This has been a tough year for the US Church. The abuse crisis has once again dominated the headlines. The year began with the dismissal from the clerical state of the notorious former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, and ended with the long-awaited resignation of Bishop Richard Malone over his handling of abuse cases in Buffalo.
Bishop Malone’s departure was connected to another theme of this year: the several investigations by state attorneys general into abuse cases stretching back decades. Several of these probes began in 2018, but the results of a handful of them made big headlines this year: in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Colorado, New York and California.
