Boston, Mass., Aug 15, 2018 / 15:15 pm
Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. of Boston will not be attending next week's World Meeting of Families in Dublin due to the ongoing investigation into St. John's Seminary, the Archdiocese of Boston announced on Wednesday.
Previously, O'Malley had been scheduled to moderate a panel and discussion in Ireland titled "Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults." O'Malley is President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
In a statement from the archdiocese, it was explained that "important matters pertaining to the pastoral care of St. John's Seminary in the Archdiocese of Boston and the seminarians enrolled in the formation program there require the Cardinal's personal attention and presence," and he therefore would not be making the trip to Ireland.
After it became public that other dioceses had paid settlements to adult seminarians allegeing abuse against the former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a handful of other, younger, former seminarians took to social media to share their own stories about what they experienced while in seminary. Several of these stories came from men who had studied at St. John's.