Post-McCarrick report dialogue zeroes in on ‘hyperclerical culture’
Pope John Paul II embraces Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington after placing the red biretta on the new cardinal during a consistory ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Feb. 21, 2001. The pope named the now- disgraced former cardinal to head the Washington Archdiocese Nov. 22, 2000. (CNS photo/Arturo Mari, L’Osservatore Romano)
By Mark Pattison • Catholic News Service • Posted December 14, 2020
WASHINGTON (CNS) One month to the day that the Vatican released its report on since-laicized cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a panel of academics took a close look at what one called a “hyperclerical culture” that allowed McCarrick’s sexual misconduct to go unchecked.
Then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick kisses Pope John Paul II after receiving his biretta, the four-cornered red cardinal s hat, during a consistory ceremony in St. Peter s Square in Vatican City Feb. 21, 2001. The pope named the now- disgraced former cardinal to head the Washington Archdiocese Nov. 22, 2000. (CNS photo/Vincenzo Pinto, Reuters) Dec. 13, 2020 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON One month to the day that the Vatican released its report on since-laicized cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a panel of academics took a close look at what one called a hyperclerical culture that allowed McCarrick s sexual misconduct to go unchecked. Silence is dangerous, said John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, a co-sponsor of the Dec 10 dialogue, The McCarrick Report: Findings, Lessons and Directions, and who himself had been subject to sexual abuse when he was a seminarian. Hyperclerical culture can be horrific