, in the family of Theodore Egan McCarrick and Margaret T. (née McLaughlin) McCarrick ^[2] . His father was the captain of a ship that died of tuberculosis , ^[3] when McCarrick was three years old, and his mother then worked at a car factory in the Bronx ^[4] . As a child, McCarrick served as a ministerial boy at the Incarnation Church in Washington Heights ^[4] .

After attending the Fordham Preparatory School for Boys , he studied in Switzerland for a year before returning to the United States of America and attending the University of Fordham ^[5] .

McCarrick later graduated from St. Joseph's Seminar in Yonkers , where he received a bachelor of arts in philosophy ( 1954 ) and a master of art in theology ( 1958 ) ^[2] .

McCarrick was ordained a priest on May 31, 1958 in New York , by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman. ^[6] From 1958 to 1963, he continued his studies at the Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) and received a Ph.D. in sociology . He then served as assistant chaplain at Catholic University, where he later became dean of students and director of development.

From 1965 to 1969, McCarrick was president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico , and took an active part in several other Puerto Rican educational institutions. November 10, 1965 was elevated to the rank of Honorary Prelate of His Holiness ^[2] .

Upon his return to the New York archdiocese, in 1969 - 1971 , he was an assistant secretary for education, while working as a priest in the parish of Holy Communion of the same diocese. During this time, he helped establish the Cardinal Education Committee and the Big City Fellowship Fund, which contributed to the education of the poor, especially among minorities.

From 1971 to 1977 - personal secretary of the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Terence James Cook .

Assistant Bishop of New York

On May 24, 1977, Monsignor McCarrick Pope Paul VI was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York and titular bishop of Ruzibizira. He was ordained bishop on June 29, 1977 by Cardinal Terence James Cook in New York. The co- conspirators were assisted by John Joseph Maguire, titular bishop of Tabalta and coadjutor of the archbishop of New York, and Patrick Vincent Ahern, titular bishop of Nyer and auxiliary bishop of New York. At the same time, he was appointed Bishop of Vicar for Education and Vicar of East Manhattan and Harlem . He chose as his episcopal motto: “She, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20) ^[6] .

Bishop Metuchen

On November 19, 1981, Bishop McCarrick was appointed bishop of the newly formed Metachen diocese in New Jersey . He was intronized at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi on January 31, 1982. During his tenure, McCarrick established new parishes in Perth Amboy, Caliphon, Skillman, Old Bridge and Three Bridge ^[7] . He also oversaw the development of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, the annual call of the bishop and ministry for blacks and Latinos, activities to protect life and the disabled ^[7] .

Archbishop of Newark

On May 30, 1986, Mccarrick was appointed fourth archbishop of Newark , in the same state. He became the successor to Peter Leo Jereti and was intronized in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on July 25, 1986. During his tenure, he founded the Office of Evangelism, a ministry for Hispanics and victims of HIV, and a drug prevention program ^[8] . He also promoted vocations and ordained a total of 200 priests for the archdiocese ^[4] .

McCarrick became known as an advocate of social justice, saying: “A church cannot be genuine if it does not care for the poor, the new arrivals, the needy ” newcomers. In the 1980s, he served as an official observer in the Helsinki Commission and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe , performing his duties at the request of the State Department ^[8] . In 1988, he participated in an interfaith meeting with Fidel Castro to promote religious freedom in Cuba, the first meeting of its kind after the 1958 communist revolution . Mccarrick, as a representative of Irish immigrant families, was selected to be housed in the Ellis Island Hall of Fame on December 8, 1990. ^[8]

At the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, he served as chairman of the Church Relief Committee in Central and Eastern Europe from 1992 to 1997. In this capacity, he visited countries such as Yugoslavia , the Baltic states and Kazakhstan . He was twice elected head of the Committee on Migration of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, and once asked Congress " to recognize and support the important task of educating new citizens so that they can begin to play a full role in the future of this nation " ^[8] . He later became a member of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Wanderers .

He was elected chairman of the episcopal committee on international politics in 1996. His other visits included Bosnia (which he called "reminiscent of the Holocaust"), China , Poland , Romania , Russia , Rwanda and Switzerland ^{[4] [8]} . In 1995, he received Mother Teresa , and later Pope John Paul II , who raised the Sacred Heart Cathedral to the rank of basilica during his visit at the suggestion of McCarrick. Adopted by US Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, he announced an initiative in 1997 to ensure that Catholic school uniforms in his archdiocese would not be produced in sweatshops ^[9] .

