This book exposes a treasure trove of McCarrick’s opinions on the clerical sex abuse scandal, (he brazenly doesn’t shy away from writing about it). As you might imagine, McCarrick writes incessantly about seminarians. With educated eyes, these entries jump off the page with a new creep factor.
His columns provide a roadmap for any prosecutor looking for possible crimes of sexual exploitation during McCarrick’s nearly non-stop overseas junkets. His travels beg the question of whether McCarrick was searching for new victims in far off lands.
Knowing McCarrick’s obsession for sexually assaulting young males, his tome opens a psychological and linguistic window into his sick, yet disarming pathology. If you didn’t know better, McCarrick’s cheerful chatter utterly charms the reader, His peripatetic world travels on behalf of Catholic Relief Services, the State Department (with his very own convenient diplomatic passport), and for the Catholic Church, boggle the mind and raise the question, was McCarrick, the Archbishop of Washington D.C., or a Diplomat at large.
As you might imagine, McCarrick obsessively talks about seminarians, and his “priest-sons” in frequent weekly entries which now should send off alarms. When McCarrick was in Rome, he always stayed at the North American College Seminary (the NAC) and stayed in the spacious Cardinal Hickey suite.
Rick Steves would have been proud of the frequent flier miles McCarrick logged traveling around the globe. The list below doesn’t include his frequent trips throughout the U.S.
(Such as to this New Jersey high school in 2011)
This itinerary serves as only a partial list of McCarrick’s travels during his years as Cardinal of D.C.:
2001:
Turks and Caicos
Saudi Arabia
Holy Land
Puerto Rico
Rome-Stayed at the NAC-North American College Seminary
2002:
Rome-Stayed at the NAC
Eastern Europe for CRS
Rome-Stayed at NAC
Balkans for CRS
Toronto for World Youth Day
Mexico City
Lebanon for State Dept.
2003:
Rome-Stayed at NAC
Rome-Stayed at NAC-Appointed to Pontifical Commission for Latin America
Belgrade Serbia
Iran-at the request of Iran Pres. Khatami
China-5th Visit
Rome-Stayed at NAC
Kosovo for CRS
Dublin
London
Rome stayed at NAC
Rome stayed at NAC
Moscow with Cardinal Kasper
Paris
Argentina
2005:
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Dublin
Rome stayed at NAC
Berlin
Cologne, Germany
Caucasus for CRS
Balkans for CRS
China
2006:
Rome stayed at NAC
Germany
McCarrick’s weekly columns ended on May 18, 2006 when Wuerl was appointed Cardinal of Washington, D.C.
Uncle Ted mastered the gift of gab, which was one of his most alluring grooming tactics. His soft, lilting, humorous, grandfatherly voice lured his victims into complacency. One minute he would say to a victim, “let’s say our evening prayers” and seconds later, he would assault a shocked seminarian, who had let his guard down. McCarrick built a global network of influencers, friends, world leaders, who counted him, as their friend and ally.
Ted McCarrick pathologically compartmentalized his public life from his dark and vile private one. He never slowed down, always on the move, hopping on planes, traveling to big and small events and celebrations. McCarrick served as Washington’s ultimate insider who shamelessly self promoted his workaholism and good works for humanity.
Next Up: The 2nd installment of the Globe Trotting Predator details McCarrick’s brazen and bold pronouncements on the clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. McCarrick doesn’t shy away from discussing “the scandal.” He freely offers his opinion on predation and everything he has done to counteract the problem.
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Elizabeth Yore is an international child protection attorney who has investigated clerical sex abuse cases.