Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

I understand your point of view. I, too, have a child at a Catholic school and I am so glad that she is there. I like the idea of holding the Church responsible for financial transparency. For instance, how were the settlements in New Jersey paid for? I think that I read somewhere that a loan took care of it, but if that is the case, who pays for the loan? Did McCarrick have to sell his beach house? How on earth did he become Cardinal/archbishop of Washington with this reputation? It's truly sick.

My guess is that a small percentage of diocesan funds go towards scandals like this, but it is sickening, of course. None of us want to be naive, but I'm not going to throw away my faith. I do want to hold the Church hierarchy accountable.

Newark PP here again. He had no trouble becoming Cardinal, despite his reputation, because this kind of behavior is utterly pervasive within all ranks of the Catholic church. That's why McCarrick's actions were not a problem for Church hierarchy. While not everyone is involved and there are certainly good priests, this sort of behavior is still pervasive, and that's why there is still such a secretive culture against speaking out against it. The priests that engage in this stuff are not one-offs.

Anonymous wrote:I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

I understand your point of view. I, too, have a child at a Catholic school and I am so glad that she is there. I like the idea of holding the Church responsible for financial transparency. For instance, how were the settlements in New Jersey paid for? I think that I read somewhere that a loan took care of it, but if that is the case, who pays for the loan? Did McCarrick have to sell his beach house? How on earth did he become Cardinal/archbishop of Washington with this reputation? It's truly sick.

My guess is that a small percentage of diocesan funds go towards scandals like this, but it is sickening, of course. None of us want to be naive, but I'm not going to throw away my faith. I do want to hold the Church hierarchy accountable.

McCarrick persecuted good and chaste priests, despite his immoral tendencies and actions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

PP here whose parents worked for the Archdiocese of Newark. I do not practice anymore, and I would not have found this thread if it were not for the Recent Topics section. McCarrick was known to be an extensively promiscuous gay man. Everyone knew this. Seriously. And everyone knew that he loved seminarians. I read the first couple of paragraphs of the American Conservative article, but did not finish it. I'm not surprised that the allegations involved seminarians. It is funny to me that no mentioned at the beginning of the article, even with this creep approaching 90, seems to want to go on record of calling him out. I think people were afraid of McCarrick, and he wielded a ton of power throughout the course of his career.

I hear the pain in your post and I am not mocking it. However, I cannot help but involuntarily chuckle a bit, even though I don't want to and absolutely none of this is funny. You're posting as if a couple dozen people might have known about McCarrick and should have done something. Hundreds of people probably knew about McCarrick (and that's probably quite conservative, given that this was an open secret around the seminaries and pretty much all Diocesan priests in Newark knew). I am telling you, the culture of secrecy around this stuff is completely pervasive within the ranks of the Catholic church.

This is your church.

I fully recognize that we are talking about hundreds of people with knowledge about the situation. The secrecy is intentional and systematic. I appreciate your historical input, but none of this is amusing in the least.

To be clear, the only thing that I find amusing is that people expect better at this point, or that anyone finds this surprising. Even long before the Boston Globe piece, in the early 90s, my parents did NOT let me or my younger brother become alter servers, despite how involved they were in the church. We were not allowed to go back into the sacristy alone with a priest. My parents had been around priests enough to know that many of them were sexually active gays, and many had an uncomfortable interest in young boys. I could go on and on about all the different kinds of corruption my parents saw over the years, including the stealing of money. My parents were like you, upset with the Church, but still held their faith close.

When I grew up, I realized that it was possible to still be close to God without a corrupt middleman.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

PP here whose parents worked for the Archdiocese of Newark. I do not practice anymore, and I would not have found this thread if it were not for the Recent Topics section. McCarrick was known to be an extensively promiscuous gay man. Everyone knew this. Seriously. And everyone knew that he loved seminarians. I read the first couple of paragraphs of the American Conservative article, but did not finish it. I'm not surprised that the allegations involved seminarians. It is funny to me that no mentioned at the beginning of the article, even with this creep approaching 90, seems to want to go on record of calling him out. I think people were afraid of McCarrick, and he wielded a ton of power throughout the course of his career.

I hear the pain in your post and I am not mocking it. However, I cannot help but involuntarily chuckle a bit, even though I don't want to and absolutely none of this is funny. You're posting as if a couple dozen people might have known about McCarrick and should have done something. Hundreds of people probably knew about McCarrick (and that's probably quite conservative, given that this was an open secret around the seminaries and pretty much all Diocesan priests in Newark knew). I am telling you, the culture of secrecy around this stuff is completely pervasive within the ranks of the Catholic church.

This is your church.

I fully recognize that we are talking about hundreds of people with knowledge about the situation. The secrecy is intentional and systematic. I appreciate your historical input, but none of this is amusing in the least.

08:35 Here again. It is amazing to me that SO MANY people could know all of McCarrick's skeletons for decades and that it could take so long to come out, even with him being a public figure who was trying to position himself as leading on this issue.

I feel like, in this town, political careers are blown up all the time based on one or two whistle blowers. The Church's ability make so many people feel they have to be quiet is quite ...impressive.

Anonymous wrote:I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

PP here whose parents worked for the Archdiocese of Newark. I do not practice anymore, and I would not have found this thread if it were not for the Recent Topics section. McCarrick was known to be an extensively promiscuous gay man. Everyone knew this. Seriously. And everyone knew that he loved seminarians. I read the first couple of paragraphs of the American Conservative article, but did not finish it. I'm not surprised that the allegations involved seminarians. It is funny to me that no mentioned at the beginning of the article, even with this creep approaching 90, seems to want to go on record of calling him out. I think people were afraid of McCarrick, and he wielded a ton of power throughout the course of his career.

