There are new questions about the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal – what did the church know about the allegations surrounding ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and when did the church know about it?
Father Boniface Ramsey of St. Joseph’s Church in New York City said he repeatedly complained about McCarrick, the now-retired Archbishop of Washington, and sexual misconduct. Father Ramsey said he sent a letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston.
McCarrick would invite seminarians to his beach house in I believe Sea Girt, New Jersey, and he would always invite five seminarians and there were five beds,” Father Ramsey said. “So there were six people in other words – McCarrrick and five seminarians – meaning that one of those seminarians had to sleep with McCarrick.”
A New York City priest says he warned senior Roman Catholic officials about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was suspended last month over claims he sexually abused seminary students and an altar boy. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, of Boston, apologized Monday night for brushing aside the allegations against McCarrick. Father Boniface Ramsey told CBS News’ Nikki Battiste he repeatedly complained about the now retired archbishop of Washington, D.C.
O’Malley’s admission is all the more startling because he is perhaps the pope’s most trusted adviser on stopping sex abuse. He says he had no idea someone had complained about McCarrick and that he never saw that letter. Father Ramsey says he first heard about McCarrick’s disturbing behavior as early as 1986, when he was archbishop of Newark.
“I had the impression that virtually everyone knew about it,” Ramsey said. “Archbishop McCarrick was inviting seminarians to his beach house. … There were five beds … and there were six people. Archbishop McCarrick arranged it in such a way that somebody would join him in his bed.”
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