Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal Stretches to South Bend, Drawing in Bishop Rhoades, Notre Dame
By Caleb Bauer
The University of Notre Dame announced Thursday that it will not immediately revoke the honorary degree conferred to Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who recently resigned his position in the College of Cardinals after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused children and adults. In late June, McCarrick was removed from public ministry, and last week Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to “observe a life of prayer and penance in seclusion,” after a New York archdiocese review board found allegations against him to be “credible and substantiated.” McCarrick is still yet to be tried in a canonical trial in Rome, but is accused of sexually abusing a teenage altar boy 47 years ago while serving as a priest in New York, abusing another 11-year-old boy and continuing the abuse for 20 years and sexually harassing and touching men seeking to become priests. Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins said in a statement the university finds the alleged actions “reprehensible and has no reason to question the review board’s findings, it recognizes McCarrick maintains his innocence and that a final decision in the case will come only after a canonical trial in Rome.” In 2008, McCarrick gave the commencement speech at Notre Dame and received an honorary doctor of laws degree. He also conducted the beatification mass for Father Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Fordham University and Catholic University of America have already revoked honorary degrees conferred to McCarrick. The only other time Notre Dame has revoked an honorary degree was in the case of Bill Cosby, and it only did so after a criminal court came back with a guilty verdict against him. “While the allegations in this case are most grave, as they were in the case of Bill Cosby,” Jenkins said, “we believe it respects not only the rights of those involved but also the adjudicatory process itself to allow that process to reach a conclusion before taking action.” Jenkins also encouraged those in the trial to reach a conclusion “as expeditiously as possible.” At the same time the allegations against McCarrick have surfaced, other information related to institutional failures in preventing sex abuse have come to light, including in the diocese where current Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades formerly served as bishop. The current bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., Ronald Gainer, has announced plans to strip the names of past bishops dating to 1947 from any diocese buildings, halls and rooms because they “failed” to protect the victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The Wednesday order comes in advance of the release of a grand jury report that is expected to expose decades of institutional failures in the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse cases. Gainer was appointed to the position in 2014, after the death of then-bishop Joseph McFadden. Rhoades previously served as the Harrisburg bishop from 2004 to 2009, when he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. When called at the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese office, communications director Stephanie Patka said Rhoades is out of town until the beginning of next week and unavailable for comment. However, in an email Friday, Diocese of Harrisburg communications director Joseph Aponick said there are no buildings named after Rhoades, but that there "very well may be some rooms, halls or similar items at some of our parishes." The diocese is still compiling a list of those items to be renamed by a committee, and Aponick said they will release that information once it is compiled. A special "Committee on Naming" will remove and rename all items with any the past bishops' names on them. At the same time as the building naming announcement, Gainer published the names of 71 clergy members and seminarians who were accused of sexual misconduct since 1947, uncovered in an internal investigation conducted by his diocesan administration. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also ruled a 900-page grand jury report about child sex abuse by clergy be released as soon as Wednesday, after a legal challenge by 10 news organizations. “The decision to remove names of bishops and clerics may prove to be controversial, but as a bishop, I strongly believe that leaders of the diocese must hold themselves to a higher standard, and must yield honorary symbols in the interest of healing,” said Gainer in a statement. Gainer’s statement did not explicitly address whether or not the Harrisburg diocese’s internal investigation found wrongdoing on the part of Rhoades. cbauer@sbtinfo.com 574-235-6187
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