The Washington Post found a way this week to inject the tired “conservatives pounce” trope into a story about the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Because it’s not a story until we know how the Right is exploiting it.
Certain conservative Catholic circles have long warned that the progressive McCarrick, who was removed from public ministry last month over allegations he sexually abused adults and at least two minors, has ties to heinous crimes against the innocent. As details of the former cardinal’s alleged wrongdoings continue to surface, it seems increasingly likely that those traditional Catholics critics were right all along.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post published a story, titled “As rumors of sexual misdeeds swirled, Cardinal McCarrick became a powerful fundraiser for the Vatican,” detailing the allegations against McCarrick. Sure enough, the article includes a paragraph taking aim at Catholic critics of the one-time Church big shot and his enablers:
Yes, it’s the Catholics who’ve been sounding the alarm all this time who deserve a scolding finger-wag, and not the men who did nothing about the disgraced former cardinal’s alleged abuses. Those whose warnings went totally ignored by Church leadership are rightly holding Church leadership responsible for decades of inaction and obfuscation. How dare they? How dare they indeed.
For reference, here’s a brief rundown of the grave evils of which McCarrick stands accused, via the The Week’s Matthew Walther:
- McCarrick stands credibly accused of molesting a 16-year-old altar boy in 1971.
- At least two settlements have been made with victims (both adults at the time of the alleged wrongdoing) of McCarrick in the last decade.
- McCarrick began molesting a boy identified only as “James” when the latter was 11. This was a boy whom the future cardinal had himself baptized only two weeks after his ordination to the sacrificing priesthood. The abuse continued for 20 years. McCarrick allegedly referred to James as his “special boy” and insisted that the child and his siblings call him “Uncle Ted.”
- McCarrick reportedly forced seminarians in his diocese to spend weekends with him at a beach house, where they were made to share his bed. There, they were asked to rub his shoulders and to sit quietly while he groped their genitals. … McCarrick requested that a seminarian put on a striped sailor suit and a pair of shorts before joining him in bed.
National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty recalled elsewhere in an article that begins:
That is one of the saddest things I’ve read in a very long time, but let’s not lose sight of the real story here: Catholic bloggers pounce.
