Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation has cut ties with Archbishop Theodore McCarrick in the wake of his removal from ministry due to credible accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct earlier this summer.
“We were completely stunned and shocked at these allegations,” said Amy Goldman, chief executive officer and chair of the GHR Foundation. “The day that they first surfaced on June 20, our governance committee met and suspended his role, honorary role, as director emeritus. And then subsequently, as additional allegations surfaced, we met and did sever all ties with him.”
From 2006 to 2016, Archbishop McCarrick served on the board of the GHR Foundation. A Catholic-inspired nonprofit, the foundation serves causes of health, education and global development. Catholics Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst of St. Paul, the founders of Opus Group, a group of commercial real estate companies in Minnetonka, founded the GHR Foundation in 1965.
The foundation made $225,000 in grants for Archbishop McCarrick’s “Former Archbishop’s Fund,” from 2006 through 2014. The fund, founded in 2006, aided causes of the Archdiocese of Washington, where Archbishop McCarrick was appointed in 2000. He retired in 2006. The GHR Foundation also gave a separate $80,000 grant to the Archdiocese of Washington in 2010.
The GHR Foundation also gave $1 million annually, beginning in 2007 to the 2014, for the Papal Foundation to support the pope’s work. Archbishop McCarrick co-founded the Papal Foundation in 1988.
Pope Francis removed Archbishop McCarrick from ministry in June following the credible accusations of abuse. The archbishop also resigned from the College of Cardinals in July.
“Our biggest concern is empathy and sadness for the victims of this misconduct,” Goldman said. “It does not at all conform with the standards we hold at GHR.”
