NEW JERSEY
Newark Star-Ledger
September 2, 2018
By Mark Crawford, Guest Columnist
In recent weeks you have most likely learned that one of the most prominent Catholic Church officials, then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, faces a credible and substantiated allegation of sexually abusing a minor. Since then, others have come forward disclosing how he used his position and authority to sexually abuse seminarians, priests and at least one other child.
To make matters worse, we learned that several bishops knew of settlements made decades earlier. Secrecy and silence prevailed at the highest levels within our church. At the very least, our local bishops knew and remained quiet as McCarrick — the former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen — ascended to one of the highest positions within the church. He was allowed to craft the very document that was intended to stop child sexual abuse by clergy.
Then we learned that the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary’s — which operates one of New Jersey’s most prestigious schools, Delbarton in Morristown — issued a letter to parents this summer acknowledging the presence of 13 monks and one lay teacher who had been accused of abusing children in their care over the past 30 years. It was a staggering admission, almost incomprehensible in scope.
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