EVALUATING SNAP AND ASC

Where can abuse victims get help?

There are currently two major abuse survivor organizations based in the United States: The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Abuse Survivors Coalition (ASC). The latter group (ASC) is made up primarily of former SNAP members who were at odds with SNAP leadership. When I experienced a lack of support from SNAP, I reached out to the breakaway organization, ASC, hoping that they would be more responsive to victims who called upon me for help. When ASC leaders were no more helpful than SNAP leaders, I called abuse survivors from around the country, some of whom told me that they lost confidence in both organizations.

Unlike most members of SNAP and ASC who are victims of clerical sexual abuse, I am an abuse victims’ advocate who, although sexually propositioned by various clerics in my life, was never sexually assaulted like abuse survivors. Had I been taken advantage of by gay bishops, priests, and seminarians, and had I engaged in various forms of gay sex with them, I could be blackmailed like some homosexuals were blackmailed by Soviet agents during the Cold War. The Soviets also blackmailed married men by setting them up with prostitutes and recording their encounters. Unlike many compromised Church leaders, I cannot be blackmailed like Pope Francis, accused by Archbishop Viganò and an Argentine priest working in the U.S. of abusing Jesuit novices, was blackmailed by ex-Cardinal McCarrick, accused by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Richard Sipe, and Boniface Ramsey of abusing seminarians in New Jersey.

Because epidemiological studies find a positive association between physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing violence in childhood and same-sex behavior in adulthood, it is not surprising that a certain number of abuse survivors are homosexual. Hence, there are some gay and lesbian members of SNAP and ASC, particularly “James Martin types,” who may consider me “homophobic’ for defending the Catholic Church’s teachings articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that views homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to natural law.”

The flaw in the thinking of SNAP and ASC members who label me “homophobic” is that they fail to acknowledge that many homosexuals are sexual predators, especially with teenage boys who account for the vast number of clerical sex abuse victims. If this were not the case, then why did homosexual researchers, Karla Jay and Allen Young, co-authors of “The Gay Report,” record that “73 percent of those surveyed had had sexual relations with males 16 to 19 or younger” (i.e., 11-19 years old)? I can identify several clerical predators who abused teenagers and vulnerable adult seminarians who also, as homosexuals, engaged in consensual homosexual relations with other gay clergy. Just because some clerical predators do not engage in consensual sex with other adult gays does not mean that there is no causal relationship between homosexuality and sexual abuse.

If SNAP and ASC members took time to read my Substack articles and all of my writings and videos, they would see that I do not judge people on their sexual orientation, and that I believe it is important to distinguish clearly between individuals who are predators, homosexuals, or both. SNAP or ASC members, who are homosexual and who would never even think of abusing a minor or vulnerable adult, might feel offended if they were to read an article about a “homosexual priest” who sexually abused a victim. Unfortunately, homosexual abuse victims, including members of SNAP and ASC, who would never engage in abuse, refuse to acknowledge research by Father Dariusz Oko, Father Paul Sullins, Swiss Bishop Marian Eleganti, and others who document “a strong linkage between the incidence of abuse and homosexuality in the priesthood and in seminaries.”

One might be led to wonder if some homosexual SNAP and ASC members are heterophobic toward victims who were not “turned” as a result of “sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing violence in childhood.” The late Marine Corps veteran, Mark Brooks, had a stable, enduring, and deeply integrated understanding of himself as a heterosexual when he was sexually assaulted in the seminary by Father Nicholas Reveles. Fortunately, already in his late 20s, Brooks was not “turned” like some younger seminarians who were abused at a younger age during their period of psychosexual development. Brooks would later report catching Reveles and San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn watching gay porn together in Reveles’ quarters, and Reveles would later leave the priesthood to live an open gay life. Because he talked about how abusive gay clerics like Reveles can be both predators and homosexuals, SNAP members in San Diego did not offer him support, nor did they want him to become involved in their organization. Broken and abused by homosexual predator clerics of the Diocese of San Diego, Brooks, a United States Marine who made the fatal mistake of pursuing a vocation to the priesthood, died at the young age of 56.

People and corporate supporters who contribute to organizations like SNAP want to be sure that their donations are helping victims of clerical abuse, regardless of their sexual orientation. With the hope that members of SNAP and ASC will prove me and others wrong about their questionable dedication in helping both heterosexual and homosexual victims, I propose that they help two abuse victims from states that currently do not allow them to seek financial remedies through the courts owing to the statute of limitations in their cases. While Church officials may not have a legal obligation to investigate and compensate the victims for their losses (emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual), they do have a moral responsibility to care for victims harmed by predator clergy.

SNAP and ASC with whom I am sharing this article, may wish to each support one victim, or both organizations may chose to assist both victims. I will keep in touch with the two victims to assess what progress is being made in their respective cases. If one or both of these organizations fails to reach out and provide assistance in these well-documented and incontestable cases which have been covered up for decades by Roman Catholic Church leaders, including Pope Leo XIV, then I would recommend that its members disband and return any unspent donations it may have received.

The two victims who are in need of assistance from SNAP and ASC are Deacon Wiesław Walawender and Lisa Roers. Walawender’s case, which he shared with Vice President JD Vance, is documented online at www.gomulka.net/Walawender.pdf. After reporting to his seminary rector that he was drugged and sodomized by Msgr. Edward Staub at St. John the Evangelist Church in Severna Park, MD, Walawender was thrown into the street in May of 1997 to live in his car while parishioners were told that Walawender changed his mind about being ordained a priest and returned to Poland. Walawender was never laicized and, based on the amount of money he would have earned as a priest of the Baltimore Archdiocese, along with the cost of room and board, medical insurance, etc., Walawender is due approximately $4.5 million. With a plethora of evidence to substantiate the criminal abuse and cover-up, Walawender could have sued the Archdiocese and won had the State of Maryland lifted the statute of limitations for vulnerable adults and not just for minors. SNAP and/or ASC should meet with Archbishop William Lori while keeping the media apprised of their efforts to secure “Justice for Walawender!”

The second victim whose abuse case can test the validity of SNAP and ASC is Lisa Roers, whose abuse by Father Dennis Hanneman and cover-ups by Pope Francis, Pope Leo, and the last three Omaha Archbishops were reported in “Dear Pope Francis and now Pope Leo.” The fact that the Omaha Archdiocese never reached out to a second victim that Lisa reported as early as 2003, coupled with a whitewashed December 2024 Vos Estis complaint filed against Archbishop George Lucas, makes it clear that both the archdiocese and the Vatican have gone out of their way to prevent discovery of corroborating evidence for fear that several other victims may come forward. SNAP and/or ASC should demand that Pope Leo and Omaha Archbishop Michael McGovern follow Church protocols by removing Father Hanneman from ministry pending a full and impartial investigation of the allegations against him. Parishes and institutions in which Hanneman served should also be queried about his ministry.

Too many victims suffer from depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and even commit suicide as a result of their abuse, cover-ups by Church officials, and a lack of sympathy on the part of many Catholic laity. Because it is clear that Pope Leo is guilty of covering up the abuse of three Peruvian women and unjustly laicizing their canon lawyer, Msgr. Ricardo Coronado; and because he has been reported for covering up the sexual abuse of Augustinian seminarians and priests when he was the prior provincial in Chicago and prior general in Rome, one cannot expect him to help abuse victims in any meaningful way. Despite the lack of support from Catholic clergy and laity who are attempting to consign the abuse crisis to history, it is my sincere hope that SNAP and ASC will marshal their resources and secure justice for abuse victims like Wiesław Walawender, Lisa Roers, and countless others.

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Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, author, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan respect 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.