Theodore Cardinal McCarrick returned from the meeting of American Church leaders in Rome yesterday and addressed an audience in JCU's Lombardo Conference Room last night. "This is the first time I've given a speech at 2 o'clock in the morning," he quipped, referring to the effects of his international journey. See below for a link to an audio stream of his address.

Before delivering the reflections he had prepared on "International Human Rights after September 11," the head of Washington D.C.'s archdiocese reported on the meeting with Pope John Paul II, who he said was "broken hearted" about the harm that had been done to young people, to the "faithful American Church," and to the holiness of the Church and the priesthood. "We are now working on the challenge of the Holy Father when he said there should be no one in the priesthood that would harm a little child."

In her introduction of Cardinal McCarrick, Doris Donnelly, director of the Cardinal Suenens Center, highlighted his extraordinary personal service to the poor in the U.S. and around the world. She concluded, "Our prayer is that the wisdom, honesty and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus so evident in the life of Cardinal McCarrick will guide him at this time in mending the wounds of the Church in our country." In addition to the Suenens Center, sponsors of the lecture included JCU's Program in Applied Ethics, Departments of Religious Studies and Political Science, Center for Global Education, Honors Program; as well as the Cleveland Diocese Commission on Catholic Community Action.