McCarrick Criminally Charged in Wisconsin

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MADISON, Wis. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Wisconsin is the second state to bring criminal sex abuse charges against the now-defrocked Theodore McCarrick.

The former cardinal is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, the crime said to have occurred in April 1977. On Sunday, the Wisconsin Department of Justice issued the following press release:

The charge in this case stems from a report made to the Attorney General's Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse initiative. The complaint alleges that McCarrick engaged in repeated sexual abuse of the victim over time, including the charged incident that involved the alleged fondling of the victim's genitals while staying as a guest at a Geneva Lake residence.

Lake Geneva is also where McCarrick arranged a rendezvous with Chicago's homosexualist Cdl. Joseph Bernardin and abuse survivor, James Grein, in the 1970s.

"Thank you to the brave survivors who have made reports through the clergy and faith leader abuse initiative," commented Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul. "I encourage other survivors who have not yet reported to consider speaking to the victim services specialist at DOJ who is dedicated to this initiative and to make a report."

ABC News reported, "The alleged victim, who is not named, told investigators that McCarrick had repeatedly sexually assaulted him since he was 11 and even brought him to parties where other adult men sexually assaulted him, according to the complaint."

In May 1977, McCarrick was appointed auxilary bishop of New York under Cdl. Terence Cooke, the immediate successor to alleged homosexual Cdl. Francis Spellman. It was Spellman who ordained McCarrick in 1958.

McCarrick is facing criminal charges in Massachusetts, where he pled not guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 1974 at a wedding reception.

In February, the homopredator's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the Massachusetts case, citing the 92-year-old's dementia as a reason for not being "competent" to stand trial.

"While he has a limited understanding of the criminal proceedings against him, his progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render him unable to meaningfully consult with counsel or to effectively assist in his own defense," contended McCarrick's lawyers.

In February 2019, the Vatican officially laicized the disgraced cardinal. Per the official Vatican communique:

On 11 January 2019, the Congress of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the final decree of the criminal trial against Theodore Edgar McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC. ... [T]he accused was found guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession and violations of the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue with minors and adults, with the aggravating circumstance of the abuse of power. The Congress imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.

In November 2020, after a two-year investigation, the Vatican released its report on McCarrick titled "Report on the Holy See's Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930–2017)."

The report makes Pope Francis out to be the hero in the situation and asserts that "the pope was never informed by anyone that McCarrick had sexually abused or assaulted any person, irrespective of age."

This is in stark contrast to testimony by whistleblower Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, former papal nuncio, who said he directly informed the pontiff about McCarrick on two occasions in 2013.

The news of McCarrick first broke on June 20, 2018, when it was announced the then-cardinal was removed from ministry after being credibly accused in the archdiocese of New York.

Church leaders' cover-up of abuse has especially been called into question following the McCarrick revelations.

Some clergy denied knowing about the ex-cardinal's predation. Many critics, however, find this claim difficult to believe, as Bp. Steven Lopes relayed that, even as a seminarian, "We all knew."

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