BishopAccountability.org

Former Tenafly resident accuses Cardinal McCarrick of sexual abuse

By Rodrigo Torrejon
NorthJersey
July 20, 2018

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/tenafly/2018/07/20/former-tenafly-resident-alleges-sexual-abuse-cardinal-mccarrick/805732002/

This 1974 photo provided by a man who agreed to be identified only by his first name, James, shows him in California with Theodore McCarrick, a Roman Catholic priest who eventually became a cardinal. James says he was sexually abused for about two decades by McCarrick, who was removed from public ministry June 2018 over separate child abuse allegations.

In this Nov. 14, 2011, file photo, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick prays during the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall assembly in Baltimore. The retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been removed from public ministry over allegations he sexually abused a teenager while a priest in New York more than 40 years ago.
Photo by Patrick Semansky

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., lays hands on the Most Rev. James Francis Checchio at his Episcopal Ordination and Installation as the fifth Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, at the Church of the Sacred Heart in South Plainfield, New Jersey, on May 3, 2016.
Photo by Keith Muccilli

[with video]

Amid tears and decades of buried trauma, a former Tenafly resident recalled 20 years of sexual abuse by a once-trusted priest and close family friend who became a dark, looming figure in his childhood in a recent New York Times report.

The 60-year-old man, who identified himself as James, detailed years of sexual abuse by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 88, one of the most prominent faces in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Times report. McCarrick, a longtime family friend the family called "Uncle Ted," had baptized James at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. 

"I was the first guy he baptized," James told the Associated Press Friday. "I was his little boy. I was his special kid. I was the kid he always sought out."

It was in James' Tenafly home where the years of sexual abuse began, Patrick Noaker, James' attorney told NorthJersey.com. When James was 11, as he was changing out of his bathing suit, McCarrick, then 39, walked into the room and took his own pants off.

"McCarrick came into the boy’s room and he was naked," Noaker said. "McCarrick told him to turn around and said 'See? we’re the same.'"

McCarrick, through a spokeswoman, told the Times that he had not yet been notified of the accusation, so he could not respond. 

The second instance of sexual abuse by McCarrick also happened in Tenafly, Noaker told NorthJersey.com.

"He used the same entrée," Noaker said. "Under the guise of checking to make sure he was developing properly. He said 'Do you remember? We’re the same. We both have one of these."

McCarrick would stay in touch with James, even after James moved out of New Jersey to California, the Times reported. Over those 20 years, McCarrick allegedly plied James with alcohol, slept naked with James and masturbated James several times, according to the Times report.

At the time of the alleged abuse in Tenafly, McCarrick was not a priest in New Jersey, said Jim Goodness, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark. McCarrick was a priest in New York at the time, Noaker said. 

But from 1981 to 1986, McCarrick was the bishop of Metuchen and from 1986 to 2000 was the archbishop of Newark, Goodness said.

Goodness declined to comment on James' allegations.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that a former priest had received a $80,000 settlement, in part, over allegations that McCarrick had inappropriately touched and sexually harassed him when McCarrick was a New Jersey bishop. Last month, McCarrick was abruptly removed from the ministry when it was alleged that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old altar boy in 1971, the Times reported.

The allegations gave James the strength to come forward with his own allegations of abuse, the Times reported.

“I got down on my knees and I thanked God that I am not alone and it is going to be OK,” James said, in the Times report. “And I can tell somebody and someone is going to believe me.”

In order to take action against McCarrick, James has filed a police report with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in Virginia, the Times reported. That report will be sent to San Francisco, possibly New York and New Jersey, Noaker said.

Since coming forward, James has fluctuated between emotions, Noaker said.

"It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster for him," Noaker said.  "He’s having to go back to memories he had hoped to put away."

James, whose attempted suicide was stopped by a friend that intervened, hopes to heal through helping other victims of abuse.

"He just wants to be believed and help others," Noaker said. "He realizes that others may be in that position that feel hopeless. If others can read and get help, he feels good about that piece. He told me 'It’s 40 years overdue, Pat. But it's better late than never.'"

Contact: torrejon@northjersey.com




.


Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.