Abuse survivor speaks out after former Catholic cardinal is found not competent to stand trial for abuse

  1. matilddaa's avatar
  2. Broga's avatar
  3. Vanity Unfair's avatar
  4. Broga's avatar
  5. matilddaa's avatar

JAMES Grein, 64, abused for years from the age of 11 by Theodore McCarrick, inset above, has accused McCarrick’s legal team of “coaching” the former prelate for psychiatric assessments that culminated in abuse charges being dropped against him.

Yesterday (Wedneday) a state district judge ruled that McCarrick, 93, was not competent to stand trial on criminal sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts.

The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports that the dismissal of the charges follows separate examinations of McCarrick’s mental health by health professionals hired by both his and the state’s legal teams, both of which concurred on his incompetence.

McCarrick was charged in state court with three counts of indecent assault and battery relating to allegations that he sexually abused a teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 

That teenager was identified in February as James Grein, a former New Jersey resident.

In a statement filed with the court dated August 30, Grein accused McCarrick’s legal team of “coaching” the former prelate for mental assessments.

His defense attorneys seem to have run out of continuances to delay the proceedings further, so they moved on to the competency issues.

Only they and Mr. McCarrick know the extent of the coaching to prepare him for his two interviews. If McCarrick is found incompetent, they will have won and justice will have lost.

Grein said that when he went public with allegations against McCarrick in 2018:

McCarrick sent followers to my house to remind me that he is the ‘most powerful man in the U.S., if not the world.’ … The first time he said this to me was in 2012 at the funeral of my mother. His sinister eyes and voice warned me of retaliation if I went public.

A state’s psychologist who examined McCarrick testified in court that McCarrick has cognitive issues and “deficits of his memory and ability to retain information.”

The charges were the first criminal McCarrick has ever faced following several accusations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians, which led to his removal from the clerical state in 2019. 

However, criminal sexual assault charges filed against McCarrick in Wisconsin in April are still pending, as are a number of civil lawsuits.

The watchdog group BishopAccountability.org, which keeps an online database of sexual abuse by clergy on its website, issued a statement Wednesday sharply critical of the case’s outcome.

The group’s co-director Anne Barrett Doyle said in the statement:

Today is a reminder of the Catholic hierarchy’s cynical strategy of cover-up. McCarrick’s predations were an open secret. Many of his fellow cardinals and bishops knew, and they did nothing. They didn’t report him to law enforcement, they didn’t go public with the information, and they didn’t reach out to those he assaulted,” she said.

McCarrick might have been prosecuted years ago if even one of his brother bishops had called the police. Instead, yet again, a predator has evaded accountability. While the institution may been spared the embarrassment of an ex-cardinal on trial, the disgrace of its complicity with McCarrick remains.

Grein said:

I brought the charges in this matter in the hope of finding justice in this court. Instead, McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing. Nothing except the continuing fear of the twice-threatened retaliation.

Hat tip: Stephen Harvie

Please help me keep The Angry Atheist going with a donation.

One-Time
Monthly
Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

€5.00
€15.00
€100.00
€5.00
€15.00
€100.00
€5.00
€15.00
€100.00

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly

Latest posts

Off the hook. Serial evangelical abuser Jonathan Fletcher won’t stand trial.

IN 30 years as vicar of Emmanuel Church Wimbledon, London, the Rev. Jonathan Fletcher, above, is alleged to have engaged in naked beatings, nude swimming and massages, as well as other sexual misconduct, and bullying and “spiritual abuse.” Then, in July 2024 he was charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one of grievous…

5 responses to “Abuse survivor speaks out after former Catholic cardinal is found not competent to stand trial for abuse”

  1. “McCarrick has cognitive issues “. Anyone with religious beliefs has cognitive issues. The BBC daily e.g. “Thought for the Day” broadcasts clergy making absurd statements that cannot be true. The fact that they claim to believe that God hears prayers and responds to them is extraordinary as no indication, never mind evidence, to support this has ever been produced.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. How very convenient, and not the first time. Remember Ernest Saunders – the only person known to recover from Alzheimer’s?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders

      Liked by 1 person

  2. What I really want to know is, what is the illustration behind the Cardinal?
    It looks very like a Teletubby. Is there actually a St. Po?
    How about a civil action against the diocese?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Perhaps they confused Po with Padre Pio. If there were a St Po, I’m sure he would be full of shit as well!

      Like

  3. Why surprised, he has lied all of his life for a living.

    Like

Leave a reply to Vanity Unfair Cancel reply