Cardinal misses congress to deal with claims of misconduct at seminary

THE World Meeting of Families has been dealt a blow following news that one of its most high-profile participants, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, has pulled out just days before he was due to take part in a pioneering seminar on child safeguarding.

Yesterday, the cardinal, who heads up the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Children, issued a statement announcing he would not be able to participate in the seminar, the first of its kind at the World Meeting of Families Congress.

“Important matters pertaining to the pastoral care of St John’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of Boston and the seminarians enrolled in the formation programme there require the cardinal’s personal attention and presence,” the statement said. Last Friday, Cardinal O’Malley announced that he was placing the rector of the seminary on leave while allegations of misconduct at the seminary were investigated. Two former seminarians alleged on social media that during the time they were studying at St John’s, “they witnessed and experienced activities which are directly contrary to the moral standards and requirements of formation for the Catholic priesthood”. Cardinal O’Malley (inset) is also dealing with claims that his office ignored warnings about the disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is being investigated over alleged abuse of a minor and inappropriate behaviour with seminarians at a seminary in New Jersey.

The Archbishop of Boston was due to moderate at the World Meeting of Families seminar on Friday week at the RDS.

The other moderators are clerical abuse survivor and former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Marie Collins; Baroness Professor Sheila Hollins, another former member of the commission; Barbara Thorp, a former head of the Office for Pastoral Support and Child Protection in the Archdiocese of Boston; and Professor Gabriel Dy-Liacco from the Philippines, who is a current member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

It is the first ever seminar on safeguarding children to be hosted at a World Meeting of Families gathering.

Cardinal O’Malley’s withdrawal comes as the American Catholic Church is again mired in controversy over clerical sexual abuse following the damning findings of the Shapiro report and the recent fall from grace of McCarrick.