McCarrick Fallout

Theodore McCarrick Ex Cleric

On 11 January 2019, the Congresso of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the conclusion of a penal process, issued a decree finding Theodore Edgar McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power. The Congresso imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.

 From the Vatican Announcement 

Note: The Congresso is the executive committee of the CDF. This was an administrative trial done when there was clear evidence, rather than a judiciary trial by a subgroup of the CDF. The CDF then gave notice to McCarrick to give him an opportunity to rebut before the final vote of the full CDF which was taken last Wednesday. Pope Francis at the same time reviewed it and did the equivalent of what our Supreme Court does when it says there is no basis for further appeal.

What Rocco notes, is that for the first time the Vatican is including sins against the Six Commandments with adults, with the aggravating factor of abuse of power as a major offense. If this precedent is incorporated into policy it would be a major change, allowing clergy to be protected against sexual abuse by the bishop, and adult laity to be protected against sexual abuse by their pastors.

There appear to be some changes in the wind. Francis in lowering the expectations for the coming summit, also said that bishops need to understand what their roles are, including the role of archbishops and presidents of bishop conferences. That was interesting because right now they have no defined role, but Cupich and others have surfaced the idea of making archbishops responsible for accusations against bishops. It sounds like wheels are turning in the Vatican. Maybe a clearer set of procedures, and clearer definition of sexual abuse linking it to power (e.g. adults over children, bishops over priests, etc.) I doubt anything formal will be adopted at the meeting, but Francis may want to gauge where everyone is on the topic.

McCarrick has private income in the event of laicization 

Questions remain, however, about the scale and sources of McCarrick’s private income. If, as those close to him have indicated, he declined any formal remuneration from the dioceses he led as a bishop, what was the source for any savings he might have, and how did he come to purchase the annuities to give himself a private income in retirement?

One source close to McCarrick speculated that the annuities could have come from “friends or benefactors” of the archbishop before his fall from grace.

The web of formal and informal financial networks around him remains hard to untangle, but what is known gives a strong indication of his access to funds.

 McCarrick was known for producing sizable donations for projects and funds with which he was associated, including the Papal Foundation, as well as individual projects in dioceses around the world. At the same time, he was also well known for his more personal acts of generosity.

In September 2018, a cardinal who formerly served as a curial official recalled McCarrick’s habit of doling out large sums, in cash, to senior officials in Rome.

“When he would visit Rome, Cardinal McCarrick was well-known for handing out envelopes of money to different bishops and cardinals around the curia to thank them for their work,” the cardinal told CNA.

“Where these ‘honoraria’ came from or what they were for, exactly, was never clear – but many accepted them anyway.”

Far more than knowing "who knew what, when" we need to follow the money trail. Who gave money to McCarrick, and to whom did McCarrick give money/"  

Many have said that if we knew all the financial goings on in the church we would be as appalled as much as by the sexual scandals.