Father McCloskey currently suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s. He is largely incapacitated and needs assistance for routine daily tasks. He has not had any pastoral assignments for a number of years and is no longer able to celebrate Mass, even privately.The visitor who studies Opus Dei commented,
Other reports say he is residing at the “Reston Residence” but they fail to mention that that’s an Opus Dei Study Center. I don’t think there is an advanced medical or hospital facilities there to care for a priest in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.The Daily Beast responded,
But The Daily Beast found dozens of complex articles he wrote in 2017 and at least one article he authored as late as 2018—a book review of Aquinas and Evolution titled “How Does St. Thomas Aquinas Approach Evolution?” in National Catholic Register in which McCloskey is identified as a “church historian who writes from Virginia.”Press accounts say McCloskey is currently 64 or 65, which is early for Alzheimer's. According to the Mayo Clinic,If Father McCloskey is truly incapacitated, as his religious order says he is, it is nothing short of a miracle that he can write about such complex topics. And if he's not, it is nothing short of a lie.
Of all the people who have Alzheimer's disease, about 5 percent develop symptoms before age 65. . . . Most people with early-onset Alzheimer's develop symptoms of the disease in their 40s and 50s.Naturally, I don't want to minimize Alzheimer's or its effects on loved ones. But one question in my mind is whether, whatever McCloskey's current condition, there's been an actual medical diagnosis of Alzheimer's. There are many causes of dementia outside of Alzheimer's, including alcoholism. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Opus Dei spokesman Brian
Finnerty said McCloskey’s interaction with women “was very limited in Chicago” even after restrictions were removed. He said signs of “cognitive impairment” were detected in 2010 and that McCloskey “did have a problem with alcohol . . . and he received treatment for that.”I think the best conclusion we can draw is that McCloskey was always overrated and was a creature of the media. However, he didn't perform well at Princeton, and he clearly became unable to handle temptations in Washington. He was presumably a source of vocations and donations to Opus Dei for as long as he lasted. Whatever his current condition, he's pretty clearly being protected, and the best thing for Opus Dei is to hope other events overtake this bad publicity.
That said, Brian Finnerty has been doing a competent public relations job. He's been generally forthcoming about the details of the crisis, and he's outlined Opus Dei's measures to correct the problem, while also acknowledging errors. It's likely that subsequent stories of coverup won't emerge. The dioceses that are having to deal with other crises can take this one as an example, but so far, it appears they won't. (An exception is the Diocese of Spokane.)
I would give Opus Dei an A-minus in crisis management, while recognizing it did contribute to the crisis. The biggest flaw in the response is the ambiguity over whether McCloskey actually has Alzheimer's, but clearly he's best kept under wraps under any circumstance.
UPDATE: A visitor referred me to the last paragraph of this story, which suggests that Opus Dei submitted ghostwritten articles under McCloskey's name to keep up appearances. That may or may not be -- my impression is there was never a there there with the guy.
