Then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick attends a Mass in Rome April 11, 2018. The retired archbishop of Washington faces a canonical trial on allegations he sexually abused a minor and seminarians some years ago. Pope Francis accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals July 28. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
WASHINGTON (CNS) — What became known following a New York Times investigation into two seminarians who said they had been abused by Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick is that settlements were reached with each man in the mid-2000s.
What was less clear was the depth of involvement of each bishop, all of them from New Jersey, in the settlements, and what they did with that knowledge. All of the bishops involved are now retired.
The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, contributed to an $80,000 settlement payment to Robert Ciolek, who was ordained a priest after the abuse began, but eventually left the priesthood to marry.
Jim Goodness, communications director for the Newark Archdiocese, said Archbishop John J. Myers, who then headed the archdiocese, was aware of the settlement. Asked by Catholic News Service if Archbishop Myers authorized the payment, Goodness replied affirmatively, saying, “He’s the bishop.”
Goodness said Archbishop Myers knew that Archbishop McCarrick was the subject of the complaint. “That information was communicated to the appropriate people. I’ll leave it at that,” he added.
Asked if such communication extended outside the archdiocese, Goodness responded, “Mm-hmm.”
Archbishop McCarrick served as archbishop of Newark from 1986 to early 2001, and was succeeded by Archbishop Myers.
Erin Friedlander, communications director for the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey — where then-Bishop McCarrick served from 1981 to 1986 as its founding bishop before being appointed to Newark — said the diocese “received the first complaint against Archbishop McCarrick in 2004, just short of his retirement when he already was a cardinal in Washington.”
Archbishop McCarrick was installed as archbishop of Washington in January 2001 and elevated to the College of Cardinals the next month. The prelate, who retired in 2006, resigned his membership in the College of Cardinals July 28 and awaits a canonical trial on the abuse allegations. He maintains his innocence.
After the initial complaint, “two others followed. All were decades old,” Friedlander told Catholic News Service in an email. “Under the direction of then-Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski, at the time each claim was received, each was reported to law enforcement in multiple counties in the different states where the reported offenses took place.”
Friedlander said, “Likewise, after the two settlements were reached, they were reported to the Holy See’s representative in the United States. The settlements were made by those who were named in the claims, the Archdiocese of Newark, as well as the Diocese of Trenton and the Diocese of Metuchen.
“The Diocese of Metuchen paid $53,333.34 toward the settlements,” she continued. “The one settlement included an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor by a high school teacher in the Diocese of Metuchen, which was (in) the Diocese of Trenton at that time.”
The Metuchen Diocese also made a separate $100,000 settlement in 2006 with a former priest who said he had been abused by Archbishop McCarrick and others. This priest submitted the first known written complaint about Archbishop McCarrick, and was later barred from ministry after having admitted in his complaint to sexual misconduct of his own.
“Archbishop McCarrick was aware of the settlements,” Friedlander said.
The communications directors in Newark and Metuchen declined to make Archbishop Myers and Bishop Bootkoski available for interviews with CNS.
Rayanne Bennett, communications director for the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, said the diocese’s settlement with Ciolek did not involve any abuse allegations against Archbishop McCarrick. “Our part in the settlement had nothing to do with the alleged actions of then-Cardinal McCarrick,” Bennett said in a separate email to CNS.
Rather, “the Diocese of Trenton was party to the global settlement involving Rob Ciolek because he was abused as a teenager in the late Seventies while attending a Catholic high school in what was once our jurisdiction.” When the Metuchen Diocese was created in 1981, some of its territory was taken from the Diocese of Trenton.
Bishop John M. Smith headed the Trenton Diocese from 1997 until his retirement in 2010. He was unavailable for an interview. He currently resides in a nursing home and is in declining health.
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Despite all this, the Pope raised McCarrick to a Cardinal? Archbishop Vigano’s questions mirror my own: the hierarchy’s preference to circle their wagons and protect alleged, homosexual predators like McCarrick may come from the top. The sooner archbishop Vigano’s allegations are investigated, the better.
I picked up one important thing in this article- he is going before a Church tribunal. In all of these stories about abuse and priests breaking vows, I have never heard of one tribunal being called, and am glad to see this. If lay members have to go through the painful process of a tribunal to get an annulment to be remarried in the Church, doesn’t it make sense that priests who break their vows go through the same process? I understand that tribunals are within the discretion of the bishop, but if the Holy See compels a tribunal for any accusations, that would go a long way to restoring some trust. And allow civil authorities a seat in the process to see if any criminal charges are warranted. The Church has to be beyond reproach here.
If Pope Francis wants to really show his commitment to change and draining the clerical swamp of the Church, he needs to send a message to all bishops and to the entire Church by laicizing McCarrick, not just taking away his title of Cardinal. I know some priests who, albeit were involved with sinful behavior, did far less and were laicized. The Dallas Charter has to include bishops in its reprimanding of these failures just as they do with the actual abusers.
Just the two cents of a priest who cares about the victims, their families and the future of the Church.
All priests, bishops and cardinals should have their pensions, Social Security and any private property taken and sold to pay for this mess. They can stay in homeless shelters to atone for their sins.
Too many words. Too few actions.
I hope you’ll join the 5,000+ people who are sending a message.
Please consider signing and forwarding to others:
https://dailytheology.org/2018/08/17/statement-of-catholic-theologians-educators-parishioners-and-lay-leaders-on-clergy-sexual-abuse-in-the-united-states/
We have to get rid of the boys club in the church. They are burning our church down!
They, the bishops, VG’s who ever who authorized these payments MUST pay back the Church. It was NOT their money to give; we gave it to further the teachings of Christ, not to be used as hush money. Disgusting.
Amen to these criminal ” bosses ” paying restitution w their own funds . They belong in jail , not in our facilities . Remove their names from bldgs and remove any their fiends who are dead and entombed in our cathedrals . The USCCB must resign immediately .
More ammunition for SNAP.