A PAPAL CANDIDATE WITH BLOOD ON HIS HANDS

New York prelate behind suicide of sex abuse victim

Several articles have been published and more will surely appear prior to the upcoming papal conclave. Having lived and studied with five of the ten American cardinal candidates, I have been asked if I thought any of the ten U.S. cardinals might have a chance of being elected the next pope. I responded by saying, “Knowing what I know about them that you will not read in the media, there are some more than others whose election I would strongly oppose.” Having already exposed Cardinals Robert McElroy and Wilton Gregory in previous articles for covering up clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct, I thought I should set the record straight about New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan who appears to have received more media coverage over the years than the other candidates.

After more than a decade of waiting in vain for Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York Archdiocese to bring clerical abuse victim Tim Murphy’s predator to justice, Tim ended his life in suicide. Beginning in 2003, Murphy began his futile quest of reporting to the New York Archdiocese that accused serial abuser, Father Donald Timone, molested him between the ages of twelve and thirteen. Murphy’s memoir, From Crack to the Cross, recounts how Timone’s abuse left him with lifelong scars, explaining, “At this vulnerable season of adolescence this priest left me mentally crippled, an injury that would last for years and years.” While Murphy’s allegations were clearly documented in Archdiocesan records when Dolan took the helm in 2009, Dolan continued to cover up Timone’s abusive history and hailed him as “a remarkably gentle and holy man.” Neither Murphy’s suicide in 2015, nor the corroborating testimony of two other males whose reports resulted in two six-figure settlements in 2017, compelled Dolan to remove Timone from ministry. More than four years after Murphy’s suicide, it took a New York Times article, “The Church Settled Sexual Abuse Cases Against This Priest. Why Is He Still Saying Mass?” for Dolan to finally remove Timone in August of 2019.

The late Tim Murphy’s wife, Susan Casinelli, ignored by U.S. mainstream and Catholic media, described to Middle East-based news outlet Al Jazeera how the scars of Timone’s abuse and the Archdiocese’s cover-ups left Murphy with decades of emotional torment. Just as most legacy and Catholic media avoided reporting allegations that the late Pope Francis was accused of preying on vulnerable Jesuit novices; that he covered up countless sex abuse cases in Argentina as documented by French investigative reporter, Martin Boudot; and that he feared returning to Argentina owing to death threats from abuse victims and family members; so too have those same U.S. based media sources been covering up the “cardinal sins” of candidates Robert McElroy, Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Timothy Dolan, and others.

Unlike Murphy who lived a tortured life until his tragic end, Dolan resides in a plush $30 million Manhattan mansion; rakes in multi-million dollar contributions from political dinners and Cardinal’s Appeal fundraisers; was honored twice by U.S. President Donald Trump who tapped him to headline both his 2017 and 2025 inaugurations; stood before the world in St. Peter’s Square to concelebrate Pope Francis’ funeral; and will soon participate in the upcoming papal conclave. Pointing to Dolan’s opulent lifestyle and his extensively documented record of shunning abuse victims, one Catholic lamented, “I am truly disgusted by Cardinal Dolan having this much access to power in our country despite covering up such sexual predation.”

When Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was accused of abusing a minor in a shower room, university officials Graham Spanier, Timothy Curley, and Gary Schultz who covered up his abuse received prison sentences. Dolan remains a glaring exception, avoiding this same fate for not only covering up numerous sex abuse cases involving minors and vulnerable adults, but also for re-victimizing Tim Murphy through cover-ups which caused his end in a dreadfully wrongful death.

In a Church claiming to have “zero tolerance” for abuse, Tim Murphy was sentenced to death because he was abused by a priest while to date only 8 out of 150 bishops accused of sex abuse have been laicized. Murphy is only one of countless sex abuse victims whose abuse was covered up by prelates like Dolan. Commenting on the aftermath of abuses and cover-ups, one victim told media outlet NPR, “My innocence was forever stolen by a so-called representative of God. And I continue to deal with the lifelong effects of the abuse on my path to deal with the secrecy, denial and protection of predator priests.” Another male who was abused at the age of nineteen added, “Many people do not survive this. I know a man last month who took his own life.” Yet another abuse survivor joined these sentiments by writing, “Catholic priests [and] Catholic bishops have consistently told me through their actions that it would be better that I just disappear.”

The man whose cover-ups sent Tim Murphy to his grave, instead of trading in his cardinal’s robes for a prison uniform, could be suited up for a white cassock if he were elected the Catholic Church’s 267th Pontiff. At this pivotal moment when the cardinals will choose a pope who may either “clean house” or “sweep dirt under the rug,” the stories of Tim Murphy and all abuse victims silenced by corrupt Church leaders cry out for justice. Unless the media and Catholic faithful alike speak up on behalf of victims and confront the prelates who destroyed their lives, do not expect any prayers to be answered for a truly “holy and faithful pope.”

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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.