Want to know about the criminal case of George Cardinal Pell of Australia? Fallen by Lucie Morris-Marr documents it, in detail. (Perhaps with an unfair bias–we’ll come back to that, dear reader.) Or you can read the extensive court documents available to the public.
In other words, if you want to know the facts of the Pell case, all you have to do is read.
Want to know the facts of the Father Mark White case? (Which I recommend, before giving me advice, much as I prize good advice.) Again, all you have to do is click above, and read. All the documents (so far) are there.
Meanwhile, Theodore McCarrick. He ordained hundreds of priests. Confirmed thousands of young people. Presided, as the face of the American Church, during the 2002 Boston Globe Spotlight scandal. Then, sixteen years later: found guilty by a Vatican tribunal of grave crimes of sexual abuse. And defrocked.
That reckoning with justice occurred decades after the original crimes were committed. What happened between the 1970’s and 2018? A sexual predator exercised truly enormous power and influence in the holy Roman Catholic Church. Over the course of forty years, dozens of ecclesiastical officials became aware of McCarrick’s predations, and kept them covered up.
How could this have happened? We have a right to know, we believing Catholics touched by this man’s extensive ministry. We have a right to know the facts about the colossal breakdown of institutional integrity. We have a right to hold to account all the conspirators involved.
On October 6, 2018, the Vatican issued a communique notifying the world that someone (not identified) would ‘study’ all the documents of the McCarrick case. The communique made no explicit promise about publishing anything. Rumors have abounded for many months that a written report of some kind exists, somewhere in the Vatican offices.
But May of 2020 has arrived. And still no accountable, public word about this. From any ecclesiastical official. Nineteen months later.
Does the hierarchy not owe us an account of what happened? Over those four decades when McCarrick ruined lives; bishops and popes knew; and yet McC. got away with it?
We know that James Grein and John Bellocchio have lodged lawsuits about McCarrick abusing them; others may have as well. Perhaps some genuine, non-craven legal reason exists to withhold the information until those suits run their course. If that is the case, though, some competent ecclesiastical official could announce that, and indicate the hierarchy’s willingness to come clean about the McCarrick scandal, as soon as possible.
Instead, silence. If you study the documents under the tab above (about my own case), you will note that Bishop Knestout admonished me in September 2018. Wait to comment about the McCarrick situation until such time as all the facts become known.
By September of 2018, Bishop Knestout had written at least twice about participating in the study that would lead to the full disclosure of the facts about the McCarrick cover-up. Babies born then have learned to talk since. Meanwhile: nothing, by way of a report.
Not to brag, dear reader, but in fact your humble servant has actually produced a pretty extensive “McCarrick Report.” Extremely sketchy, since I don’t have access to the file cabinet in the Vatican. But, for what it’s worth, here’s a little compendium of the posts…
April 6, 2019 open letter to Archbishop Gregory, of Washington.
February 21 McCarrick book proposal for Jon Krakauer.
February 16 McCarrick Verdict.
January 5 McCarrick-case pdf of my dreams.
December 4, 2018 The Vatican spills the beans on McCarrick (off the record).
October 8. Commentary on Marc Card. Ouellet Open Letter to Viganò.
August 28 Believing Viganò.
July 30 James, the Man of the Hour + James’ Amanuensis.
July 26 New Scandal, Worse than the First.
Father Mark White Blog 
Based on the many comments I read on Church Militant website yesterday, the facts about the McCarrick case were obvious to people even before he was finally “defrocked.” People are not stupid, as some of the hierarchy perceive them to be. I am concerned for the Catholic faith and the more I find and understand about the actions of many of the hierarchy, the more concerned and disturbed I become. I pray for God to protect all those who are striving to serve as “true” priests to the faith. They need His protection. I also pray for more priests to be willing to stand up and speak out about the wrongs being committed. And I pray that more and more parishioners everywhere come to understand what is happening. “Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.” (St. Catherine of Siena) I pray always for God’s will to be done, for his guidance and forgiveness, and that He grant us courage. May God have mercy on all of us.
Continued prayers for you in this fight. May God bless you.
Father, over these several weeks I have come to understand the depth and breath of prayer which is an intimate conversation with God. In that conversation I have learned much (perhaps too much) about myself but I do recognize my humanity and how it has impacted the course of my life. I am slowly feeling empathy for everyone especially for those whom I instantly dislike. I abhor the sexual sin of our clergy, I abhor the cover-up by all levels of the hiarchy but Christ’s passion leads me to a place of rational compassion and the need for justice. I fight hard to keep emotion out of my decisions but have come to a deeper understanding that your battle (which is for us all) is well worth engaging and winning. The heirarchy of our Church has been focused on protecting the integrity of the Church rather than protecting the Truth. Yes., you are wouded, I am wounded, the Bishop is wounded , McCarrick is wounded and the Pope is wounded. The deciding factor is who allows the wound to be exposed and the blood of Christ to heal it? Humility and courage are the remedies and I believe God has placed both of these in your hands. I pray those who are intent in maintaining this devistating secrecy will allow you, through Christ, to help in the annointing. When I say prayer is all I have it is merely a cliche. I know the power in it’s purest form from personal experience. And, so Father, I will continue to pray for you that Our God provides you with the wisdom,courage and peace of mind and heart to continue the fight. Everyone can then claim victory over this evil.