Bishop James McCarthy – who resigned yesterday after admitting several affairs with women – was outed by one of his girlfriends in a letter to Edward Cardinal Egan because of an upcoming national church sex-abuse policy conference, The Post has learned.
“I was appalled at the thought that the bishop who abused me was going to Dallas to help make a policy about sexual abuse,” the woman said through a spokeswoman.
A former top aide to the late John Cardinal O’Connor, McCarthy resigned as bishop and pastor of a Westchester parish in the New York Archdiocese after being confronted with the letter.
McCarthy, 59, had been expected to attend the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ meeting in Dallas that over the next several days will weigh adopting national standards for dealing with child-molestation by priests. He had been on the conference’s Committee on Women in Society and in the Church.
The woman who exposed him said she had an on-and-off sexual relationship with McCarthy over 20 years, beginning when she was an adult – and that she first contacted sex-abuse advocates several months ago.
Her spokeswoman, advocate Susan Jason, said the woman was upset at the constant stream of news about sexually abusive priests.
At first, the woman said, “I didn’t want to come forward because women are dismissed as being not credible.”
But Jason said the woman – whose name she did not reveal – “knew that he [McCarthy] had other women in his life,” and felt adult women could also be victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Jason said the woman decided to write a 10-page letter about the bishop, which Egan got Saturday.
When archdiocese officials confronted McCarthy, he admitted the allegations, said Egan spokesman Joseph Zwilling. In addition to quitting his jobs, McCarthy also was barred by Egan from acting publicly as a priest.
Zwilling said the letter was the first time the archdiocese learned McCarthy had violated his celibacy vows.
But The Post has learned that rumors of McCarthy’s womanizing had circulated for years, leading some priests to warn the Vatican against elevating him to bishop.
Pope John Paul II “was asked twice [by Cardinal O’Connor] to make him a bishop, and the pope refused both times,” said one priest. “On the third time, Cardinal O’Connor asked as a personal favor, and it was granted.”
It is now up to the pope whether to accept the resignation of McCarthy, who had been an auxiliary bishop with authority over northern Westchester and Putnam counties.
Ordained in 1968, McCarthy had been pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Shrub Oak since 1996.
He continued there after being consecrated bishop in 1999 by O’Connor, for whom McCarthy had worked as personal secretary from 1984 to 1996.
Zwilling would not reveal the letter’s details or how many affairs McCarthy admitted, but said he believed all of the women were above the age of consent.
McCarthy in a statement admitted having “an improper relationship that included sexual contact” with a woman beginning when she was about age 21, and also admitted sexual contact “with other women.”
“For the first two decades of my priesthood, I have struggled to live a chaste, celibate life. To my humiliation and shame, I was not always successful,” he said.
“For these immoral acts I ask for forgiveness and offer an apology from my soul to all those I have caused pain.”
Egan said, “I take this opportunity to express my personal care and concern for all involved in this situation, in particular any women and their families who may have been hurt and Bishop McCarthy as well.”
The news stunned McCarthy’s parishioners, including Jackie Englehart, who said, “I’m in shock because I didn’t expect this from him . . . he’s always been a great pastor.”