Pope John Paul II announced last week that Newark Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick will be installed as the head of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., making him the spiritual leader of Washington’s Roman Catholics and placing him at the center of the ongoing debate over the Roman Catholic church’s role at Georgetown University.

McCarrick succeeds Cardinal James A. Hickey, 80, who is stepping down after 20 years in the post.

McCarrick will be an important figure for Georgetown, Jesuit rector Rev. Brian O. McDermott said, because the university board of directors often consults with the archbishop over important matters. McDermott said the university and Hickey worked closely during the recent agreement with MedStar Health Systems to jointly operate Georgetown University Hospital.

As Archbishop of Washington, one of McCarrick’s most notable interactions with Georgetown will be working to implement Ex Corde Ecclesiae, a papal decree endorsed by the National Council of Catholic Bishops to tighten the Catholic Church’s control of Catholic higher education

During Hickey’s tenure, he played a key role in several controversies related to Georgetown’s Catholic identity, most notably over the funding of homosexual and abortion rights organizations. During the controversies, Hickey was a vocal opponent of movements to compel Georgetown to recognize organizations he felt to be contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

University President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., praised cCarrick’s appointment.

“His extensive work to promote human rights awareness around the globe and his commitment to justice and peace are a great inspiration to our mission of educating students to serve others,” O’Donovan said.

McDermott said he is “very excited” by cCarrick’s appointment, stressing his “commitment to social justice.”

McDermott also said McCarrick’s experience in international affairs makes him particularly well suited to deal with Georgetown. He is the chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on international policy. In 1999, cCarrick became a member of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom. In 1998, he traveled to China to discuss religious freedom there.

He has traveled extensively while archbishop, including trips to China, Cuba, Vietnam, the Phillipines, South Korea and Rwanda.

“The most important thing I need to do is get to know my priests and get to know my people,” McCarrick, 70, said.

He also said that he will rely heavily on the people of the archdiocese.

“No bishop in the church of today can do anything by himself,” he said. “It is only through your faith and love that we do anything at all.”

All of McCarrick’s four predecessors have been elevated to the position of cardinal during their tenure in Washington.

McDermott said that every priest, Jesuit and non-Jesuit, at Georgetown falls under the authority of the local bishop for liturgical matters. However, McDermott said that because Jesuits are not diocesan priests, their daily lives are not under the bishop’s authority. That power is reserved to the local Provincial, in Georgetown’s case, the Maryland Province.

McDermott also said that because Georgetown is a non-diocesan private university, the archbishop does not control its funding, as he does for diocesan schools like Catholic University.

O’Donovan praised Hickey’s service to the Washington area.

“We are extremely grateful to Cardinal Hickey for his valued leadership and many years of dedicated service to the Archdiocese of Washington,” he said.

According to Newark Archdiocese spokesman James Goodness, cCarrick is “very committed to education and understands the value of a Catholic education.”

McCarrick has experience working with Jesuit universities, Goodness said, because St. Peter’s College is located in the Archdiocese of Newark.

McCarrick has served as president of Catholic University of Puerto Rico and as dean of students at Catholic University.

The Archdiocese of Washington is home to 510,000 Catholics, who make up 21 percent of the area’s total population. It is comprised of 140 parishes in the district as well as Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s counties in Maryland. The archdiocese also runs numerous schools and health care centers.

McCarrick was born in 1930 in New York and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1958. He holds a master’s degree in history from St. Joseph’s Seminary and a Ph.D. in sociology from Catholic.

After his early career in education, he worked primarily in the Archdiocese of New York before being appointed Archbishop of Newark in 1986. Newark is the seventh-largest archdiocese in the country, with more than 1.4 million Catholics.

He is an influential member of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, having previously chaired three committees and serving on five others.

“Here I am, with all my faults and all my needs,” he said upon his appointment. “But this I promise you, I will love you and serve you with all my heart and together . we will try to do great things.”

McCarrick will be installed during a two-day ceremony on Jan. 3 and 4.