Auxiliary bishop reveals he was abused by priest as teenager : AP

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit has revealed he was abused by a priest 60 years ago. He is believed to be the first U.S. bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.

Gumbleton, 75, said in written remarks prepared for an appearance later Wednesday in Columbus that he was inappropriately touched by a priest when he was a teenager.

"I speak out of my own experience of being exploited as a teenager through inappropriate touching by a priest," Gumbleton wrote.

He also wrote that there is "a strong likelihood" some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will is through the courts.

On one hand, it takes courage to made such a statement of victimhood. It seems strange that we'd come to know of this by "written remarks prepared for an appearance later Wednesday" rather than years ago when the scandal broke.

This auxiliary bishop of Detroit has yet to mail in his resignation which was due on January 26, 2005.

Quoted in New Oxford Review, the bishop made his views on homosexuality known:

Earlier, America published an article by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton (Sept. 30, 2002) that took that same tack, and Gumbleton quoted Fr. James Empereur, S.J., as saying that "homosexuality is one of God’s most significant gifts to humanity" (italics added). So maybe it’s the heterosexuals who are afflicted with the disorder?

Now, Gumbleton did not say that homosexual activity is moral. (After all, he was writing in America, which is assiduously read in Rome.) However, that is Gumbleton’s position. Gumbleton spoke at a gathering of homosexuals at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, saying that "We need a new paradigm for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in the Church." An astute reporter for Lesbian and Gay New York asked the Bishop what exactly he meant. The reporter said, "The Church’s official teaching is that sexual activity between two people of the same sex is always wrong. Do you mean to say that it can be moral?" Gumbleton answered, "Yes, I do." This appeared in a very friendly source, Dignity/USA Journal, Winter 1999.

Looking around at his very strong denials that homosexuality was not a problem in the priesthood because of psychological studies which proved it wasn't, one wonders about his own sincerity in making those denials given what we know now.