Former cardinal faces new sexual charge in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The only U.S. Catholic cardinal, current or former, ever to be criminally charged with child sex crimes now faces a new allegation in Wisconsin. On Friday, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was charged with a single count of fourth-degree sexual assault, in connection with an incident that happened 46 years ago.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Walworth Co. District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld announced the charge on Monday, accusing the once-powerful prelate of fondling a victim’s genitals while staying in Geneva Lake, in April 1977, the same year he was elevated to serve as Auxiliary Bishop of New York.

“Thank you to the brave survivors who have made reports through the clergy and faith leader abuse initiative,” Kaul said. “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.”

According to the state Justice Department, the case in Wisconsin follows a report to the Attorney General’s Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse initiative. Survivors of clergy or faith leader abuse, their friends or family, or anyone else with information about how a religious organization responded to sexual abuse is urged to reach out by calling 1-877-222-2620 or online at supportsurvivors.widoj.gov.

In February, McCarrick’s lawyers filed a motion in a separate sexual assault case, asking a Massachusetts court to dismiss the case against him, the Associated Press’ Alanna Durkin Richer reported. The attorneys argued their 92-year-old client had dementia and was not competent to stand trial.

McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 in the Massachusetts case that alleges the priest sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in June 1974.

McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 in the Massachusetts case that alleges the priest sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in June 1974.

McCarrick, who lives in Dittmer, Missouri, faces three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. He can still face charges because he wasn’t a Massachusetts resident and had left the state, stopping the clock on the statute of limitations.

Ordained as a priest in New York City in 1958, McCarrick ascended the church ranks despite apparently common knowledge in the U.S. and Vatican leadership that “Uncle Ted,” as he was known, slept with seminarians.

McCarrick became one of the most visible Catholic Church officials in the U.S. and even served as the spokesman for fellow U.S. bishops when they enacted a “zero tolerance” policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002.

His fall began in 2017, when a former altar boy came forward to report the priest had groped him in New York when he was a teenager.

The next year, the Archdiocese of New York announced McCarrick had been removed from ministry after finding the allegation to be “credible and substantiated,” and two New Jersey dioceses revealed they had settled claims against him in the past of sexual misconduct involving adults.

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick in 2019 after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused minors, as well as adults.

A two-year internal investigation found that three decades of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports of sexual misconduct. Correspondence showed they repeatedly rejected the information as rumor and excused it as an “imprudence.”

The findings released in 2020 pinned much of the blame on Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed McCarrick slept with seminarians.

The Associated Press’ Alanna Durkin Richer provided the details of the charges against McCarrick in Massachusetts and his career within the Catholic Church.

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