CHARLOTTE (NC)
Catholic News Herald
August 28, 2018
The Diocese of Charlotte has found itself connected to the growing scandal surrounding Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. The diocese was mentioned in a former Vatican ambassador’s letter claiming Pope Francis and other Church officials ignored sexual abuse allegations against the retired prelate.
Greg Littleton, a priest who was removed from ministry in the Charlotte diocese in 2004, was named in the Aug. 25 letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016.
Archbishop Viganò accused Church officials, including Pope Francis, of failing to act on knowledge of Archbishop McCarrick’s alleged sexual misconduct and abuse. He cited Littleton as one of the first to try to bring to light evidence of Archbishop McCarrick’s “grave misdeeds,” in 2006.
Archbishop McCarrick resigned July 28 from the College of Cardinals and was ordered by the pope to maintain “a life of prayer and penance” until a Church trial examines allegations that he sexually abused minors. McCarrick, who retired from active ministry in 2006, has said he is innocent.
Littleton, who lives as a private citizen in North Carolina, did not respond Aug. 27 to requests for comment on the allegations against Archbishop McCarrick.
Littleton’s story has been detailed in blogs that identify him by name and news reports where he is referred to as an unnamed priest. It began in 1987 when Archbishop McCarrick, then head of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., allegedly abused an unnamed Metuchen seminarian while in New York City.
In 1994, Littleton wrote an account of abuse at the hands of Archbishop McCarrick and claimed that it led to his inappropriate touching of two boys.
In 1997, Littleton came to the Charlotte diocese from the Diocese of Metuchen, where he had received treatment for his 1994 admission and was regarded as a priest in good standing.
Returning priests to ministry after psychological treatment was the practice at the time, diocesan spokesman David Hains said.
Littleton served at St. John the Baptist Church in Tryon and later at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Charlotte.
In the fall of 2002, then Bishop Paul Bootkoski of Metuchen ordered a review of priest personnel files as part of a national investigation of sexual abuse of children in the Church. As a result of the review, in October 2002 the Metuchen diocese sent portions of Littleton’s psychological assessment to the prosecutor’s office in Middlesex County, N.J.
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