I’ve been fascinated by car wrecks, explosions, catastrophic accidents and over the top forensics for a long time. As a kid, the idea of Quincy M.E. piecing together a mystery from the hint of a piece of material found blew my mind. As I got older, I found out that pathology like Quincy requires being around decayed bodies. The actual smell was enough of a deterrent to prevent me from chasing down the dream of forensic medical examination. I thought I’d gag all the time.
When I was older, as a chemical engineer, I got into catastrophic analysis and forensic analysis of chemical plant accidents. Later, I’d get into general accidental fatalities, even completing a commissioned study for OSHA. The fascination of piecing together seemingly unrelated facts is like an irresistible puzzle. For instance, at the scene of one explosion site, there was a pair of shoes and clothes sitting on the floor. Did the guy disrobe before the explosion? No. The explosion blew him right out of his shoes and clothes. They fell to the floor right were he had been standing. Strange, right? Where else can you see such extreme bits of physical phenomenon? The guy was hurt? No. Apart from some ringing in his ears, he got up and walked away. If you saw the damage to the building form the explosion, you’d never believe it. Piecing together the natural phenomena to explain how that happened is enjoyable to me. That’s the puzzle aspect.
I thought I was leaving that world when I went into law. Little did I know that in some areas of law, it really is like accident forensics. Many areas of law deal with human extremes, accidents, and as I’d find out when clerking for a state Supreme Court, fatalities. During my time clerking, I got to see thousands of cases. It took me a while, but I began to see that everything I liked and was fascinated by in actual catastrophes was also present in litigation. The bonus is that the smell of human catastrophes doesn’t make me gag the way a morgue would. Turns out that the mix of human nature, dialogue, and physical evidence is even more addicting than physical catastrophes.
So, a while back I chanced to hear a guest speaking on a secular radio show. During the interview, the guest begins to discuss his history. He had gotten an MBA. At some point, he went into the seminary. He began to talk about encountering a homosexual subculture in that seminary. He mentions that it was the pontifical seminary. The only one in the United States, he said.
I knew he was talking about the Josephinum in Columbus Ohio. Recall that, during the Cardinal Law reports in 2002, it was reported that the Josephinum had allegations of homosexual scandals going all the way back into the 60s. (Ex-Classmates Contradict Cardinal Law’s Deposition, Boston Herald, August 21, 2002 available at BishopAccountability). I’ve reported on news allegations of Bernadin and Pilarczyk at that seminary before, when commenting on how AmChurch attacks a good parish. I had also heard horror stories from conversations among concerned Catholics in Cincinnati when I was younger.
He went on to talk about how he recognized Soviet-style KGB bullying in the way psychologists were used. He spoke of his naivety when he entered the seminary, but how he was surprised when another guy that worked in the library with him began to open up to him about homosexuality, and a homosexual agenda. The next day, the guy would not speak to him — and he said it was because the guy found out he was not “one of them.” From that point on, Tony began to see patterns and groups of people in the seminary. His past business experiences helped him to see organized activity among the homosexuals.
He took notes, he recorded conversations. Eventually, he left, but only after he had been confronted by the psychologist, the Vice Rector, and several encounters with the Rector.
I was hooked. I thought, “When was he there?” Was this when Cupich was there or Pilarczyk’s tentacles? Turns out 1995 to 1996. Bingo. That’s at the end of Cupich’s tenure as Rector.
Tony scrubbed all names from the book. He has pictures of letters he sent and those he received from various Clergy and Curia. Those are redacted, but you can piece together who, what and where with some work. I don’t blame him for redacting it all, though. He was threatened by the rector with full legal action if he would ever talk about his experience in the seminary.
This will be fascinating.
I got the book. God Fearing Souls by Tony Ghepardo (using this link generates a small commission for the Bellarmine Forum).
I want to make something clear. Tony admits that he put together a number of relevant life experiences, but they are kind of a hodge podge. It works, though.
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