THE SUMMER OF SCANDAL
ATTENTION: SITE ARCHIVED
You are viewing an archived site.
​
I created this website to catch friends and family up to speed as news continued to break through September. It serves as a primer up to that point in the news cycle.
​
Due to other research demands, namely the completion of my degree, I was not able to keep this log up-to-date beyond that. The site has been placed on hold and archived for that reason. It provides a good picture of the initial wave of reports and allegations, which have now swept tragically even further through the Church hierarchy. Major news on this issue continues to unfold on a weekly and even daily basis. I urge you to follow the cycle yourself through the myriad online news outlets I reference here that have been vigilant on this soul-scaring scandal.
* * *
​
The Catholic Church has faced one of its most devastating news cycles in modern memory throughout the second half of 2018. While stories have emerged worldwide, three main threads have taken shape.
​
On June 20, the Archdiocese of New York announced that it had found allegations of abuse against Theodore Cardinal McCarrick "credible and substantiated." What followed was a cascade of statements, more allegations, and the revelation that of the wide circles McCarrick ran in, spanning the globe, "everybody knew" about his sexual manipulation of his subordinates, including seminarians and young priests. It triggered what has been called the Catholic #MeToo moment in which many came forward with stories of sexual abuse and harassment entrenched in seminary and ecclesial culture.
​
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania grand jury prepared to release a report two years in the making detailing systemic abuse of minors and subsequent cover-up spanning 70 years. The gruesome report contained names of several bishops complicit in concealing information who remain active in the episcopacy. After delaying the report's release, the 800 plus-page document was made public on August 14. Catholics and others people of good will around the world were horrified. The report, along with accusations against McCarrick, resulted in a revival of concerns of a "gay mafia" in the Church for some, and worries about a "witch hunt" of gay clergy for others.
On August 25, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, released an 11-page "testimony" in which he accused several Vatican officials, including Pope Francis, of complicity in the cover-up of McCarrick's misdeeds, and called for the pope's resignation. While Francis refused to comment, journalists immediately pounced on the question, rushing to verify the claims or to discredit Viganò.
The story has resulted in whiplash for many laity, particularly Catholic journalists, and painfully hearkens back to the "Long Lent of 2002," in which systemic abuse of minors and cover-up in the Church first broke.
​
Needless to say, the story has been nearly impossible for even professionals to follow, let alone a typical churchgoer. This site exists to assist the average Mass-goer in getting up to speed.