I hear the pain in your post and I am not mocking it. However, I cannot help but involuntarily chuckle a bit, even though I don't want to and absolutely none of this is funny. You're posting as if a couple dozen people might have known about McCarrick and should have done something. Hundreds of people probably knew about McCarrick (and that's probably quite conservative, given that this was an open secret around the seminaries and pretty much all Diocesan priests in Newark knew). I am telling you, the culture of secrecy around this stuff is completely pervasive within the ranks of the Catholic church.

This is your church.

I am a long Catholic with 3 children in Catholic school and I am beyond disturbed by this recent news especially the further details in the American Conservative article. The Church hierarchy continues to violate my trust and turn their back on the faithful. How am I to trust the church and confess my sins to priests many of whom are sinfully evil themselves? The entire Archdiocese of Washington must clean house. It stands to reason that many in the Church hierarchy in DC must have known about McCarrick. Anyone who had knowledge of his situation committed a sin of commission and has to be removed from the ministry. I fear that Cardinal Weurl must have known about this. My favorite former parish priest is of his generation and now holds a considerable position of influence in the Church. It literally brings me to tears and shakes my faith to think that he probably knew of this. My husband and I are considering drafting a letter to our parish priest and copying Cardinal Weurl stating that we are suspending any further financial contributions to the Church until this situation is further investigated and all those who had knowledge removed from service I have steadfast faith in Jesus my Lord and Savior, but not in the sinful institution that the Catholic Church has become.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not Catholic but some of the nicest people/families I know are. I have even thought of converting to Catholicism.

Is the church leadership really that awful?

One of my best friends in hs was Catholic and her mom was from Ireland. They moved from their previous home because the priest at their church molested her brother.

I guess it’s not an isolated problem.

But I adore my Catholic friends.

Most regular Catholics are not the problem.

The problem is the organization - the institution and the hierarchy. It's not just a matter of child rapists, it's the mass numbers of people--and leader--involved in covering up abuse. It's very deep, and very systemic.

I don't know what can be done. The whole Catholic Church needs to be gutted and started anew, somehow. And with women involved in leadership. The current patriarchal hierarchy just cannot be trusted. The rot goes deep in the system.

Former Catholic and yes, diversity in leadership to include women would go a long way towards accountability. I'd offer that systemically, the Church will continue to see rampant pedophilia unless and until the church will accept married men as priests.

I see this argument all the time and it makes zero sense. How does allowing men to marry prevent them from becoming deviant sick bastards?

NP here. Lifelong Catholic (who no longer practices) and my parents work for the church. The issue is that, when priests can’t marry, it attracts men who are looking to hide some sort of sexual issue (gay men, molesters, and so on). So, while marrying doesn’t prevent men from becoming molesters, theoretically it would make the priesthood a less comfortable place to hide.

I’m also from the Archdiocese of Newark, and this was known about McCarrick forever. I had to check the date of this thread because I figured it was old news.

McCarrick is responsible for the current Maryland Mandatory Reporters law, which lists professions which have a legal obligation to report any known child sexual abuse, but specifically excludes reporting known sexual abuse of children if the information is shared “with an expectation of privacy” to a clergyman whose religion says confessions are confidential. Original law was passed around 1988 and under pressure from the Catholic Church and their lobbyists, did not include clergy at all. In 2003 a bill was introduced to add priests as required reporters, and McCarrick said he would order his DC priests to break the law. Maryland is partially under the Archdiocese of DC, part under the Archdiocese of Baltimore and part under the Wilmington, DE diocese. The Catholic Church has so much power over laws in MD that the legislature agreed they would accept Catholic Church Canon law as Maryland State law. Currently, if a Catholic priest hears a confession from another priest where the confessee says he is raping a 4 year old, this information is specifically excluded under MD law from any requirements to report it to law authorities. This allows the priest abuser to continue to abuse other children, and it’s all kept secret. No criminal charges, and the abuser is not named on the Maryland Sex abuser registry - so they continue to pass background checks to work with children. This is wrong. It is now clear why McCarrick favored this protection for clergy abusers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of control gay priests strike again.

This was known for years.

We need married priests to return straights to the priesthood.

pedophilia and gay are different

Did they say the victim and the adults were male?

pedophiles don't have a preference for gender.

Yeah right, the gay "priests" who love pubescent boys (hebephiles) would be just as happy to hit on pubescent girls (not).


Let's stop putting political agendas in front of common sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They new many years ago when he had 2 "secret" settlements

this is just so f'ed up that they sit there every sunday and preach this and that yet behind closed doors....

The church has learned nothing over the last 20 years. WHY do they continue to cover up pedophiles and rapists?!

I think the better question is why would anyone continue to belong to and support an organization that covers up for pedophiles and rapists? Leopards don't change their spots.

Anonymous wrote:Here is a bit more on the settlements to the adults-- they were seminarians.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/church-cardinal-mccarrick-is-a-molester/

I love my church and theology and my Pope. I do not love the Curia or really trust the Cardinals.

Wow, thanks for posting.

Here is a bit more on the settlements to the adults-- they were seminarians.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/church-cardinal-mccarrick-is-a-molester/

I love my church and theology and my Pope. I do not love the Curia or really trust the Cardinals.

Anonymous wrote:Well it’s a good thing that after 50 years this guy remembered what happened and reported it this past January - because that was the exact same month of the deadline for financial settlements from NY. Good thing he was able to speak up right at the last second so he wouldn't lose out on all that cash!

Money must be a more powerful memory trigger than justice is.

Again, no less than Cardinal Dolan found the accusation credible.