Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick was an American archbishop and cardinal in the Roman Catholic church. On Saturday July 28, Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct. Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to observe a life of prayer and penance in seclusion. You can read the papal order here.

McCarrick is the first cardinal to retire from the College of Cardinals because of sexual misconduct allegations. He was taken out of public ministry last month, after the church said it could substantiate allegations that he had molested an altar boy 47 years ago. Now he will remain in seclusion until a canonical trial can be held.

McCarrick, 88 years old, grew up in New York City and was raised by a widowed mother. He has steadfastly denied that he molested boys and teenagers in his church.

Here’s what you need to know.

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1. McCarrick Is Accused of “Inappropriately Touching” Men and Boys As Young As 11

There are a range of accusations against McCarrick, and most of the people who say he abused them say they would prefer to remain anonymous. But if the allegations are true, McCarrick may have had a pattern of preying on boys and men who wanted to become priests themselves.

A 62-year-old man who identified himself to the media only as “Mike” says that McCarrick molested him 47 years ago, when Mike was a teenage altar boy preparing to become a priest. Mike’s lawyer, Patrick Noaker, told the New York Times that McCarrick went along with him when he was measured for a new cassock. McCarrick allegedly unzipped Mike’s pants and reached inside. Then McCarrick said, “Let’s not tell anyone about this.”

Another time, McCarrick allegedly cornered Mike in a bathroom and forcibly reached into his pants.

Another man, who identified himself only as “James,” told the New York Times that McCarrick had repeatedly abused him over a period of 20 years, beginning when James was 11 years old.

And a New Jersey man named Robert Ciolek said that McCarrick repeatedly abused him and forced him to share his bed during overnight trips while Ciolek was studying for the priesthood. Ciolek was in his early 20s at the time and said that McCarrick gained his trust by telling him that he was a “star” who was destined for a bright future as a priest.

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2. Some Church Officials Have Known For Decades That McCarrick Was Accused of Sexual Misconduct With Men. They Payed Off the Alleged Victims For Their Silence

Church officials say they did not know that McCarrick was accused of abusing children. But some of them may have known about allegations that McCarrick had inappropriately touched men.

The Archdiocese of Newark released a statement last month saying that they had received allegations about sexual misconduct by McCarrick decades ago. You can read that statement here. The archdiocese said that they had received three allegations of sexual misconduct and had paid off two of the alleged victims by issuing settlements.

The statement reads, “In the past, there have been allegations that he [McCarrick] engaged in sexual behavior with adults. This Archdiocese and the Diocese of Metuchen received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements.”

The New York Times also reports that between 1994 and 2008, there were multiple reports about the cardinal’s alleged misconduct with adult seminary students made to American bishops, the pope’s representative in Washington and, finally, Pope Benedict XVI.

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3. One Alleged Victim, Ciolek, Said The Church Payed Him 80,000 Dollars For Agreeing Not to Speak to the Media

Robert Ciolek is a former priest from New Jersey. He says that he met McCarrick in the 1980s, when he was studying for the priesthood. Ciolek said that McCarrick made him share his hotel bed on overnight trips. He also claimed that McCarrick would sometimes invite a group of seminarians (young men studying for the priesthood) to his beach house. There, McCarrick always made one of the young men share his bed, on the grounds that there weren’t enough beds for everyone in the house.

Ciolek said that McCarrick never touched him below the waist. But he claimed that McCarrick gave — and asked for — unwanted massages.

The archdiocese of New Jersey eventually payed Ciolek 80,000 dollars. The church asked Ciolek to not mention the alleged abuse to the media. The church has just recently released Ciolek from that promise and has given him permission to speak.

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4. McCarrick Was Seen As A “Significant Figure” In The Church, Who Was Close to Pope John Paul II And Spent Time With Bush and Kerry

Before the allegations of misconduct became public, McCarrick was seen as a star in the Roman Catholic Church. He had a decades-long friendship with Pope John Paul; the two men first met in 1976, when then-Cardinal Wojtyla payed a visit to Philadelphia. The two men bonded over jokes about McCarrick’s vacation. Later, McCarrick served as Pope John Paul’s emissary on international issues.

After McCarrick became the Archbishop of Washington DC, he invited then-president Bush and his wife, Laura, to dinner. They accepted. McCarrick also spent time with John Kerry. And he was a regular guest on Meet The Press. McCarrick was widely seen as a “liberal” Catholic but had conservative views on abortion.

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5. McCarrick Grew Up in New York City and Was Raised by His Widowed Mother, Who Worked in a Factory in the Bronx

McCarrick was born in 1930 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. His father was a seafaring captain who caught the Spanish flu during World War i; he died of tuberculosis when McCarrick was just three years old.

McCarrick’s mother was an artist’s model. After she was widowed, she went to work in an auto-parts factory in the Bronx. She depended heavily on her extended family to help her and her son, and McCarrick has spoken fondly of his large Irish-American family. He once told the New York Times, ”It was a great family. They always made room for my mother and me, whether it was my Uncle Tom when he was still a bachelor or my Grandfather and Grandmother McLaughlin.”