MCELROY, SIPE, AND MCCARRICK’S CLONES

Will McElroy dismiss these allegations like he did those from Richard Sipe?

While living in Coronado, CA from 2009 to 2023, I had the pleasure of befriending and collaborating with the late psychotherapist and researcher, Richard Sipe, to whom I was introduced by fellow abuse advocate, Tom Doyle. Sipe’s letter of July 28, 2016, intended for Pope Francis, who alone has the authority to discipline bishops like those mentioned in his letter, was never acted upon by the Pope; by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S.; or by then-Bishop Robert McElroy to whom the letter was legally served.

Armed today with similar allegations of abuse and cover-ups by U.S. prelates, I sent the following letter to now-Cardinal McElroy (received and opened at the Archdiocese of Washington Chancery at 7:53 pm on April 5, 2025) with the belief that it will be dismissed like Sipe’s letter even though it is supported by the testimony of numerous witnesses, including sworn affidavits filed before the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Insofar as Vos Estis complaints against bishops, including Cardinal Wilton Gregory, are almost always dismissed as “unsubstantiated” despite a plethora of evidence, all I can hope to accomplish is to document how abuse reports that Richard, I, and other sex abuse victims’ advocates have submitted over the years to the Pope and Church leaders have been covered up, often unreported by both the legacy and Catholic media.

660 Toftrees Avenue

State College, PA 16803

April 5, 2025

Dear Cardinal McElroy,

On April 22, 2008, my friend and fellow Californian sex abuse victims’ advocate, Richard Sipe, posted an “Open Letter” online to Pope Benedict XVI entitled, “Your Holiness, I Have the Evidence Card. McCarrick Is a Homosexual, Please Act.” It was the publication of this letter that many believe moved Benedict to have restrictions placed upon McCarrick to prevent him from engaging in further predatory behavior.

Following the 2013 election of Pope Francis when McCarrick no longer seemed restricted in his ministry, Sipe expanded on what he wrote eight years earlier to Benedict in a letter which he had you legally served dated July 28, 2016. Sipe’s letter reported McCarrick and other Church officials for engaging in and covering up abuse. A trained investigator was led to conclude that you, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and Pope Francis, all conspired to cover up Sipe’s incriminating report with the help of Attorney Jeffrey Lena who made no mention of Sipe’s 2016 letter in his whitewashed McCarrick Report. The truth is that you, even before being approached by Sipe, were well-aware, like most U.S. bishops, that numerous seminarians and priests attested "to propositions, harassment, or sex with McCarrick, who had stated, ‘I do not like to sleep alone’.”

While you were reported in America magazine to have “passed on [Sipe’s letter] to the proper governing bodies in Rome,” you later contradicted that report by telling a National Catholic Reporter (NCR) journalist that you “declined to pass along unsubstantiated hearsay allegations.” Lest you accuse me of passing on “unsubstantiated hearsay allegations” for you to communicate to Cardinal Pierre for Pope Francis who alone has the authority to discipline bishops who engage in or cover up abuse, know that the allegations in this letter are based on testimony found in sworn court affidavits and the word and evidence of witnesses whom I have personally interviewed.

Like Sipe who identified Theodore McCarrick, Roger Mahoney, John Neinstedt, Robert H.Brom, Thomas Lyons, Raymond Boland, and John Eidenschink in his July 28, 2016 letter, I would like to identify six prelates whom I assert are guilty of engaging in or covering up the sex abuse of minors or vulnerable adults. The six accused prelates are Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop George Lucas, Archbishop William Lori, ​Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and yourself.

Gregory and Briese

Just as Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone unjustly suspended Father Ryszard Biernat who reported how Malone covered up for Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz, Father Dennis Riter, and other abusive diocesan clergy, so too did ​Cardinal Wilton Gregory unjustly suspend Father Michael Briese for confronting Gregory who covered up credible allegations that Washington Fathers Adam Park and Carter Griffin sexually harassed and preyed upon vulnerable seminarians at the North American College (NAC) in Rome and at St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C. Just as Richard Sipe personally spoke with former seminarians who alleged being preyed upon by McCarrick, so too did I speak with Karl Discher and other former seminarians and priests who alleged being abused or reprised against for reporting abuse on the part or Fathers Park and Griffin. As you covered up in San Diego the abuse reported by Sipe and the satanic ritual abuse of Rachel Mastrogiacomo reported to Monsignor Steven Callahan, will you now cover up the abuse of vulnerable seminarians that was reported to Father George Stuart, the Episcopal Vicar for Canonical Services, as found in this linked email of February 11, 2025? As the current Archbishop of Washington, will you continue your predecessor’s legacy of keeping in ministry accused predators under your supervision like Park and Griffin while supporting the unjust suspension of morally courageous whistleblowers like Father Briese?

Lucas and Roers

The second prelate whom I feel should be laicized or excommunicated is Omaha ​Archbishop George Lucas. After being reported for engaging in anal sex with Father Peter Harman at a clerical orgy in Springfield, Illinois in reports found credible by a former FBI Special Agent in Charge, Lucas was later reported in 2024 for sexually assaulting a Hispanic high school seminarian at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in the late 1980s. In addition to being accused of sexual predation and homosexual misconduct, Lucas was also charged with covering up the sexual abuse of Cynthia Yesko by two Springfield priests, and of covering up the satanic ritual abuse of Lisa Roers and another little girl when they were 9-11 years old in Elgin, NE by Father Dennis Hanneman. The cover-up is uncontestable based on the fact that Lucas never attempted to speak with a second woman whom Roers identified as also having been sexually abused by Hanneman.

