Dedham, Mass., Aug 30, 2023 / 12:37 pm
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on criminal sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts, a state district judge ruled Wednesday in criminal court.
The dismissal of the charges follows separate examinations of McCarrick’s mental health by health professionals hired by both his and the state’s legal teams, both of which concurred on his incompetence.
McCarrick, 93, was charged in state court with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 relating to allegations that he sexually abused a teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
That teenager was identified by NorthJersey.com in February as James Grein, a now-64-year-old former New Jersey resident.
Norfolk assistant district attorneys Lisa Beatty, Alix Beamon, and Meagan Monahan asked Dedham District Court Judge Paul McCallum to dismiss the case against McCarrick citing his incompetence to stand trial, a court filing for Aug. 30 said.
McCarrick was not in the courtroom but was present through video conference, the New York Times reported. He did not say anything during the proceedings.
The Times reported that the state’s psychologist who examined McCarrick testified in court Wednesday that McCarrick has cognitive issues and “deficits of his memory and ability to retain information.”
Neither of McCarrick’s lawyers issued comment following the ruling.
David Traub, a spokesperson for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement that “after defense came forward with a report finding him incompetent several months ago, the Commonwealth hired an independent expert to fly to Missouri and conduct an independent evaluation.”
“That evaluation also found a lack of competency to assist in his defense, as required to go forward. The judge heard that information today and ruled McCarrick incompetent,” he said.
The charges in Dedham were the first criminal charges that McCarrick has ever faced following several accusations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians, which led to his removal from the clerical state in 2019.
However, criminal sexual assault charges filed against McCarrick in Wisconsin in April are still pending, as are a number of civil lawsuits.
The watchdog group BishopAccountability.org, which keeps an online database of sexual abuse by clergy on its website, issued a statement Wednesday sharply critical of the case’s outcome.
“Today is a reminder of the Catholic hierarchy’s cynical strategy of cover-up,” the group’s co-director Anne Barrett Doyle said in the statement.
“McCarrick’s predations were an open secret. Many of his fellow cardinals and bishops knew, and they did nothing. They didn’t report him to law enforcement, they didn’t go public with the information, and they didn’t reach out to those he assaulted,” she said.
“McCarrick might have been prosecuted years ago if even one of his brother bishops had called the police,” Doyle added. “Instead, yet again, a predator has evaded accountability. While the institution may been spared the embarrassment of an ex-cardinal on trial, the disgrace of its complicity with McCarrick remains.”
James Grein responds
In a statement filed with the court dated Aug. 30, Grein accused McCarrick’s legal team of “coaching” the former prelate for the psychiatrist’s interviews.
“His defense attorneys seem to have run out of continuances to delay the proceedings further, so they moved on to the competency issues,” he said.
“Only they and Mr. McCarrick know the extent of the coaching to prepare him for his two interviews. If McCarrick is found incompetent, they will have won and justice will have lost,” he wrote.
Grein also said that the dismissal of the case and McCarrick’s subsequent freedom could result in “retaliation from his followers.”
He said that when he went public with allegations against McCarrick in 2018, “McCarrick sent followers to my house to remind me that he is the ‘most powerful man in the U.S., if not the world.’”
Grein’s allegations in 2018 were recorded in an interview with the New York Times, which referred to him only by his first name. He told the newspaper that McCarrick had serially sexually abused him beginning when he was 11.
“The first time he said this to me was in 2012 at the funeral of my mother,” Grein recounted in his Aug. 30 court statement. “His sinister eyes and voice warned me of retaliation if I went public.”
Referring to a neurological exam of McCarrick conducted by psychiatrist David Schretlen, who was hired by the defense, Grein said: “I have trouble reconciling the concept that someone who is intelligent and articulate is also not competent to stand trial and answer for his actions.”
Grein said that McCarrick was “part of my immediate family since 1945,” therefore he was able to witness the former prelate’s rise “to the top of the Church.”
“He was charismatic, intelligent, and witty. His mind could work fast and he could control his audience rather quickly. He was brilliant and, methinks, still is,” he said.
“These proceedings were to have provided a modest level of payback,” he said.
“I brought the charges in this matter in the hope of finding justice in this court,” he added. “Instead, McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing. Nothing except the continuing fear of the twice-threatened retaliation.”
‘I pray a lot’
When McCarrick was examined by Schretlen Dec. 5, 2022, the physician’s report concluded that McCarrick has a “severe cognitive disorder” and “everyday functional disability” that classifies as dementia and is most likely due to Alzeimer’s disease.
In June, psychologist Kerry Nelligan examined McCarrick at his residence in Missouri, the Vianney Renewal Center, on behalf of the state, which was included in court documents. She found that McCarrick “is suffering from an organic process of cognitive decline” that will not improve.
In it, conversations between McCarrick and Nelligan are included, with recordings of McCarrick’s answers being contradictory and oftentimes forgetful.
