Cardinal McCarrick Transported to Hospital After Fainting in Church

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, fainted at the Holy Thursday Mass and was transported to a hospital.

The 84-year-old cardinal was the celebrant and homilist last night at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland.  According to the Washington Post, he had delivered the homily; but during the service, he passed out in a chair and 911 was called.

A Montgomery County rescue crew responded to the church for the report of an unconscious man.  Upon arrival, fire department spokesman Pete Piringer reported, the crew found the man conscious at the church and took him to Suburban Hospital as a precaution.  He was admitted overnight for observation.

The fire department did not identify the man, but Susan Gibbs, former spokeswoman for the archdiocese, told the Washington Post that it had, in fact, been Cardinal McCarrick.  Gibbs spoke with the cardinal late Thursday night.  The Washington Post talked with archdiocesan spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi:

 “Cardinal McCarrick is fine,” said Chieko Noguchi, the spokeswoman for the archdiocese. The cardinal had been fasting and he told Noguchi that he may have been dehydrated. “He’s in very good spirits and has assured me that he is fine.”

Cardinal McCarrick served as archbishop of Washington from 2001-2006, overseeing an archdiocese of more than 500,000 Catholics and 115 parochial schools in Maryland and the District of Columbia.  His letter of resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on May 16, 2006, after he reached the customary age limit of 75.  He currently serves as a Counselor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Photo credit:  By Copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org) www.swiss-image.ch/Photo by Andy Mettler [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons