Three McCarrick Letters to Seminarians Published
Three letters, which disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 89, wrote to seminarians have been published on the Internet by AP. Two of the letters are signed with “Uncle Ted”.
The letters are embarrassing but do not reveal any criminal activities. They were written in the late 1980s when McCarrick was Newark Archbishop.
McCarrick speaks to the seminarians about his travels to Russia and Poland and how he accompanied John Paul II on his U.S. trip.
In eight letters to a seminarian, McCarrick repeatedly urged him to call him collect at his Newark offices, providing his direct line. He urged the seminarian repeatedly to come visit.
McCarrick also referred to an incident where the two met a Mafia-associated businessman who was gunned down shortly after in a mob hit,
“Thank God we didn’t go to dinner on Saturday night!” McCarrick wrote. “We’d have been in the middle of a gangland rub-out.” Or in a later letter: “You stick with your uncle and you’ll really meet exciting people.”
Another seminarian, the later Father Desmond Rossi, was studying for the priesthood at Newark seminary, “You’re still very much part of the family.”
Rossi ultimately moved to another diocese in 1989, after a meeting where he said McCarrick rolled his chair “inappropriately close” and touched Rossi’s leg as he spoke.
The letters are embarrassing but do not reveal any criminal activities. They were written in the late 1980s when McCarrick was Newark Archbishop.
McCarrick speaks to the seminarians about his travels to Russia and Poland and how he accompanied John Paul II on his U.S. trip.
In eight letters to a seminarian, McCarrick repeatedly urged him to call him collect at his Newark offices, providing his direct line. He urged the seminarian repeatedly to come visit.
McCarrick also referred to an incident where the two met a Mafia-associated businessman who was gunned down shortly after in a mob hit,
“Thank God we didn’t go to dinner on Saturday night!” McCarrick wrote. “We’d have been in the middle of a gangland rub-out.” Or in a later letter: “You stick with your uncle and you’ll really meet exciting people.”
Another seminarian, the later Father Desmond Rossi, was studying for the priesthood at Newark seminary, “You’re still very much part of the family.”
Rossi ultimately moved to another diocese in 1989, after a meeting where he said McCarrick rolled his chair “inappropriately close” and touched Rossi’s leg as he spoke.