Ted Talks (When Will Francis?)
“Evil looks for innocence.”
For half a century, Ted talked and talked his merry way across the globe. While he performed on the world stage, Ted McCarrick hunted for innocent victims in the shadows.
He is now laicized, but still not scrutinized.
Pope Francis is stonewalling, hoping McCarrick passes on, and the Catholic laity moves on. The Church sex scandal will never end, unless and until Francis exposes all cleric and prelate abusers and opens all dossiers on Theodore McCarrick.
But will Francis ever fully expose the evil of his biggest fan?
The year is 2008. Outfitted like a super hero in his scarlet cape, reveling in the limelight, dominating the rostrum with his Bono-like sunglasses, the prelate to the world’s powerful, accepts a humanitarian award from the Notre Dame graduates. As the endearing Uncle Ted, McCarrick dominates the ND venue with his charming Irish wit, captivating storytelling, self-deprecating humor, while lecturing the crowd about the world’s poor.
Once again, McCarrick, the lecherous leprechaun, fools the audience with his cunning stagecraft.
As Bob Dylan warned, “the enemy I see wears the cloak of decency.”
How did McCarrick perpetuate his cloak of decency?
How did the Catholic Church’s most notorious serial predator prelate morph into the public spokesman for Church clergy abuse reforms and its zero-tolerance policy?
Why won’t the Vatican unmask this master of deceit and depravity?
Will the Catholic laity demand that the Vatican open the McCarrick dossier?
Why does Francis refuse to answer any questions about his relationship and rehabilitation of McCarrick?
How many, and which prelates knew about McCarrick’s sexual predation, remained silent, and fostered his soaring career and insidious predation?
What role did McCarrick play in the abdication of Benedict and the election of Bergoglio?
Did any foreign or domestic government officials protect or rescue McCarrick by intervening in any criminal investigations of his sex crimes?
Buried in the Vatican secret archives are housed the reports and demonic history of Theodore McCarrick. Until these questions are answered, the Church sex abuse scandal persists.
Catch Me if You Can
Theodore McCarrick brazenly wielded raw political power, fueled by massive amounts of money, while pursuing his paramount goal of preying on vulnerable young males. His arrogance knew no bounds as he mocked his brother bishops and victims with a high-profile game of ‘catch me if you can.’ For decades, McCarrick eluded capture because he owned powerful protectors— the press, the politicians, and prelates.
The media is full of “Ted Talks,” a treasure trove of the McCarrick’s speeches, writings, and interviews. He reveled in his celebrity status as the prelate to the powerful— kings, presidents, senators, supreme court justices, media stars, popes, Hollywood stars, rock stars. Ted knew everyone from Bono to Biden, from the Hiltons to the Clintons. Ted friended them all, as he collected and cultivated celebrities—the richer, the better.
Over the decades, McCarrick amassed countless honorary degrees, served on prestigious boards, and earned a reputation as a tireless fundraiser and political power broker. He constructed quite a mask of respectability to elude capture and justice.
Rest assured, Ted McCarrick never met a microphone or young male he didn’t want to exploit for his own selfish needs.
Strip away all the hype and glitz, Theodore McCarrick was nothing more than a star-struck serial sexual pervert, who spent every waking moment plotting his next sexual conquest, while scheming to silence his victims with his prodigious power. He incessantly travelled the world in search of more hunting grounds, under the guise of a caring global humanitarian.
McCarrick’s high profile offers the unique opportunity to understand the cunning tactics of a predator. This sexual pervert was without remorse and even dared to publicly chastise other clerics who abused children. McCarrick shamelessly wrote in his weekly column at the Catholic Standard, “once a clear case has been made, an offending individual should never be placed in a position of trust with children ever again.”
Obviously, Ted shunned his own talk.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, predators rarely lurk in the shadows. Rather, the derring-do of depravity feeds off the distorted limelight of fame and fortune. McCarrick incessantly sought public attention.
In 2002, McCarrick boldly assumed the role as the Catholic Church spokesman during the clergy scandal and the Dallas Charter Meeting. His brazen gall is on display as he steps to the USCCB stage and pontificates on the solutions for the clergy abuse child sex scandal.
Why did the U.S. Bishops permit this mockery of justice? Why did all of the U.S. Bishops sit idly by and watch McCarrick dominate the airwaves, as the Church’s child protection spokesman? Weren’t any of them troubled by his blatant hypocrisy and contempt for the victims? These are the shepherds protecting the Catholic flock?