In addition to his duties as archbishop, Mccarrick was made rector of the sui iuris Mission on Turks and Caicos Islands on October 17, 1998.

In 1999 - 2001, he was a member of the American Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Archbishop of Washington and Cardinal

Mccarrick’s career continued on November 21, 2000 , when Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Washington , DC . After only 3 months, on the consistory on February 21, 2001 , Mccarrick was elevated to the rank of cardinal ^[10] . Cardinal priest with the title of Church of Saints Nereus and Achilles . McCarrick was Archbishop of Washington until May 16, 2006.

He participated in the 2005 conclave, who elected Pope Benedict XVI ^[11] .

Cardinal McCarrick also led a commission that monitored the Church’s relations with Catholic politicians, who, in their activities (in particular through various kinds of voting), departed from the official Catholic doctrine.

On May 16, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Cardinal McCarrick as Archbishop of Washington, DC, after the latter had reached the age of 75 and, in accordance with the Code of Canon Law , resigned and appointed Donald William Wurle , Bishop of Pittsburgh , 6 Archbishop of Washington. From May 16, 2006 to the intrusion of Wurl, a month later, on June 22, 2006, Mccarrick served as the apostolic administrator of the Washington Archdiocese.

McCarrick was appointed adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2007 ^[12] .

McCarrick - a polyglot , in addition to native English , speaks French , German , Italian and Spanish ^{[13] [14]} .

In 2009, McCarrick performed at the funeral service of US Senator Edward Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery and read a letter written by Kennedy to Pope Benedict XVI. ^[15]

On July 7, 2010, Cardinal McCarrick turned 80 years old and lost the right to participate in the Conclaves .

On June 20, 2018, Cardinal McCarrick was expelled from public service by the Holy See after being inspected by the Board of Trustees of the New York Archdiocese , who found the allegations "plausible and reasonable" that McCarrick sexually assaulted a 16-year-old altar minister when he was a priest in New York ^{[ 16] [17]} . Patrick Noaker, an anonymous applicant’s lawyer, alleged two incidents in St. Patrick’s Cathedral that occurred: one in 1971 and the other in 1972 ^[18] . Noaker said that when measuring a teenager to sew his cassock, McCarrick “unfastened [the boy ]’s trousers and put his hands in the boy’s trousers” ^[19] .

McCarrick said he was innocent of these charges: "I have absolutely no memories of these abuses and I believe in my innocence." He also stated: “In obedience, I make the decision of the Holy See that I no longer carry out any public service” ^{[19] [20]} .

Also on June 20, 2018, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin , Archbishop of Newark, testified that he had been charged with sexual misconduct with three adults while serving McCarrick in New Jersey and that two of these allegations led to financial settlements with the applicants ^{[21] [22]} .

Richard Saip published excerpts from accounting documents in 2010 ^[23] . Others reported that in 2012, The New York Times planned, but did not publish, an article detailing McCarrick’s harassment of adult seminarians based on court documents of legal settlements between McCarrick and former seminarians, as well as an interview with one of the victims ^{[ 24] [25]} . On July 16, 2018, the New York Times published a front page article about McCarrick's harassment of adult seminarians ^{[26] [27]} .

At the end of July 2018, a man from New Jersey, whose uncle had known McCarrick from high school, claimed that McCarrick had sexually touched him when he was 13 years old ^{[28] [29]} .

On July 5, 2018, University of Fordham canceled the honorary degree and other awards granted to McCarrick ^{[30] [31]} .

On July 27, 2018, Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe “a prayer and repentance in solitude” and accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals ^[32] . McCarrick became the first person to resign from the College of Cardinals since Louis Billot in 1927, and the first cardinal to deny the Cardinal’s title for sexual abuse charges ^[33] . McCarrick, however, remains a priest pending the completion of the Vatican's canonical court ^[33] .

On February 16, 2019, Pope Francis declared the Congregation’s verdict of the doctrine of faith final and deprived Theodore McCarek of the holy dignity, as a result of which he remained a simple resident of Kansas as a layman ^[34] .