McCormack, bishop panned for role in sex abuse scandal, dies

CONCORD, N.H. — Retired Roman Catholic Bishop John McCormack has died after a career in which he faced criticism for his role in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal and led New Hampshire’s diocese during its own reckoning.

The Diocese of Manchester says the 86-year-old McCormack died Tuesday.

McCormack was installed as New Hampshire’s ninth bishop in 1998 and retired in 2011. When the sex abuse scandal erupted in 2002, critics called on him to resign. They cited his former position as a top aide to Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston. He later averted unprecedented criminal charges against the New Hampshire diocese by agreeing that it had harmed children by moving abusive priests from parish to parish.

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