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January 17, 2019
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – Church officials confirmed that Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, retired archbishop of Washington, had forwarded an allegation of sexual misconduct against his predecessor, former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, to the papal nuncio in Washington in 2004.
In a Jan. 10 statement, the Archdiocese of Washington said Cardinal Wuerl, who at the time was bishop of Pittsburgh, “received no further information regarding the matter” involving the former cardinal.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh in a statement emailed to Catholic News Service Jan. 11 confirmed that then-Bishop Wuerl informed the papal nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, in 2004 of the allegation against the former cardinal.
Then-Bishop Wuerl’s action came after Robert Ciolek, a former priest of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, filed a complaint with the Pittsburgh diocese saying he had been abused as a seminarian by a Pittsburgh priest. The abuse was alleged to have occurred by the priest assigned to the faculty of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where Ciolek was studying at the time, the Washington archdiocese said.
During a November 2004 appearance before the Independent Review Board of the Pittsburgh diocese to discuss the incident involving the priest, Ciolek also addressed his alleged abuse by Archbishop McCarrick in New Jersey, according to the diocese’s statement. “This was the first time the Diocese of Pittsburgh learned of this allegation,” the statement said.
Ciolek sought confidentiality at the time, both the Washington archdiocese and Pittsburgh diocese said.
After notifying Archbishop Montalvo, then-Bishop Wuerl “adhered to Mr. Ciolek’s request for confidentiality,” the Washington archdiocese’s statement said.
Archbishop McCarrick resigned as a cardinal in July 2018 after public reports of alleged sexual misconduct involving seminarians and a minor.
Ciolek asked the Pittsburgh diocese for permission to review the file containing his complaint and during his review in December he discovered the file shows that Cardinal Wuerl knew of his allegations against Archbishop McCarrick, The Washington Post reported Jan. 10.
He subsequently approached the newspaper with his findings.
During the summer as the reports of Archbishop McCarrick’s alleged misconduct became public, Cardinal Wuerl denied knowing of any complaints against the former archbishop of Washington.