Washington D.C., Aug 27, 2018 / 05:09 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Washington has declined to confirm new details about the post-retirement living arrangements of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, and maintained that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Washington’s archbishop, was unaware of alleged Vatican sanctions against McCarrick.
Archbishop Carlo Vigano, former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., claimed in an Aug. 25 statement that McCarrick was directed by the Vatican in 2009 or 2010 to discontinue living in a seminary, among other restrictions.
Vigano wrote that in 2009 or 2010 “Pope Benedict had imposed on Cardinal McCarrick sanctions similar to those now imposed on him by Pope Francis: the cardinal was to leave the seminary where he was living, he was forbidden to celebrate [Mass] in public, to participate in public meetings, to give lectures, to travel, with the obligation of dedicating himself to a life of prayer and penance.”
The archbishop said that McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, was at that time known by the Vatican to have committed acts of sexual immorality involving seminarians and priests.
On Aug. 25, the same day as the release of Viganò’s statement, a spokesman for Wuerl told CNA that “Cardinal Wuerl did not receive documentation or information from the Holy See specific to Cardinal McCarrick’s behavior or any of the prohibitions on his life and ministry suggested by Archbishop Vigano.”
Viganò wrote that Pope Benedict’s sanctions explicitly included an order to “leave the seminary where he was living.” At the time, McCarrick was a resident at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington, where he had a self-contained apartment.
Two sources present at a 2008 meeting between McCarrick and Sambi told CNA that the nuncio instructed McCarrick to leave the seminary at that time. According to those sources, Sambi told McCarrick his departure was the direct instruction of Pope Benedict XVI. They stressed to CNA that they were unaware of any knowledge Cardinal Wuerl may have had of Sambi’s instructions.
McCarrick did make plans to leave the seminary at the end of 2008. His next home was the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle in Woodley Park, an upscale neighborhood in central Washington D.C.
One of the four priests resident in the rectory of St. Thomas’ parish in 2008-2009 recalls being told in December of 2008 that he would have to move out of his rooms in the parish to accommodate a “mystery VIP.”
“It was all very sudden,” he told CNA. “I was moved around but given another room in the rectory.” The priest told CNA he was informed by the pastor of the parish that it was McCarrick moving in, and that his arrival caused considerable upheaval.
“There was significant construction to create his suite, which took over two prior suites and two full baths, as well as the single guest room next to me which was converted into a private chapel for McCarrick’s exclusive use.”
The construction apparently continued during the first two months of 2009, with McCarrick moving in either late February or early March.
Despite the preparations and expenditures being made for McCarrick’s arrival, Ed McFadden, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Washington, told CNA on Aug. 27 that “Archbishop McCarrick typically made his own housing arrangements and did not directly involve the Archdiocese of Washington.”
Archdiocesan policy requires that any expenditure by a parish of more than $25,000 have the explicit approval of either the archbishop or the Moderator of the Curia. When asked directly about the construction at St. Thomas, the Archdiocese of Washington refused to comment on who had approved or funded the renovations.
The priest-resident of St. Thomas told CNA that he been told that McCarrick was “no longer allowed” to live in the seminary, and that Cardinal Wuerl had “ordered” the move, but he stressed that he did not have direct knowledge of those circumstances.
Fr. Rory McKee, pastor of St. Thomas in 2009, declined to comment, and directed enquiries to the archdiocesan communications office.
Despite repeated requests, the Archdiocese of Washington declined to confirm when McCarrick moved into St. Thomas, or when he left.
CNA previously reported that McCarrick next lived alongside a house of priestly formation belonging to the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) on the property of St. John Baptist de la Salle is located in Chillum, Md.
Sources told CNA that the cardinal likely moved to the property in the summer of 2010, though the Archdiocese of Washington declined to comment.
McCarrick is reported to have had, for a time, an IVE brother in formation living in his residence, which was on the parish property but separate from the house of formation. At least two members of the IVE served as assistants to McCarrick between 2014 and 2018.
In July, the Archdiocese of Washington told CNA that McCarrick “made his own living arrangements for his retirement,” and declined to comment on his residence at the John Baptist de la Salle property.
On June 20, the Archdiocese of New York reported that it had found credible an allegation that McCarrick committed acts of child sexual abuse. Wuerl wrote at the time that he was “saddened and shocked” by the allegation.
