Pope accepts Cardinal McCarrick’s resignation
By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick May 16 and named Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh to succeed him as archbishop of Washington.
“It is with mixed emotions I heard of Cardinal McCarrick’s retirement,” Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski said. “As the first Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen then Archbishop of our nation’s capitol, the Cardinal was a very creative and gifted shepherd.”
Msgr. William Benwell, vicar general for the diocese, recalled working with Cardinal McCarrick when he was bishop of Metuchen. “He was a dynamic and energetic bishop,” Msgr. Benwell said.
Cardinal McCarrick has headed the Archdiocese of Washington since 2001. In addition to serving the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, he also served as an auxiliary bishop in the New York Archdiocese.
As canon law requires of all bishops, the cardinal submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict when he turned 75 on July 7. But he announced at a September meeting with archdiocesan priests that the pope had asked him to stay on.
Lasting impact
Then-Bishop McCarrick was named the founding bishop of the Metuchen diocese and installed at St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Metuchen on Jan. 31, 1982. Upon the retirement of Archbishop Peter Gerety in 1986, Bishop McCarrick was selected by Pope John Paul II to lead the Archdiocese of Newark. Fifteen years later he was installed as Archbishop of Washington.
Added responsibilities
In 1986 and again in 1992, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected then-Archbishop McCarrick to head its Committee on Migration. In 1992, he also was named to head the Committee for Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, and was elected in 1996 as chair of the Committee on Inter national Policy. He remains a member of that committee and, in November 2001, was elected chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee.
Other USCCB committees on which the Cardinal has served are Administrative, Doctrine, Laity, Latin America and the Missions. He was elected one of 15 U.S. bishops to serve as a member of the Synod for America held in 1997. At the conclusion of that synod, the bishops elected him to serve on the Post Synodal Council.
On Feb. 21, 2001, Archbishop McCarrick was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II.
Along with Cardinal McCarrick’s resignation, the pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph L. Imesch of Joliet, Ill., and appointed Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Little Rock, Ark., as his successor.
Archbishop Wuerl, 65, has been bishop of Pittsburgh since 1988. His installation as archbishop of Washington is scheduled for June 22.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law