Theodore McCarrick Dead - God Have Mercy On His Soul

Earlier today, Friday April 4, disgraced ex-prelate Theodore McCarrick went to his eternal reward, such as it may be.   No one who has two brain synapses firing can be unaware of the devastation that he wreaked upon the Church, not to mention the lives of the boys and young men that he raped over his chequered tenure in the Church hierarcy.

This blog and its sister website were inspired by this man, but not because he was a paragon of virtue.  I did so to bring this man's evil deeds into the limelight so that others could see him for what he was.  He could be a charming guy, but such charm is deadly and seductive.  Lord knows the Catholic Standard wouldn't do so, since it functioned as McCarrick's mouthpiece.  When controversy arose because of McCarrick's stance on giving Holy Communion to adulterers, the Catholic Standard ceased its "letters to the editor" column and has never resumed it.  This blog attempted to fill that void.

At that time though, I was unaware of the depths of his depravity.  Oh, there were rumors swilling about, regarding his abuse of young men and seminarians.  However, since no victim came forward, I could not in good conscience promulgate those rumors lest I myself sin against honesty. 

The testimony of James Grein changed that, however.  Once he relayed the horrific nightmare inflicted upon him by McCarrick, others came forward.  Finally the Vatican had to take action, if only to save its own sorry face.  Francis, himself of like mind with McCarrick on a great many matters, reduced him to the clerical state.  Oh, I'm sure that there were considerations given to McCarrick.  He never served jail time, did he?

McCarrick was known as a "king-maker".  He was influential in appointing many like-minded guys (I have trouble calling them "men") into high places in the Church.  I speak of fellows like Blaise Cupich, Kevin Farrell, and of course, the current prelate of the Archdiocese of Washington.  He was instrumental in selling out faithful Catholics in red China to their virulently corrupt Communist government.  There are so many ways in which he besmirched Holy Mother Church.  Time prevents me from rehashing all that in this post, so please read what I wrote previously over the years.

Let's pray that he made a good confession, or that he at least made a perfect act of contrition before he drew his last breath.

A Sin-Nod Circus Starts This Week

What might that be?  Why, it's the so-called summit entitled "Protection of Minors in the Church".  In light of McCarrick's dismissal from the clerical state - and the reasons for it - you can see the problem right away in the title of gab-fest.  Approximately 80% of the victims are young men over the age of 14.  They are not little children.

Hilary White, on her blog, posted a video in which Edward Pentin and another ask a panel of clerics, including Cardinal Cupich, about the focus of this summit.  They make the point that most of the victims are past puberty and that many of the victims are seminarians.  They, in a word, challenge the focus, opining that there should be at least some time devoted to their predation.  Cupich et al do quite a job tap-dancing around the question.  Basically, they tell Pentin that the focus is on the protection of children and that is that.  At the very least, I'd hope that Cupich et al understand that the Catholics in the pews are not going to be fooled by this upcoming dog-and-pony show.

The pope has designated Cupich to be the head honcho of this thing.  As this LifeSiteNews piece reminds us, Cupich is the one who dismissed Archbishop Vigano's testimony about then-Cardinal McCarrick's predation on young men, stating that the church wasn't going to "go down that rabbit hole".  Cupich now has many eggs on his face as the events of last week have vindicated Vigano.  Cardinal Muller, in commenting on the sin-nod, quoted the statistics cited in my first paragraph, stating that "anyone who ignores the facts does not want to solve the problem".   Indeed they don't for they are trying to put on an concerned facade while not acknowledging that the victims of the perversions of their buddies, or even themselves, are young men.

That last sentence is the key reason why I refer to this upcoming debacle as a sin-nod.  They seek to keep the chickens available as prey for the chicken hawks.  Recall that at the most recent USCCB meeting, a vote on action against these sex predators was taken off the table by Cupich, ostensibly to wait for the outcome of this staged cover-up of the real problem.  Now we see why, from their warped perspectives, they wanted that vote put off; they want to make certain that young men, including seminarians, are still fair game for perverted clerical lusts.

How long, oh Lord, how long?

Some Of McCarrick's Abused Come Forward - More Are Needed

On July 16th the New York Times published an article that details the sexual abuse that many seminarians endured at the hands of Cardinal McCarrick.  It also makes clear that higher-ups in Church leadership did absolutely nothing when complaints about Cardinal McCarrick were lodged with them.  LifeSiteNews links to the article, with helpful commentary of their own.  By the way - this article links to another that details McCarrick's role in procuring the pontificate for Cardinal Bergoglio.  McCarrick himself admitted it in the video embedded here.

The latest issue of the Catholic Standard published statements about McCarrick's mess.  Frankly, given their absolute silence regarding the Archdiocese's treatment of Father Guarnizo in 2012, a situation that literally made world-wide news, I was wondering if they were going to try the "mum" routine again.  They probably realized that they wouldn't get away with it this time, so they tried some "damage control"; either that, or they (and the New York Times) are participating in a wide-scale ruse.  What do I mean by "ruse"?  As I said in previous posts, I wonder if it's possible that McCarrick is simply taking "one for the team" to appease those of us who are tired of predators in roman collars roaming freely throughout the church.  At his age, he hasn't that much to lose, and could easily be placed somewhere to live his remaining years rather comfortably.

Anyway, the Standard published McCarrick's statement, available here.  I commented on the part where he said he "had no recollection" of the abuse.  However, he also said "I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charge has gone through.."  Pain?  What pain?  If pain is present, what caused that pain?  And why would McCarrick think it appropriate to say he's sorry for the pain?  Freudian slip much?

Also on the 16th Renew American published a piece by Matt Abbott in which he discloses what one of McCarrick's victims told him about twelve years ago.  The now-ex-priest's name is Bart Aslin  So far he, Ciolek, and Father Boniface Ramsey (LSN article) are the only ones (to my knowledge) that have gone on record to detail   My blogging colleague Vox Cantoris opines that all bishops today at least knew of McCarrick's sordid activities and yet remained silent.  I agree but I think the conspiracy of silence goes much further than that.  There are many priests who either were targeted by the Cardinal or knew of the targeting of their brother priests and seminarians.  Mr. Aslin wrote that many of them chose silence to protect their chances of ordination.  However, they were taught (or should have been taught) in their moral theology classes that the ends do not justify evil means.  Yes, their silence was and is evil.  By their silence they made it easier for the abuse to continue unabated.  I reiterate my call for them to come forth and join Aslin and Ciolek to ensure that McCarrick has no more access to young boys.