Is Msgr. Burrill the Tip of the Iceberg? by Gene Thomas Gomulka

By Gene Thomas Gomulka, Crisis Magazine, July 28, 2021

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a victims’ abuse advocate and retired Navy captain/chaplain. A Catholic priest (monsignor) ordained for Pennsylvania’s Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, Gomulka served on the faculty of St. Francis Seminary in Loretto, Pennsylvania, before serving on active duty for 24 years.

As a sex abuse victims’ advocate and a former Catholic seminary instructor and formator, I am led to question the validity of arguments put forward by Rev. James Martin, SJ, Steven P. Millies, and others in defense of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill. For example, in response to Burrill’s resignation as the now-former General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Millies wrote, “This is the hook on which the ‘story’ hangs, a long-discredited link between sexual abuse and homosexuality. It is hard to call that something other than a slur and a sin against the LGBTQ+ community.” Fr. Martin wrote on Facebook that the article “repeatedly conflated homosexuality with pedophilia” and accused The Pillar of engaging in a witch hunt. …