Theodore Edgar McCarrick (7 July 1930-) was Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 (preceded by Peter Leo Gerety and John J. Myers) and Archbishop of Washington DC from 2000 to 2006 (succeeding James Aloysius Hickey and preceding Donald Wuerl). He was created a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001 but resigned from the College of Cardinals in 2018 amid allegations to sexual abuse and was laicized in 2019. McCarrick was known as a champion of progressive Catholicism and social justice causes.
Biography[]
Theodore McCarrick was born in New York City in 1930. His father died when he was three years old and his mother worked in an automobile factory. As a child, McCarrick served as an altar boy at the Church of the Incarnation in Washington Heights. He was ordained a priest in 1958 by Cardinal Francis Spellman. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of New York from 1977 to 1981, served as Bishop of Metuchen from 1981 to 1986, and served as Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000. He became Archbishop of Washington DC in 2000 and was appointed a Cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He retired in 2006, and was succeeded by Donald Wuerl. He played a role in the Vatican-China accord, having visited China on at least eight occassions. On 28 July 2018, Pope Francis removed McCarrick from the College of Cardinals amid allegations of sexual misconduct and McCarrick was laicized on 13 February 2019. It is alleged by groups such as Church Militant, LifeSiteNews, etc., and Catholic individuals such as Michael Voris, Taylor Marshall, etc., that McCarrick was a Communist agent and a member of the KGB, given his role in the Vatican-China accord.