We still don’t know the answer to those questions.
Cardinal McCarrick also wrote extensively about the clergy abuse scandal in his weekly column in the DC diocesan newspaper. On March 21, 2002, he even went so far as to disingenuously assert that “the newspapers are giving a lot of scary statistics about priests who have abused minors. Sometimes the numbers make us shudder—and rightly so since even one such man who uses a child is a disaster and a scandal for us all.”
Apparently, Ted wasn’t ‘shuddering’ over his own predatory conduct against children.
Shockingly, he became the media face of the scandal, not for his own predation but for his child protection advocacy. Imagine the fury of his victims as McCarrick appeared several times on Meet the Press.
Is it any wonder no victims spoke up? McCarrick presented the face of the child protector to the media and they believed him.
Watch McCarrick carefully as Russert asks him “is there a special place in hell for those priests that abuse children?”
See how smoothly he dodges the question.
Notice the allure of his soft lilting voice, full of feigned righteousness, but obviously void of righteous indignation.
It appears that McCarrick is smiling as he answers Russert’s pointed question about the scandal. Apparently, his performance satisfied Russert because McCarrick would later preside over Russert’s funeral.
He also appeared on CNN with Christiane Amanpour to address the clergy sex abuse scandal. Knowing his legions of victims, McCarrick cruelly mocked them all with his endless media appearances as the self-appointed child protector extraordinaire.
McCarrick never flinched when the press asked him about the scandal. He never cracked. He didn’t even display a hint of remorse or shame. He had none.
Instead, Ted turned on the charm, mouthed platitudes about child protection, and feigned concern for the victims. The mainstream media ensured that McCarrick’s mask remained in place. Ted was their favorite Catholic talking head. The media worshipped at his feet. He was liberal, accessible and oh so charming.
The master manipulator cunningly crafted his public image as a simple cleric, and tireless fundraiser for humanitarian causes. In a 2002 article, the AP described McCarrick as “a kind one-man charm school.” The article gushed over the humble cardinal and quoted McCarrick’s rabbi friend, “Time and again his primary concern, his instinctive concern, was the victim.” And the AP story praised McCarrick “as a wonderful spokesperson in the midst of a crisis that bring so many people pain.”
Not surprisingly, The National Catholic Reporter repeatedly sang McCarrick’s praises throughout the decades. David Gibson of NCR wrote that, “McCarrick loves the action, of course, and he is well-suited to his roving ambassador role.”
Now, we all know the ‘action’ McCarrick loved most.
Like the public facade of Bill Cosby’s carefully crafted Dr. Huxtable as “America’s Dad”, or Jimmy Savile as“Saint Jimmy” for his charitable work, so too, McCarrick insisted that his victims and their families call himUncle Ted. ‘Uncle Ted’ brilliantly served as McCarrick's grooming moniker, as the kind, friendly, and trustworthy family priest.
Yet, behind the carefully crafted façade lurked a creepy, intimidating, and manipulative monster. This is the man known to his victims.
No one knows McCarrick better than James Grein. As the child victim of McCarrick, Grein discloses, “McCarrick didn’t abuse me every day, but every day I was with him, he abused me.”
Grein recounts McCarrick’s blood curdling comments to him in 2012, at Grein’s mother’s funeral. The exchange provides insight into the terrifying and imposing power of this demon.
Grein approached McCarrick and tells him that he is going to tell the authorities about the 18 years of sexual abuse by McCarrick, starting when James was 11 years old:
Grein to McCarrick: “I’m going to turn you in.
McCarrick: “Go ahead and try. I’ll crush you in the media. And then I’ll call a couple of friends up to finish the job.”
The real ‘Uncle Ted’ sounded more like a mafioso hitman. No wonder they were called the St. Gallen Mafia.
McCarrick’s chilling words reveal the mind of this pervert whose reign of terror is finally over. He is dethroned but the full extent of his sordid legacy remains largely unknown and zealously guarded by the Vatican and U.S. hierarchy.
Ted’s talks broadcast a prolific and prodigious self-promoter, a self-appointed expert on Islam, poverty, Middle East peace, interfaith dialogue, Iran, Cuba, China, and, yes, child protection.
McCarrick talked his way into every global humanitarian crisis, every prodigious board, and every political liberal cause. He even talked his way into Congress and the White House.
Ted no longer talks. Now it’s Francis’s turn. Any time you're ready, Holiness. . .