McCarrick Victim: ‘It’s Time to Stop the Silence’

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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - A victim of homosexual predator Theodore McCarrick says the current crisis in the Church is a time when justice is being reckoned.

Church Militant has been in contact with "James," who was sexually abused by McCarrick when he was an underage boy. James plans to make an appearance at Silence Stops Now, the rally in Baltimore outside the U.S. bishops' annual meeting Nov. 13–14.

James said of the current time in Church history, "It's an opportunity to tell the world, 'It's time to stop the silence.'"

On July 19, The New York Times published an interview with James, in which he described McCarrick's sexually abusive relationship with him beginning in his pre-teens. "Uncle Ted" was not yet a bishop when it began.

During an email exchange and phone interview on Thursday, James discussed at length this year's "Summer of Shame" for the U.S. Catholic Church, saying at one point, "I rejoiced on my knees for days after the June 20, 2018 story that McCarrick had abused before and the evidence was credible. My time had come."

"It was finally my turn," James continued, "to tell the world of all the immorality in the Church and that we have been lied to, cheated and physically or emotionally abused for years."

James referenced a homily on YouTube addressing the clerical abuse scandal that he says he has listened to "at least a hundred times" these past few months. The homily was given by Fr. Robert Altier and can be found on the YouTube channel Sensus Fidelium.

In that homily, Fr. Altier talked about the infiltration of the Catholic priesthood and seminaries by active homosexuals and other dissidents.

"This 'Summer of Shame' is a gift from Jesus," he said, because the Church is being purified. "This is a true cleaning. And the Church and the world need to be cleaned — scrubbed, actually."

James had been writing to states' attorneys general around the country about clerical sex abuse: "In the last 30 days, I wrote letters to every AG in the nation."

He also wrote to the attorney general of Washington, D.C.

Ever since the Pennsylvania grand jury report came out in August, detailing allegations of sexual assault of minors by some 300 priests and religious across six of the state's eight dioceses, numerous attorneys general from all over the country have launched criminal probes in their own states.

The D.C. attorney general announced an investigation into clerical sex abuse, followed by the Virginia attorney general. News also recently broke that the federal government issued subpoenas to seven of the eight dioceses in Pennsylvania.

Talking more broadly about failures of Church leadership, James observed, "The Church is the center for moral teaching. This teaching has ceased. The world is corrupt."

The years-long abuse James suffered led to alcoholism and drug abuse. "Jesus gave me a moment of clarity in 1991 to change my life, to get closer to Him and live more freely," he said. "I stopped using drugs and alcohol. I joined with other people and started to live a better life."

"My cross is alcoholism," he said. "I defeat this with prayer ... and fasting."

James said that, since going public with his allegations, he has been worried for his safety. He claimed he has received "many death threats in the last 120 days."

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