Cardinal McCarrick reportedly lived on seminary property during retirement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is reported to have lived alongside a Maryland house of formation for members of a religious order whose founder has faced Vatican charges of sexual misconduct.

St. John Baptist de la Salle is located in Chillum, Md., adjacent to Washington, D.C. The parish is staffed by the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), and the property serves as the headquarters of the community’s Province of the Immaculate Conception.

The Institute of the Incarnate Word was founded in 1984 in Argentina by Father Carlos Miguel Buela. In 2016, the Vatican affirmed the veracity of allegations that Buela engaged in sexual improprieties with adult seminarians of his community.

Buela, who retired in 2010, was forbidden by the Vatican from contact with members of the IVE, and from appearing in public.

In addition to the church building, the Maryland property includes two additional buildings, one of which is Ven. Fulton Sheen Seminary. The seminary forms men aspiring to be priests of the IVE, and opened in 1998. According to its website, the seminary currently houses 41 men in formation.

The third building was not visible in a Google Street View Image dated July 2009, but had been constructed by May 2012.

Sources told CNA that McCarrick lived with the IVE community at St. John Baptist de la Salle during his retirement, after residing for a period at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of the Archdiocese of Washington.

One source close to the Archdiocese of Washington told CNA that the cardinal had for a time an IVE brother in formation living in his residence, which was on the parish property but separate from the house of formation.

An additional source also told CNA that McCarrick had young priest and seminarian assistants while living with the IVE, but did not comment on whether any seminarian resided with the cardinal.

An Archdiocese of Washington spokesperson did not confirm those reports. The spokesperson told CNA that McCarrick “made his own living arrangements for his retirement,” as well as his own arrangements for secretarial assistance.

“I can’t comment on how long he was at the John Baptist de la Salle property,” the spokesperson added.

McCarrick is reportedly close to the IVE, often conferring ordination for the Immaculate Conception province, doing so as late as May 28.

Directories from the Archdiocese of Washington demonstrate that IVE Father Andrew Whiting served as priest secretary to McCarrick from at least 2014 through 2017. Whiting was ordained a deacon by McCarrick in 2013, and a priest in 2014.

The 2018 directory lists IVE Brother Andy Kemtz as secretary to the cardinal, and gives St. John Baptist de la Salle as his residence.

McCarrick has been the subject of several accusations of child sexual abuse and sexual misconduct involving seminarians and priests in recent months.

He was suspended from exercising his ministry in June following an investigation into a charge of sexual abuse, and last week he was accused of the sexual abuse of a minor.

McCarrick was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, and then served there as an auxiliary bishop.

He was bishop of two New Jersey dioceses before he was appointed Archbishop of Washington in 2000, where he served until his retirement in 2006.

In 2005 and 2007, two men received settlements from New Jersey dioceses over their abuse at the hands of McCarrick, who abused them while they were seminarians and priests.

The Institute of the Incarnate Word could not be reached for comment.