GOODBYE, GOOD WOMEN

In memory of Sister Mary Lillian and the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago

In May 2002, five months after The Boston Globe began running a series of articles on sex abuse in the Catholic Church, Michael Rose published Goodbye, Good Men. Rose addressed how many heterosexually oriented seminarians and priests either were dismissed or left voluntarily as a result of the change in the sexual orientation of Catholic clergy as documented in Father Donald Cozzens’ 2000 book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood. When one compares the decline in priests to the drop in the number of women religious in the United States, one might think that someone would write a book entitled, Goodbye, Good Women. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), the number of priests in the U.S. declined by 43 percent from 59,426 in 1965 to 34,092 in 2023. However, the number of women religious declined over that same period by 80 percent from 178,740 to 35,680.

If you had a very devout daughter who felt she might have a vocation to become a nun, would you encourage her to pursue that vocation? Many Catholic parents do not encourage their heterosexually oriented daughters and sons to become nuns and priests today because many have learned what has happened to thousands of nuns, priests, seminarians, and novices over the past decades.

Former seminarians like Anthony Georgia, Karl Discher, Wieslaw Walawender, and priests like Fathers Michael Briese, Paul Kalchik, Mark White, and countless other heterosexually oriented men have been unjustly removed from seminaries or ministry in recent years. Under a failed Canon Law system that always seems to find in favor of complicit clerics, and without recourse to predominantly homosexual Vatican officials, so too have thousands of nuns been dismissed for being raped or for reporting abuse. One former German nun, Doris Wagner, who was repeatedly raped by a priest in the Vatican, said she almost committed suicide one day when she was high up on a balcony inside the Papal Palace, right in front of the pope. When nuns like Doris Wagner expose sex abuse and cover-ups in the Church, their abusers often go unpunished while they suffer another form of abuse by either being silenced or expelled from the convent.

CBS News Foreign correspondent, Christopher Livesay, reported in 2019 how nuns in more than 20 countries across four continents were speaking out about the suffering they endured at the hands of priests and superiors, including rape, forced abortion, emotional abuse, and labor exploitation. When a Mother Superior complained that the local African bishop wanted her to make her sisters available to have sex with his priests lest they become infected with HIV and die of AIDS, instead of disciplining and removing the bishop, the Vatican forwarded the complaint back to the complicit African bishop who had the Mother Superior removed. When one nun was impregnated by a priest, he forced her to have an abortion which resulted in her death. It was the priest who got her pregnant who then conducted her funeral Mass. Unfortunately, none of the bishops, priests, or superiors responsible for the rapes, the abortions, or the nuns who contracted HIV/AIDS from the priests, are known to have been disciplined.

Rachel Mastrogiacomo and Lisa Roers, both victims of ritual satanic sex abuse at the hands of priests (one who is still engaged in ministry involving youth), wrote to Pope Francis in September 2024 requesting that he discipline those who abused them and those who continue to cover up their abuse. Rachel, who earlier in life was discerning a vocation to become a nun, wrote, “It is beyond scandalous that you lifted the excommunication of Father Marko Rupnik who allegedly raped nuns and forced them to drink his semen out of a chalice.” Lisa and Rachel, who never received a response to their “Open Letter to Pope Francis,” can understand why there are so few vocations to the priesthood and religious life when Pope Francis, Vatican officials, and countless bishops cover up for clerical sexual predators who abuse minors and vulnerable adults like themselves.

An increase in the number of lesbians in religious orders is found in the case of a diocese with a religious community founded by a charismatic, holy, and inspiring woman that attracted a large number of vocations. The nuns were deeply involved in education, nursing, and social work in institutions and parishes throughout the diocese. When the founding Mother Superior became very ill and underwent treatment for cancer, the bishop appointed a younger nun from the order as the new superior whom he also placed in charge of the diocesan Child Protection Program. When the founding Mother Superior had her cancer arrested and hoped to resume her leadership role, the bishop and the nun he appointed in her place coerced her into leaving. Catholics in the diocese were unaware of the fact that the bishop was thought to be a homosexual and the nun he appointed was thought to be a lesbian. Both were later accused of covering up sex abuse in the diocese. When the foundress left, half of the nuns in the order left with her. Since that time, not one new novice has ever joined the order.

Little has been written to explain the significant decrease in the number of women religious in the U.S. Unlike the movie “Top Gun” which led to a 500% increase in naval recruiting, the Netflix movie, “The Keepers,” about the murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik and its suspected link to a priest accused of abuse, would not encourage many women to enter a religious order. It is unfortunate that the work of dedicated nuns like Francesca Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint, is overshadowed today by scandalous accounts of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups. Anyone who attended a parochial school and was taught by dedicated and holy nuns should appreciate the recently released movie, “Cabrini,” available online and coming soon to local libraries. Although Mother Cabrini worked with immigrants in both New York and Chicago where she died at the age of 67, the movie focuses on her early years in New York where she worked hard to persuade the city’s hostile mayor to provide housing and healthcare for hundreds of orphaned children.

Just as there has been a change in the ethnic face and sexual orientation of the priesthood over the past fifty years in the U.S., so too have religious orders of women witnessed many changes. The average age of a nun in the U.S. today is nearing 80 years old. That aging population presents challenges for religious communities regarding healthcare and providing necessary support for its aging members.

Some priests recount being encouraged to pursue a vocation to the priesthood by a nun who taught them in school. Two boys who attended a grade school staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago were encouraged by their 3rd-4th Grade teacher, Sister Mary Lillian, to become priests. When one boy was ordained a priest, the other younger boy was the deacon at his First Mass. One priest remained in the diocese where he ministered until his recent retirement, while I, the other priest, spent most of my life serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.

Because I do not require a paid subscription to read my articles, I ask that you consider honoring dedicated nuns like Sister Lillian, Mother Cabrini, and others by making a Christmas donation this year to help support seminarians who were unjustly dismissed for exposing sexual predation and homosexual misconduct in their seminaries. Sister Lillian would be very angry if she were alive today and learned that Father Dennis Kurdziel or I were shown the door of the seminary because we spoke out against clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct as Bishop Joseph Strickland did before he was relieved of his duties as the Bishop of Tyler. Donations can be made by clicking on this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-our-seminarians-fund

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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 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.