On the same day, Cardinal Joseph Tobin confirmed that the McCarrick’s former dioceses of Newark and Metuchen had reached settlements with adults who said McCarrick had engaged in sexual misconduct. In response, Wuerl specifically denied that he had been told of several out-of-court settlements made on McCarrick’s behalf by his former dioceses of Metuchen and Newark.
On Aug. 14, a report by a Pennsylvania grand jury investigating clerical sexual abuse mentioned Wuerl, previously the Bishop of Pittsburgh, more than 200 times. Defending himself against charges of mishandling priests who had been accused of child sexual abuse, Wuerl reported in at least one case being uninformed about the scope of allegations against a priest whom he permitted to minister in the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas.
Wuerl has faced mounting pressure and calls for his resignation. Those close to Cardinal Wuerl insist that he has not asked the pope to accept his letter of resignation. Wuerl is said to be planning to attend the November plenary meeting of the U.S. bishops’ conference, which is expected to focus on the fallout of the McCarrick and Pennsylvania scandals.
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Francis, just stay in your own diocese. You’re the bishop of Rome and not the bishop for the entire Catholic Church. Each of us has our own bishop, thank you.
Well that’s very Episcopalian.
But very true, nonetheless.
In the minds of some, the UN is like the Church. How could Francis possibly deny himself communion with like-minded adherents of “peace and prosperity for people and the planet?” The seeker may even glimpse the glory of a specific type of salvation through work on sustainable development goals.
How could Francis deny himself “communion”, whatever that means, with like-minded adherents of “peace and prosperity for people and the planet?” A “glimpse of the glory of a specific type of salvation….”
Do you mean unification with the demonic goals of the U.N. policies that promote such things as the mass murder of the unborn, which Francis has indirectly sanctioned in the past, insisting Catholics get on board with U.N. population planning policies, and their globalist tyranny advocacies that destroy the prosperity of market economies and suppresses any hope of actual meaningful salvation by instituting the false God of secular utopia and the extermination of actual religion from all human cultures? Are you aware that tyranny has been done to death in human history. And I’m not speaking metaphorically.
Clearly some minds consider the UN ‘like’ the church. I don’t believe that, and I don’t believe you believe that. Perhaps a multi-layered meaning of words tending to allusion and connotation is confusing to minds trained with empirical bent. I was speaking metaphorically, analogically.
Allow me, please: Bergoglio and his Vatican friends are only too happy to commune with UN folk and achieve sustainable development goals rather than communion with Christ, rather than sanctification and justification through the difficult sacrificial development of virtue. They apparently find it too backward and demeaning and historically passe to follow Christ and the Church Magisterium which precedes them. Bergoglio and Vatican friends are apparently not empirically minded enough to know that God will never fall or fail while they themselves may do exactly that. They may hope that hell is empty but Christ didn’t teach that.
How has tyranny been done to death? It seems that tyranny will not die so long as sinful men still live on earth.
Curious how close that is to the election…
Go for it Pope Francis!
We pray for your good health to be there!
I pray that he stays in his own diocese and attends to those matters. The Pope is a spiritual leader and not some earthly potentate.
Koekelberg, Belgium.
Hope Francis has time for a side trip to Antwerp for a little chat with Bonny on the small matter of euthanasia.
He should visit the EWTN chapel and find out he has been wrong about their mission.
In the minds of some, the UN is like the Church. How could Francis possibly deny himself communion with like-minded adherents of “peace and prosperity for people and the planet?” The seeker may even glimpse the glory of a specific type of salvation through sustainable development goals.
I wrote a prior somewhat angry response. Then it occurred to me that you might be sarcastic. If so, I apologize.
No problem. It is good to suffer a little ‘burn’ now and then.
Happy continuing Easter Season!
Well now, that would be interesting. I picture Cardinal Burke and Bishop Strickland outside… on their knees leading thousands of Catholics in a rosary for his conversion.
Maybe Biden will grant him a private audience.
They could do ice cream!
Stay home, Francis. The people who matter aren’t interested in anything you have to say at this point.
Oh boy,coming to see the Black sheep of the American Church??We English speaking Yankees aren’t His Holiness favorites!!! Maybe a slap down on another Trad Bishop will be in order.
If he comes, he comes. We can pray that he doesn’t, but that gets submitted to God’s will, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it… except welcome him with kindness, honesty, patience, and charity, and continue to pray for him.