John McCloskey

McCloskey made news from the start of his career. News reports from the 1990s say he was removed as a chaplain from Princeton University after some students complained that he was urging them not to go to professors he considered not sufficiently Christian and was critical of the way priests he saw as insufficiently orthodox ministered. An eloquent and intellectual priest, McCloskey for many years ran the Catholic Information Center, a bookstore, chapel and meeting center on K Street NW — a hub of Catholic life in the city. A high-profile media presence and adviser to Washington’s Catholic elite, he prepared Republicans Newt Gingrich and Sam Brownback for conversion. The global Catholic community Opus Dei had paid nearly $1 million to settle a 2005 sexual misconduct suit and expressed regret that the Rev. C. John McCloskey had been allowed to remain in ministry after the allegations came to light. McCloskey, 65, moved back to the Washington region in late 2016, Opus Dei said in its Monday statement, to be near family as he “suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s,” adding that he “is largely incapacitated and needs assistance for routine daily tasks.” Catholics who have seen him recently said he appears childlike and with limited short-term memory.