Alleged sexual predator Theodore McCarrick, an ultra-liberal “Catholic” prelate who has been accused of preying on teenage boys and mature seminarians for decades, still holds an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame. The school refuses to strip him of it.
After being slapped with allegations of serial predation, McCarrick resigned from his position in the College of the Cardinals after being stripped of his public ministries. Pope Francis has ordered him into seclusion as the Vatican further investigates his alleged crimes. Several universities have already stripped McCarrick of his honorary degree, but Notre Dame refuses to follow them, according to LifeSiteNews.
In a statement last Thursday, Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins stated that McCarrick will not be stripped of his honorary degree until he is convicted in a Vatican court. The statement below:
The only honorary degree that the University of Notre Dame has rescinded was that of Bill Cosby, and this action was taken only after judicial proceedings in criminal court concluded with a guilty verdict. Recently, serious allegations of sexual abuse by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a 2008 honorary degree recipient, were found ‘credible and substantiated’ by a review board of the New York Archdiocese. Pope Francis subsequently asked for McCarrick’s resignation from the cardinalate, suspended him from public ministry and ordered him to live a life of prayer and penance until a canonical trial, at which McCarrick has a right to be heard, is concluded.
While the University finds the alleged actions reprehensible and has no reason to question the review board’s findings, it recognizes that McCarrick maintains his innocence and that a final decision in the case will come only after a canonical trial in Rome. As in the case of Bill Cosby, we will wait until that trial is concluded to take action regarding McCarrick’s honorary degree. We strongly urge those involved in this trial to reach a conclusion as expeditiously as possible.
While the allegations in this case are most grave, as they were in the case of Bill Cosby, we believe it respects not only the rights of those involved but also the adjudicatory process itself to allow that process to reach a conclusion before taking action.
Sycamore Trust, a highly influential alumni group for the school, has now called upon Notre Dame to strip McCarrick of his degree. In a letter addressed to Fr. Jenkins, the group’s president, Bill Dempsey, said “there was no time to waste.”
Dear Father Jenkins,
On behalf of the officers and trustees of Sycamore Trust, I write to urge the swift revocation of the honorary degree Notre Dame awarded Archbishop Theodore McCarrick in 2008.
There is no time to waste. Other Catholic schools will surely soon follow Fordham University and The Catholic University of America in revoking their honorary degrees. The NDNation.com headline two days ago was “It’s 9 am, Is McCarrick still a Doctor of Laws at ND?” Notre Dame should be seen as a leader, not a laggard, in this important matter.
Very truly yours,
William Dempsey
President
cc: Fellows of the University
Sycamore Trust has also called on Catholics to send individual messages to Father Jenkins to voice their concern.
The University of Notre Dame stopped being a Catholic institution during the reign of President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, who allowed full-blown heretics like Father Richard McBrien to transform the theology department into a bastion of card-carrying leftists that believed the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitude was convincing crowds of hungry peasants to share food with one another.
The reign of President Rev. John Jenkins has not fared much better. He previously awarded then-President Obama an honorary degree despite the man’s opposition to every doctrine on life the Church holds sacred.