LYING BISHOPS AND CATHOLIC MEDIA

Cover-ups only make problems worse

In January 2000, the Kansas City Star reported that "hundreds of priests had died of AIDS-related illnesses and that hundreds more were living with the virus that causes the disease." In response, prelates like Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who was later accused of engaging in and covering up sexual abuse, denounced the Star’s articles as anti-Catholic fabrications.

Jesuit Father Paul Shaughnessy validated the Star’s reporting based on the deaths of several Jesuit priest friends from AIDS in an article entitled, “The Gay Priest Problem.” One of the recommendations found in Shaughnessy’s article was: “Require Heads on Platters. No man should be made a bishop, and no bishop should be promoted, unless he embraces authentic Catholic doctrine about sexual morality.”

Unfortunately, the appointment of Cardinal Robert McElroy to the Archdiocese of Washington when Pope Leo XIV was the Prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops demonstrates that one can “be promoted” even if it is documented that one covered up the satanic ritual abuse of a vulnerable adult like Rachel Mastrogiacomo. Rachel, along with Lisa Roers who was satanically abused as a minor in the Archdiocese of Omaha, still await a response to a letter to Pope Leo that was received and read at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., at 7:10 p.m., on May 22, 2025.

Over two decades after Church leaders in 2000 hid the deaths of countless clergy from AIDS and grossly underreported the number of sex abuse victims published in the 2004 research study conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, U.S. Catholic bishops and Vatican officials continue to lie to the faithful and the public about the ongoing sex abuse crisis, the growing priest shortage, the presence of homosexuals who make up the vast majority of bishops and priests outside of Africa and India, and the failure of over 90 percent of Roman Catholic clergy to achieve total celibate chastity throughout their lives following ordination.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights announced on June 13, 2025, “Clergy Sex Abuse in U.S. Virtually Disappears.” The Catholic League is basing its report on data provided by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the same organization that grossly underreported abuse some twenty years earlier when then-Archbishop Edwin O’Brien reported just two abuse victims in the Archdiocese for the Military Services when the real amount based on figures uncovered by BishopAccountability.org is most likely over 500. Because most victims do not report abuse until they are between 40 and 60 years old, it is impossible for the USCCB or the Catholic League to state how much abuse may be decreasing. Insofar as there are less than half the number of American priests today than in 1970, one would expect abuse rates to decrease, but not to “disappear,” based on fewer possible predators in ministry.

In addition to covering up how most American (non-foreign-born) Catholic clergy are homosexuals, and how at any given moment in time more than half of them are sexually active, (often with other bishops, priests, and seminarians), Church officials, with the help of the Catholic media, also exaggerate the number of priests and seminarians in the Church today. When the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported that new North American College (NAC) students will have to learn "the names and faces of around 200 seminarians," CNA refused to publish a correction after it was provided with photographic proof that the actual number was less than 100.

Speaking of corrections, in a previous article I wrote that there was “a 40 percent decline in priests over the past 50 years.” That percentage was based on statistics provided by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) of the total number of active and retired, American-born and foreign-born, diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. While that report identifies some 35,000 priests in the U.S., down from around 60,000 in 1970, the numerical and percentage decline is much greater if one were to exclude foreign-born priests (many on R-1 visas), and the percentage of those priests who today are retired and not regularly engaged in ministry (35%). When one subtracts the number of retired priests (12,250) and the number of foreign-born priests (3,100) from 35,000, the real total of American-born priests in active ministry today is less than 20,000. Consequently, in 1970, when 10% of priests were retired versus today when 35% are retired, and when as many as 38% of priests in recent U.S. ordination classes were born outside the U.S., the percentage decrease of functioning American priests is not 40%, but closer to 65%.

When then-Archbishop EdwinO’Brien was tasked by the Vatican to undertake a 2005-2006 study of U.S. seminaries, his report would lead one to believe that there were very few homosexual seminarians studying for the priesthood. This was the same O’Brien who tried to recruit two homosexual men at a Courage Conference shortly before undertaking his seminary investigation. If O’Brien’s whitewashed report misled Catholics to believe that seminaries were filled with men who were sacrificing having a wife and children to follow Jesus Christ, so too are recent studies inaccurate in identifying the percentage of homosexuals in priestly formation owing to the fact that they do not ask the right questions in the right way. If one wishes to know the real percentage of homosexual seminarians and clergy today, one needs to question homosexuals, and not heterosexual seminarians or priests, in a manner in which they are guaranteed anonymity.

The Catholic League, along with the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and other Catholic media outlets, will continue to mislead Catholics into believing that sexual abuse and vocation problems are history even though they fail to report that seminary enrollment may be higher at a particular seminary often due to the closure of other seminaries. Today, there is only one Catholic seminary in all of Ireland (St. Patrick’s College at Maynooth) and two in England (Allen Hall Seminary in London and St. Mary's College Oscott in Birmingham). Before his death, Pope Francis appointed Canon David Oakley, the rector of St. Mary’s College, Oscott, as the Bishop of Northampton. During Oakley’s seven-year tenure as rector, the seminary was said to be run by a "homosexual clique" that was being overlooked because of a "homosexual culture in the Church's hierarchy."

Until there is a morally courageous Pope who can take down the Lavender Mafia and attract more heterosexual men to study for the priesthood, or a Pope who will make celibacy optional like in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, one should anticipate the ongoing sexual predation of teenage boys, a shortage of heterosexual seminarians and clergy, and the exodus of more and more Catholics. In the United States, and even in Pope Leo’s Peru, millions of Catholics are becoming pro-family, pro-life Evangelical Protestants. According to a 2023 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey, over 10 million, or more than one-third of white Evangelical Protestants in America today, are former Catholics.

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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.