In a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report, McCormick was criticized for his mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against priests when he was bishop of Scranton.
McCormick was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by his uncle, Cardinal Dennis Dougherty, in Philadelphia on July 10, 1932.[1][2] McCormick later served as vice-chancellor of the archdiocese and was appointed chancellor in 1936. On June 24, 1940, McCormick gave the benediction at the second session of the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.[3] He was appointed pastor of St. Stephen's Parish in Philadelphia in 1944.
McCormick was named bishop of Altoona-Johnstown on June 25, 1960, by Pope John XXIII. During his tenure in the diocese, McCormick attended the Second Vatican Council in Rome from 1962 to 1965.[1]
Bishop of Scranton
McCormick was appointed bishop of Scranton by Paul VI on March 4, 1966.[1]
Retirement and legacy
On February 15, 1983, Pope John Paul II accepted McCormick's letter of resignation as Bishop of Scranton. He died in Scranton on November 2, 1996, at age 89[4][5][1][6]
In 2018, a grand jury investigating the handling of sexual abuse cases in Pennsylvania by the Catholic Church was released. The report described several instances in the Diocese of Scranton in which parents, a police officer and other clergy reported sexual assault or inappropriate behaviors by priests to the diocese. McCormick never notified parishioners or authorities about these allegations, but either dismissed them or reassigned the offending priests to different parishes.[6]
On August 21, 2018, King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, announced that they were removing McCormick's name from the building housing the chapel and the campus ministry. This was in reaction to revelations that McCormick had protected priests accused of sexually abusing children.[5] The University of Scranton also announced that it was renaming its McCormick Hall due to the same reasons as King's College.[7]
