Controversial Bishop Gumbleton Reveals Sexual Abuse by Priest as Teenager
By Hilary White
DETROIT, January 11, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a surprise disclosure, Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, revealed that he had been sexually molested as a teenager by a priest. Yesterday, Gumbleton called on state legislatures to suspend the time limits on sex abuse complaints that, he says, have made it impossible for some cases to be brought forward.
He told reporters that he had been “inappropriately touched” by a priest 60 years ago, making him the first US bishop to admit to having suffered sexual abuse himself. Three states are considering making it possible for victims of sexual abuse to bring forward claims no matter how much time had elapsed.
Gumbleton told the Washington Post, “I don’t want to exaggerate that I was terribly damaged. It was not the kind of sexual abuse that many of the victims experience.”
“I never told my parents. . . . I never told anybody,” he said.
Gumbleton’s disclosure will not surprise those who have followed his career as a campaigner for the homosexual cause within the Church.
The Catholic Medical Association, in a report endorsed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, identified homosexual inclinations as a psychological disorder that is the “product of the interplay of a variety of environmental factors.” Research has shown that these factors often include a history of homosexual abuse, particularly by those in positions of authority.
Even at 75, mandatory retirement age for Catholic bishops, Gumbleton’s name is still virtually synonymous with the leftist anti-Catholic activism that predominantly combats the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of married life and normal human sexuality.
According to the curriculum vitae posted to the Detroit Archdiocese website, his current involvement includes the Triangle Foundation, an activist homosexual organization that describes itself as “Michigan’s leading organization serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities;” New Ways Ministry, a movement that has been explicitly banned by Church authorities for promoting homosexual behavior and Call to Action, founded in 1971, that could be called the grandfather of anti-Catholic activist groups.
Read Catholic Medical Association’s report:
Homosexuality and Hope
https://www.cathmed.org/publications/homosexuality.html