A former archbishop of Washington DC and Newark has been charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy.
Defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, now 91, had had civil suits in New York and New Jersey filed against him, charging sexual abuse as far back as the 70’s. But the statute of limitations had run out, preventing criminal charges.
The incident here though was in Massachusetts, at a wedding reception. McCarrick did not live there, and the clock stopped when he left the state.
Mike McDonnell of SNAP, the Survivors Network, said this case illustrates how those who have been abused should proceed.
“It really speaks volumes to the importance of why victims should come forward to secular authorities for investigations, versus going directly and reporting the abuses to the diocese themselves,” he said.
McCarrick lived at St. Patrick’s Cathedral at the time, as secretary to then Cardinal Terence Cooke. From 1986 to 2000 he was Archbishop of Newark.
He is the most senior church official in modern times to be defrocked and believed to be the first to be defrocked for sexual abuse.
He is due to be arraigned in late August.
McDonnell said church files on abuse cases have to be examined more closely.
“We know the results of what happens when the church polices themselves, so let’s go back, scour these, and see if there are other cases or other individuals who can be charged.”
He said even justice delayed is better than none at all.
“This is certainly well overdue in the arrest of former Cardinal McCarrick but we are elated that he is finally facing charges and the wheels of justice are moving here,” said McDonnell.