A Priest's open letter to McCarrick; you had no right

Don’t know where to send this. But here it is…

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Dear Father in God and brother priest,

I stood holding the processional cross, right next to you, when you pressed the crucifix to your lips at the door of St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Then we all marched down the aisle, and you took possession of the episcopal throne, on January 3, 2001.

You had no right.

On behalf of the priests you ordained, I say to you: You had no right. You had no right to be the one to whom we made our promises. You had no right to be the one to lay your hands on us to consecrate us.

You had no right to be the one to give us our first assignments. You had no right to give us advice.

You had no right to make any of us Washington priests do Forward in Faith. You had no right to ask us to hold up your tired arms, like Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms. You had no right to take advantage of our good will, and our faith in God and His Church.

On behalf of the young people you confirmed, I say to you: You had no right. You had no right to be the one to confirm any of them.

On the day you put the crucifix to your lips at the door of St. Matthew’s, you should have been where you are now. You should have come clean long, long ago. You did not belong in the tv lights. Your name does not belong on any buildings. Your name belongs in an ignominious footnote in the history of the Holy Church in the USA.

That’s where it belonged on January 3, 2001. But you wouldn’t live in the truth. Instead, you inflicted upon us this excruciating wound–the eviscerating fact of our Archbishop’s utter hypocrisy. We have to bear that wound now.

You had no right. But we will get over it.

Come clean now. Admit every detail of the truth. To God, and then to everyone you have hurt.

Admit the truth. Live in it. And be free.

Your son and your brother, Mark White