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Federal lawsuit details new rape allegations against McCarrick involving 12-year-old boy
By Ted Sherman
In one of the most graphic accusations yet against Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced and defrocked former Catholic cardinal accused of sex abuse, attorneys for a 47-year-old man claim he was sexually assaulted for years by the former cleric — beginning when he was just 12 years old. The new allegations against McCarrick, 90, were made in a federal lawsuit filed in New Jersey on behalf of the unnamed “John Doe,” who said he was raped and sexually abused as a child by McCarrick on dozens of occasions from 1985 through 1990. His attorneys, in the voluminous, 108-page complaint filed in late September, asserted that the Vatican and high-ranking officials in the Catholic Church knew McCarrick had engaged in “rampant and widespread sexual misconduct.” But the lawsuit alleges church officials chose to ignore the allegations against McCarrick — mindful that he was an “extraordinarily successful fundraiser” for the church and the Vatican. The Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen were also named in the lawsuit for allegedly failing to protect the boy from a known predator while McCarrick headed the two New Jersey dioceses. John Doe’s lawyers, Mark Lefkowitz of Hawthorne and Kevin Mulhearn of Orangeburg, N.Y., declined comment, and said they would allow the complaint to speak for itself. An attorney for McCarrick also declined comment. The civil action is just the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by former altar boys, seminarians, priests and others who claimed they were assaulted by McCarrick during his nearly 21 years in New Jersey as bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark. Last week, the Vatican released an unprecedented 449-page internal investigation, which charged that bishops, cardinals and three different popes downplayed or dismissed reports of McCarrick’s alleged sexual misconduct. That report was based in part on the accounts of seventeen individuals who alleged McCarrick abused his authority to gain and maintain access to them, all while they were boys or young men. The Vatican documented three decades of reported misconduct by McCarrick, and how his friends and supporters in the church hierarchy — including bishops, cardinals and ultimately popes — all dismissed those claims, including six anonymous letters accusing him of pedophilia that were sent to U.S. church leaders in the early 1990s. McCarrick was defrocked, or removed from the clerical state, in February 2019. He has denied all of the allegations against him. ALLEGED BEACH HOUSE ABUSE In the federal case filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, the attorneys for John Doe said he was raised in “an extremely devout” Catholic family, and that McCarrick had been a close friend to his parents, siblings and extended family. In 1985, when McCarrick headed the Diocese of Metuchen, the boy’s parents permitted him to stay overnight at the Metuchen rectory, the lawsuit said. The next day, the bishop took the boy to a beach house owned by the diocese in Sea Girt. According to the complaint, it was there that McCarrick sexually abused the boy for the first time, masturbating him, performing oral sex on him and forcing the boy to reciprocate. Similar abuse in the months that followed was alleged to have occurred at the rectory in Metuchen and at a fishing cabin in the woods at the Eldred Preserve in the Catskills in New York State. After McCarrick became the archbishop of Newark, the alleged assaults continued. The lawsuit claims McCarrick sexually abused and raped the boy at his private residence near the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark at least eight times. The complaint recounted one episode in which McCarrick brought another priest into the apartment. “This is my friend. He’s like us. We all do the same thing,” McCarrick allegedly told the boy, then 13. “I’m gonna leave now. And you two enjoy yourselves.” The unidentified man allegedly sexually assaulted the boy, according to the lawsuit. The court filing said after McCarrick returned, he joked with the other priest, gave boy whiskey and wine to drink, and assured him that he was going to be fine and that they “were doing the right thing.” According to the Vatican report, other alleged victims told investigators that McCarrick isolated them and took “an extraordinary number of trips with minors and young adults.” The lawsuit suggested that among the reasons why so many in the church turned a blind eye toward McCarrick, despite the growing allegations coming forward, was money. “McCarrick was an exceptional fundraiser for the Catholic Church, and was charismatic and viewed by many as a rising star,” it noted, charging that “various Catholic Church officials, the Diocese of Metuchen, and the Archdiocese of Newark consciously chose to ignore that credible negative information about McCarrick and/or deliberately concealed that information.” In a statement, Anthony P. Kearns III, chancellor for the Diocese of Metuchen, said while the diocese could not comment on matters pending litigation, “we hold in prayer all survivors of abuse, among them those survivors who have courageously come forward to bring their past abuse to light. Though their abuse may belong to the past, we are called and committed to responding in the present with transparency and integrity to bring hope and healing to all who have suffered the effects of abuse.” Kearns added that the Diocese of Metuchen has taken more aggressive steps forward since the adoption of the abuse prevention policies in 2002, referencing the pope’s call to bishops worldwide for greater accountability. “The diocese also requires background checks for all clergy, employees and volunteers, as well as training for all who work or volunteer with children; strongly enforces a zero-tolerance policy; and relies on a review board to determine the credibility of every allegation against clergy, if not already deemed criminal by the authorities,” he said. “We will continue to take steps forward to ensure the shameful actions of the past cannot be repeated in the future." The Archdiocese of Newark also declined comment on the lawsuit. “It would be inappropriate to discuss or comment on matters in litigation, but it’s important to note that the Archdiocese of Newark remains fully committed to transparency and to our long-standing programs to protect the faithful and will continue to work with victims, their legal representatives and law enforcement authorities in an ongoing effort to resolve allegations and bring closure to victims,” said Maria Margiotta, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. McCarrick has never been criminally charged in connection with any of the allegations against him. However, the Vatican in its report last week said diocesan officials in Newark and Metuchen have been in touch with the state Attorney General’s office. New Jersey launched a Clergy Abuse Task Force in 2018 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within all the Catholic dioceses of the state — as well as any efforts to cover up such abuse — following the disclosures a year earlier by a Pennsylvania grand jury, which graphically detailed the horrific sex abuse by priests who preyed upon children for decades. A spokesman for Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the Clergy Abuse Task Force is active and continues to review all allegations of clergy abuse. “The goal of the Task Force is to not only ensure that all victims' voices are heard and their abusers held accountable, but also to investigate how religious organizations handled allegations of abuse and provide recommendations moving forward,” said spokesman Peter Aseltine. To date, four priests have been charged by the task force. Aseltine said the task force is reviewing the Vatican report, but would not comment specifically on McCarrick. “Our policy is to neither confirm nor deny specific targets of our investigations,” he said. Contact: tsherman@njadvancemedia.com
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