A SECOND AMERICAN POPE?

Dolan's White House appointment will usher in a 'reign of terror' for abuse victims

The first New York cardinal to be called the “American Pope” was Cardinal Francis Spellman, a notorious homosexual whose penchant for groping male private parts during meetings reportedly had to be restrained by his priest secretary. Spellman, who as Archbishop of New York from 1939-1967 gave the Church “Uncle Ted” McCarrick by ordaining him a priest in 1958, bears a legacy of both power and perversion. No matter how the cardinals vote in the upcoming Conclave, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has already seemed to clinch the title of “American Pope” owing to a disturbing new appointment.

When headlines broke that U.S. President Donald Trump handpicked Cardinal Dolan to be a key member of his new White House Religious Liberty Commission, some Americans reacted by asking, “How could America’s most scandal-racked prelate have ever passed a background check?” At the same time Dolan begins his White House post, he is also fighting hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits spotlighting his career-long cover-ups as a priest and auxiliary bishop in St. Louis; when he worked at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.; when he was the rector of the North American College (NAC) in Rome; when he was the Archbishop of Milwaukee; and since he has been the Archbishop of New York.

Seeing how Dolan and other accused clergy routinely use court filings to distort the First Amendment’s “separation of church and state” into an escape hatch that permits penalty-free predation and cover-ups, many expect Dolan to use his new post not to safeguard “First Amendment rights” or draft “religious policies,” but rather to convince lawmakers that he and his corrupt brother bishops deserve to avoid any criminal or civil consequences.

Current legal precedent distinguishes between questions of “internal church matters” (i.e. whether a parish celebrates Mass ad orientem or versus populum) and “neutral principles” (i.e. there is no Church teaching professing the right of a predatory homosexual priest to abuse a seminarian or retaliate against seminarians who report their abusers; nor does Church doctrine bless acts of cover-up or financial fraud). Until now, case law has upheld that courts may adjudicate “neutral principles” such as criminal behavior of clergy insofar as such conduct has nothing to do with religious teachings.

In 2022, nine California (arch) bishops José Gomez, Salvatore Cordileone, Kevin Vann, Joseph Brennan, Daniel Garcia, Michael Barber, Jaime Soto, Oscar Cantú, and Robert Vasa tried to turn religious privileges into a “get out of jail free” card by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to shield them from a childhood sexual abuse law that would have exposed monumental clergy abuses and cover-ups. Dolan himself secretly made a similar failed attempt to have lawmakers squash New York’s Child Victims Act which, when ultimately passed, led to volumes of damning testimony against him and 1,787 accused abusers. Although the California bishops argued that “the Catholic Church in the largest State in the union” should not have to answer “hundreds or thousands of cases seeking potentially billions of dollars,” the Supreme Court shot down their petition. This time, with friends in high places like Dolan instructing the President on how the First Amendment should be implemented, corrupt churchmen and even the incoming Pope may be well on their way to scoring epic wins.

If a judge or a juror is tasked with weighing in on a matter in which he has a personal interest, this individual is expected to “recuse” himself lest bias or profit taint the outcome. When Trump asks Dolan how the courts should deal with the surge in clergy abuse litigation, how might Dolan respond knowing that he himself and the New York Church have recently been battling over 3,300 sex abuse lawsuits following the passage of the 2019 Child Victims Act and 2022 Adult Survivors Act? If clues are to be found in Dolan’s history of lobbying lawmakers; hiding accused abusers in parishes and schools; and filing court documents attempting to argue his way out of accountability by calling his cover-ups “ecclesiastical decision-making;” then Americans have every reason to believe that Dolan will serve only his own interest in his new White House appointment.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan with accused serial predator Monsignor John Paddack. Dolan kept Paddack in ministry while he was facing 11 sex abuse lawsuits which have now grown to 16.

When Dolan suffered a scathing legal loss in 2024 after essentially fighting for the “right” to sexually abuse and re-victimize victims and then have Chubb Insurers pick up the tab, the Courts sided with Chubb who argued that the New York Archdiocese “alone must bear the full financial consequences of its criminal behavior” and that Dolan’s scheme resembled an arsonist setting fire to his house and then demanding an insurance payout. Analyzing the Court’s decision, a news article, “How a New York Court Pierced Dolan’s Bubble of Entitlement” pointed out a deeper crisis in the Church hierarchy: a culture of entitlement among prelates and priests who believe they deserve the “right” to scorch their victims cost-free.

Now that Dolan has been given the chance to rewrite laws that once forced dioceses to answer for their crimes, might insurance companies soon find themselves required to cover the sex antics of abusive priests? Might prelates like La Crosse Bishop William Callahan and Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout be handed the “right” to unjustly evict priests like Father James Altman and Father Mark White from rectories because they reported sexual corruption? Might courts be forced to tell priests like Father Michael Briese that bishops like Cardinal Wilton Gregory have the “right” to inflict serious health issues and hospitalizations (which, in Briese’s case, resulted from the distress of Gregory threatening to laicize him because he reported accused predators Fathers Adam Park and Carter Griffin)? Might vulnerable adults such as the North American College (NAC) seminarians testifying in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Dolan and accused NAC leaders be mandated to consent to abuse by their superiors or accept being shown the door? After reading statements from New York whistleblower priests such as, “There are many of us who have suffered under Dolan’s ‘reign of terror’,” one cannot help but conclude that Dolan has clear motive to exploit the legal system.

Unfortunately, courts have been the only refuge of abused minors, vulnerable adults, and priests re-victimized by prelates who bury credible complaints, keep abusers in ministry, and even threaten victims’ safety if they dare to come forward with their reports. The impending Conclave where some estimate that 80% of its electors are closeted homosexuals is not expected to elect a Pope who will reverse the tide.

As Dolan takes his seat alongside the Resolute Desk, many are confident that the scandalous prelate whose record could cost him a plush $30 million Manhattan mansion and being outed for his own alleged sexual involvement with other bishops will take every opportunity to warp the First Amendment to his own advantage. Although Dolan may not step out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica as the Catholic Church’s 267^th Pope, abuse victims are outraged that Trump has awarded him an equally lucrative White House post where he can bend laws to shield abusers and keep victims’ stories from ever being heard.

For more information, click HERE to watch “From Predators to Pastors?

This Substack column is free. If you find it informative, please recommend it to others and consider supporting it by contributing to the “Save Our Seminarians” Fund.

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan ​R​espect Life ​Director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Email him at msgr.investigations@gmail.com.