NEWARK (NJ)
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
June 20, 2018
By Kelly Heyboer and Ted Sherman
The scandal over Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s alleged abuse of a minor while he was a young priest— and the subsequent disclosure by church officials in New Jersey of settlements of at least two cases charging sexual misconduct with adults— has raised new questions over pledges of transparency by the Catholic Church in dealing with the misdeeds of its clergy.
In 2002, American bishops passed the Dallas Charter, requiring that dioceses report all allegations of sexual abuse of minors to public authorities.
But the New Jersey settlements in the case McCarrick, which officials said involved “allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago,” were kept confidential. They only came to light after the cardinal, a former Archbishop of Newark who later became head of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., was removed from public ministry Wednesday by the Vatican.
In a statement, the church said McCarrick was removed from public ministry following a “credible and substantiated” allegation of sexual abuse involving a teenager from nearly 50 years ago. He accepted the end of his public role in the church. However, the cardinal said he does not remember the alleged abuse, and believes he is innocent.
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