When asked the last time he celebrated Mass, he said: “When you retire, you don’t retire from Mass. I offer Mass every day.”
The report then said that Nelligan asked if McCarrick still offered Mass. “No. Now I’m not able to because at a certain point in time when you reach a certain age…” he responded, trailing off. “I offer Mass from time to time.”
McCarrick acknowledged that he was not an active member of the clergy and that he had lost his standing in the Church.
In Nelligan’s findings, she cited Schretlen’s report, in which McCarrick said that he has had “a small number of strokes” that resulted in “a bit of aphasia,” a condition affecting the way one communicates and understanding written word and speech, according to the Mayo Clinic.
According to McCarrick’s medical records, he suffers from a variety of conditions including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, atherosclerotic heart disease of the native coronary artery, atrial fibrillation — treated by a pacemaker — and “a history” of transient ischemic attacks, otherwise known as mini-strokes.
He also had his left knee replaced three to four years ago.
When he was asked how he spends his free time, McCarrick said: “I pray a lot. I read a lot of church stuff. I play bingo. I won around Easter time… five dollars.”
In the interviews with McCarrick, Nelligan wrote that he “demonstrated significant deficits in all aspects of his memory.”
“In summary, based on the data available to me at this time, it is my opinion that Dr. McCarrick does not present with the skills and abilities typically associated with competence to stand trial,” Nelligan wrote.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Now that he will not face prosecution for his crimes (not the least of which was orchestrating the election of Bergoglio), be on the lookout for a quick recovery from his dementia, Alzheimers, and stroke-induced aphasia. The Jesuits will claim that this was a miracle and recognition that God blesses sodomy. The Synod on Sinodality can then proceed to codify what the homosexuals have wanted all along. The newly-formed apostate Church will declare McCarrick a white martyr for the persecuation he endured and canonize him some day in June which is “Gay Month.” When all this comes to pass we will see the final apotheosis of the AntiChrist.
If what you are so sure of — the quick recovery — does not come to pass, will you acknowledge that?
James Grein ought to take a page from the OJ Simpson murder trial where the former mythic legendary superstar was found not guilty of murdering his wife Nicole and Ron Brown. The latter’s family brought and won a civil case against Simpson.
Grein ought to sue McCarrick personally and his respective dioceses since they were complicit in the coverup at the time of the crime. You can be certain that McCarrick squirreled away tons of Church money in the course of his “ministry” as a high ranking prelate. Besides being dominated by lust, these types are also dominated by greed. Power usually rounds out the triad.
I fully agree.
When asked the last time he celebrated Mass, he said: “When you retire, you don’t retire from Mass. I offer Mass every day.”
The report then said that Nelligan asked if McCarrick still offered Mass. “No. Now I’m not able to because at a certain point in time when you reach a certain age…” he responded, trailing off. “I offer Mass from time to time.”
The blasphemies and sacrileges continue unabated by this Satanic figure. Usquequo, Domine.
The hierarchy’s long coverup of McCarrick’s evils is a disgrace. It
will always be a shameful chapter in the U.S. and Vatican. A wolf
was let into the sheepfold with the knowledge and connivance of bishops
and cardinals.
Agree with you, Fran.
When the truth about McCarrick became public information, Bishop Robert Barron called for a full investigation of the hierarchy focused on the famous Senator Howard Baker in the Watergate episode: “Who knew what and when did they know it.” Pope Francis and the other friends of Uncle Ted like Cardinal Cupich made sure that there was no such investigation.
Truly shameful.
Delay, delay, delay,of course the perpetrator would be dead or would have lost his mind. Who in the Court system was protecting McCarrick? What did it cost the American Bishops?
Is anyone really surprised by this outcome? Disgraceful.
McCarrick got protection from his former fellow bishops while faithful orthodox Catholics get vilified by Pontiff Francis. I cannot believe that Christ is pleased.
I hope Mr Grein pursues civil action. Hit the men of the Church in their greatest love—their bank account.
What’s truly sad is that the hierarchy (bishops AND superiors of religious communities) are even now continuing to cover up the crimes of clergy and religious. Only the tip of the iceberg has been uncovered. I speak from personal experience as a priest and religious.
“Their” bank account? Who do you think would pay any damages?
The clerical abuse scandal has also had a component of financial wrongdoing, with abusive clerics found with their hands in the till. Some in the Church hierarchy treat the Church’s money like it is their money rather than treating it like it is God’s money given by the people as their offering to God.
While that is unquestionably true, the fact is that the overwhelmingly proportion of any payouts is not going to come from clerics who had their hands in the till.
Is it true that Pope Benedict XVI knew about the sexual allegations and did nothing about it?
No.
Those in position of power are confident that they are “above the law” and can escape justice on this side of heaven. But no one can escape divine justice.
He’s old and will die soon. He will have to give an account of his life to God. I shudder to think of his judgment.