Lori and Walawender

The third prelate whom I maintain is guilty of covering up sex abuse like a number of U.S. papabile identified by SNAP is Baltimore ​Archbishop William Lori. In November 2019, the parents of former Baltimore seminarian, Karl Discher, reported to Lori that their son was sexually harassed by then-St. John Paul II Seminary vice-rector, Father Carter Griffin, as well as by then-Baltimore transitional deacon, Christopher Pinto. While Discher was coerced into leaving formation, Pinto was never ordained a priest and was discontinued by the Baltimore Archdiocese. In addition to covering up the abuse of Discher, Lori also continues to cover up how former seminarian Wieslaw Walawender was drugged and sodomized by the late Msgr. Edward Staub in Severna Park, MD. Walawender’s abuse was initially covered up by Cardinal William Keeler and Father William Simms as documented in a “Conciliation Agreement.” Simms, who was appointed by Keeler to investigate the assault, had multiple sex abuse lawsuits filed against him both before and after his whitewashed investigation. When Lori was presented with indisputable evidence that Walawender’s criminal assault was covered up, he had his Chancellor, attorney Dianne Barr, write Walawender saying, “It was impossible to determine what events actually led to your dismissal.” To this day, Lori and the Archdiocese continue to refuse to compensate Walawender for the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual harm he endured.

Dolan, Gorgia, Park & Harman

The fourth prelate who has also escaped being disciplined despite covering up clerical sexual abuse is New York ​Cardinal Timothy Dolan. When former New York seminarian, Anthony Gorgia, refused to remain silent after witnessing grooming and receiving reports that seminarians were being preyed upon by Pontifical North American College (NAC) vice-rector, Father Adam Park, Dolan coerced Gorgia into leaving formation. Gorgia and numerous other corroborating witnesses filed sworn affidavits before the Supreme Court of the State of New York documenting how Dolan and former NAC rector, Father Peter Harman, covered up credible allegations of Park’s predatory homosexual misconduct. Harman himself was accused of engaging in anal sex at an orgy with then-Springfield in Illinois Bishop George Lucas. Both Park and Harman stepped down from their posts at the NAC after the sworn testimonies against them were made public. Dolan’s own sex abuse cover-ups are well documented to span decades throughout his appointments at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.; as rector of the NAC in Rome; as Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis; as Archbishop of Milwaukee; and as Archbishop of New York. In addition to covering up for Park and Harman, Dolan continues to cover up for New York priests like Monsignor John Paddack, Monsignor Thomas Derivan, Father Donald Timone, Father George Sears, and others who remain in ministry despite having been accused of abuse or being named in sex abuse lawsuits.

The fifth prelate who is guilty of covering up countless cases of clerical sexual abuse is the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, ​Cardinal Cristophe Pierre. How is it that allegations against prelates like Wilton Gregory, Nicholas DiMarzio, Edward Grosz, George Lucas, and several others, documented by BishopAccountability.org to have been accused of sexual predation and homosexual misconduct, are all seemingly found by default to be “unsubstantiated” by the Nuncio without the due diligence of interviewing the abuse victims and corroborating witnesses who have brought forward these allegations? The fact that only 8 out of over 150 bishops credibly accused of abuse worldwide have been laicized to date shows how effective Pierre and other Nuncios are in keeping bishops out of jail. In light of the large number of U.S. citizens like Lisa Roers and others whose sex abuse continues to be covered up by U.S. bishops and the Apostolic Nuncio, sex abuse advocates are asking the Trump Administration to revoke Cardinal Pierre’s credentials as it did in the case of South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.S.

McElroy - Quinn - Reveles

The final prelate whom I believe is guilty of covering up clerical sex abuse is none other than yourself, ​Cardinal Robert McElroy. Insofar as one of the main qualifications for being made a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church today is one’s proven ability to cover up abuse, you certainly have proven yourself capable in this regard by the way you dealt with the abuse of Rachel Mastrogiacomo by Father Jacob Bertrand, as well as how you covered up the abuse cases of twelve seminarians and priests that were reported to you by the late psychotherapist Richard Sipe. Not only did you cover up for McCarrick and Bertrand while you were the Bishop of San Diego, you also covered up my August 28, 2018, report about how I was retaliated against by then-Archbishop Edwin O'Brien whom I accused of underreporting and covering up abuse in the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

While most people know that you were ordained by San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn in 1980 who made you his secretary in 1982, and who made you the vicar general in 1995, they were never told to this day why your friend and former San Diego auxiliary bishop, John Dolan, left the priesthood for two years before later being named the Bishop of Phoenix. He was not reported to have left “on sabbatical” or “for health reasons.” One San Diego Catholic commented, “Dolan’s departure did not involve a relationship with a woman.”

You may wish to know that your very close personal relationship with the late Archbishop John Quinn, who was also a very close friend of Father Nicholas Reveles, has provided the inspiration for a screenplay entitled, “Den of Iniquity.” U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and former San Diego diocesan seminarian, Mark Brooks, who was sexually assaulted by Reveles, recounted before his untimely death how he caught Quinn and Reveles watching gay porn together. The screenplay deals with a Marine Corps veteran who is unjustly dismissed from a Catholic seminary after reporting being sexually assaulted. The Marine teams up with an attractive Jewish lawyer to uncover a trail of sex trafficking and murder that threatens a cardinal’s aspirations of becoming the first American pope.

As I request that you forward this report to Cardinal Pierre for Pope Francis while providing proof of receipt and corroboration, I trust that all three of you, including a number of cardinals accused of covering up abuse by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), will all discover that “Den of Iniquity” includes a scene with “Rich Doyle” (aka Richard Sipe) and is designed to discourage Catholic clergy from engaging in sexual predation and homosexual misconduct with both U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants.

Semper Fidelis,

Gene Thomas Gomulka

CAPT, CHC, USN (Ret.)

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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.