Boniface Ramsey | |
---|---|
Born | October 6, 1945 |
Religion | Catholic, Dominican Order |
Ordained | 1973 |
Offices held | professor at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University |
J. Boniface Ramsey (born October 6, 1945) is an American Catholic priest who was ordained in 1973 as a member of the Dominican Order. From 1987 to 1996 Ramsey was a professor at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University.
From 1987 to 1996 Ramsey was a professor at Immaculate Conception Seminary (which serves the archdiocese of Newark). Ramsey was a member of the "voting faculty" that could express a formal opinion as to whether a student should be promoted to the next year. According to Ramsey, in the early 1990s, Theodore McCarrick, then Archbishop of Newark, removed Ramsey's voting prerogative because Ramsey was instrumental in the expulsion of one of the seminarians. [1]
In November 2000, Ramsey wrote the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, D.C., Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, regarding rumors of inappropriate conduct on the part of McCarrick's with seminarians. (As a Dominican, rather than a diocesan priest, Ramsey was not under McCarrick's immediate supervision.) Ramsey had heard reports that the Archbishop was in the practice of inviting five seminarians to his beach house, which only had five beds, and sharing a bed with one of the seminarians. " I never heard that McCarrick touched anyone", said Ramsey. [2]
He said that "McCarrick’s behavior was viewed by many as “odd” or even “crazy,” but not necessarily immoral...The term, ‘sexual harassment,’” had not gained currency, and the seminary administrators didn’t know how to react". [3] Ramsey received no response from Montalvo, but a letter sent to him in October 2006 from the Vatican by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri indicated that his complaint had been received by Montalvo and been forwarded to the Vatican. Ramsey believes that between 2006 and 2015, there were those in the Vatican attempting to build a case against McCarrick. [2] In February 2019, the same month McCarrick was laicized by the Vatican, an image of Sandri's October 11, 2006 letter of reply, which illustrates Ramsey's account of his involvement in the McCarrick affair, was published by the media, including in a Commonweal article which Ramsey himself wrote. [2] The image showed McCarrick's name concealed in the letter as well. [2]
In 2004 he joined the Archdiocese of New York. A further letter to Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, written in June 2015, was never passed on to O'Malley. When the news broke in the summer of 2018 that McCarrick's behavior with his seminarians was known to Church authorities, not only in the Vatican but apparently also by many American bishops and others, serious questions were raised as to how he could have been named archbishop of Washington (2000) and then been elevated to the cardinalate (2001).
Ramsey is the author or translator of several books on the Fathers of the Church, notably Beginning to Read the Fathers, and of numerous articles on various theological topics. He is the general editor of The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Ramsey currently serves as the administrator of the parish of Saint Joseph-Yorkville in Manhattan.
The Archdiocese of New York is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester to the north of the city. It does not include the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn or Queens, which are part of the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Michael Augustine Corrigan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third archbishop of New York from 1885 to 1902.
Theodore Edgar McCarrick is a laicized American Catholic bishop, former cardinal and convicted sex abuser who served as Archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006.
Seán Patrick O'Malley is an American Catholic prelate who currently serves as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Boston, having served as its metropolitan archbishop from 2003 to 2024. A member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, he was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.
The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States.
James Thomas McHugh was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop of Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York during the year 2000.
Gabriel Montalvo Higuera was a Colombian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for fifty years, with the title of archbishop and the rank of nuncio from 1974. His assignments included terms as nuncio in Central America, northern Africa, Yugoslavia and the United States.
Robert William Finn is an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph from 2005 until his forced resignation in 2015.
Arthur Joseph Serratelli is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey from 2004 to 2020 and as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey between 2000 and 2004.
The Archdiocese of Newark is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in northeastern New Jersey in the United States.
The Diocese of Metuchen is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in the borough of Metuchen in New Jersey in the United States.
Leonardo Sandri is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal since November 2007 and vice dean of the College of Cardinals since January 2020. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches from 2007 to 2022. He served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1974 to 1991 in several overseas assignments, including as permanent observer of the Holy See before the Organization of American States from 1989 to 1991, and in Rome as Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State from 1999 to 2007.
Paul Gregory Bootkoski is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. Bootkoski served as bishop of the Latin Church Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey from 2002 until March 8, 2016; he was replaced by Monsignor James Checchio. Bootkoski previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1997 to 2002.
Saint John's Seminary, located in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is a Catholic major seminary sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The current rector is Rev. Msgr. Stephen E. Salocks.
Peter Leo Gerety was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Newark in New Jersey from 1974 to 1986, having previously served as Bishop of Portland in Maine from 1969 to 1974. Gerety was the oldest living Catholic bishop in the world at the time of his death at age 104.
Nicholas Anthony DiMarzio is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York City from 2003 to 2021.
John Mortimer Fourette Smith was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Trenton in New Jersey from 1997 to 2010. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida from 1991 to 1995 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey from 1987 to 1991
Carlo Maria Viganò is an Italian traditionalist Catholic archbishop who served as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016 and as secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 2009 to 2011. He is known for having publicized the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican. He also wrote a widely disseminated letter in 2018 that accused Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In 2024, Viganò was charged by the Vatican with schism. He was declared guilty and excommunicated.
Joseph William Tobin, CSsR, is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Redemptorist order, he has been the Archbishop of Newark since 2017. He previously served as the Archbishop of Indianapolis from 2012 to 2016 and as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2010 to 2012. He has been a cardinal since November 19, 2016.
St. John Paul II Seminary is a Catholic diocesan minor seminary located at 145 Taylor Street in northeast Washington, D.C. The seminary is owned and administered by the Archdiocese of Washington and was founded in 2011 by Cardinal Donald Wuerl. The seminary is named after Pope St. John Paul II.