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January 12, 2011

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Named Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the John W. Kluge Center

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, as distinguished visiting scholar in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

While at the Kluge Center, from January through December 2011, McCarrick will be studying the growing critical role of religion in diplomacy and the new responsibilities of religious leaders to work in the search for peace and care of the world’s poor.

McCarrick served as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington from 2001 to 2006. On Feb. 21, 2001, just seven weeks after his installation as archbishop, McCarrick was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II.

As archbishop of Washington, McCarrick served as chancellor of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and president of the Board of Trustees of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. During his episcopate in Washington and throughout his life, McCarrick has placed an emphasis on education, vocations and meeting the needs of new immigrants, particularly in the Latino community.

McCarrick earned a bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s degree in 1958 from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1958, and went on to earn a second master’s degree in social sciences and a doctoral degree in sociology from The Catholic University of America.

In 1996, McCarrick was invited to serve on the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad, and from 1999-2001 he was a member of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom. In January 2000, the president of Lebanon named him an Officer of the Order of the Cedars of Lebanon, and in December 2000, President Bill Clinton presented him with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights. McCarrick has continued to travel the world working on international human rights and religious freedom.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.

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PR 11-007
01/12/11
ISSN 0731-3527

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