Scandal and Due Process: A Canonical Response to the McCarrick Case
![handle is hein.journals/ndlep36 and id is 247 raw text is: SCANDAL AND DUE PROCESS:
A CANONICAL RESPONSE TO THE MCCARRICK
CASE
FR. JOHN PAUL KIMES*
On June 20, 2018, the Catholic Church was rocked by the highest profile
scandal in modern history. While Theodore McCarrick was no longer a sitting
archbishop, his position as a cardinal and the perception that he was a close
advisor to Pope Francis made the twin press releases from the Archdioceses of
New York and Washington, D.C. top news across the world. There is little doubt
of then-Cardinal McCarrick's influence in the American Church; there is
equally little doubt that the accusations against McCarrick set off a global
media firestorm and that his prosecution directly led to new legislative efforts
by Pope Francis to close a perceived gap in the Church 's continued prosecution
of clerics' sexual offenses. This Article will recreate McCarrick's prosecution
using only the information found in three press releases. This reconstruction
will demonstrate some of the fundamental differences between civil and canon
law, both procedurally and substantively, as well as highlight the Church's
efficacious legislative efforts of the last twenty years to prosecute clerics 'sexual
crimes and canon law's ability to respond in moments of crisis.
I. THE BEGINNING
On the morning of June 20, 2018, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
released a statement by then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick? The opening line
* John Paul Kimes is an Associate Professor of the Practice, Notre Dame Law School, the
Raymond of Peflafort Fellow in Canon Law of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, and a
priest of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles. He served in the Discipline Section
of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) for over a decade, including
serving as presiding and associate Judge in trials conducted by the Supreme Apostolic Tribunal. He
has published on many aspects of the delicts reserved to the CDF.
1. Unless otherwise noted, all canons referenced in this paper are found in Codex Juris
Canonici auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP.1H promulgates, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1983 [hereinafter
1983 CODE]. The texts will be given in the English translation unless it is necessary to use the
original Latin to illustrate a point. The English translation is that of the Canon Law Society of
America. Furthermore, while Pope Francis introduced modifications to the penal section of CIC-83
in June 2021, reference to any canons from the penal section of the 1983 CODE (liber vi) refer to
the text applicable to McCarrick's canonical process, which took place in 2018-19.
2. See Press Release, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington,
Statement of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (June 20, 2018), https://archny.org/ministries-and-
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Scandal and Due Process: A Canonical Response to the McCarrick Case
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