Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick entered a "not guilty" plea Friday to three sexual assault charges filed against him in Dedham District Court.

McCarrick is facing three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years old or over for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage boy during a wedding reception on the campus of Wellesley College in the 1970s.

He did not speak during the proceedings; his plea was entered by his lawyer.

"Historically, this is the first cardinal the United States ever charged criminally for a sexual offense against a minor," Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is representing the alleged victim, told GBH News in July .

On Friday Garabedian issued a statement saying, "The trailblazing complainant is sending a direct message to the Catholic Church that its reign of sexual abuse by bishops and cardinals is going to be confronted head on."

The criminal complaint, filed in the Dedham District Court, says McCarrick was a friend of the alleged victim’s family. It alleges multiple instances of abuse, including in New Jersey, New York, California and Massachusetts. McCarrick was only charged for alleged abuse at the 1974 wedding reception at Wellesley College. The accuser was 16 at the time and was at his brother’s wedding.

The statute of limitations has not expired in the case because Massachusetts law pauses the time limit when the accused is not residing in the state.

McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed other reports of sexual abuse. He is 91 years old.

The judge ordered that he be held on $5,000 bail and surrender his passport. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 28

GBH News' Craig LeMoult contributed to this report.