2026-5-31 NOTE: Gene Gomulka’s writing seems to be growing more prejudiced and bigoted. He seems to want to place the blame for the corruption in the church squarely on the shoulders of homosexuals. I absolutely reject this. I have tried speaking to him. It is dangerous to take your pain and let it simmer into hate. Part of the spiritual battle we are in is to resist the temptation of easy answers. There are wheat and chaff in the church. We can give testimonies about what we see and what we have experienced. But we are not equipped to separate of all that is good from all that is bad in the Roman Catholic branch of the church.
2024-7-27
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Fr. Gene Thomas Gomulka. Fr. Gomulka served in the military for twenty-four years, including as Deputy Chaplain for the Marine Corps. He is a sex abuse victims’ advocate helping those who have been harassed, abused, or harmed by Roman Catholic clergy.
Please note: In this blog post there are discussions of sexual predation in our seminaries. This is a very difficult topic. However the victims—gay and straight men alike—should not be given the silent treatment. Please visit: Save Our Seminarians.
Laura: How would you say your time in the military has impacted your advocacy? I can’t help but notice Tom Doyle was in the military as well. (Tom Doyle is a priest, a whistleblower, and was an Air Force Chaplain for nearly 20 years. See here.)
Gene: We are very good friends. Tom was involved in this before me. My advocacy goes back to 1991 when I was investigating abuse in the military. I was the Deputy Chaplain of the Marine Corp. Tom’s [advocacy began] in 1980-85 when he was on staff at the Vatican embassy. He wrote a controversial sex abuse report. Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien was getting rid of both of us. One of the tactics he used was to attempt to have me undergo a psychological evaluation. I told O’Brien, “I have nothing to hide.” But I emailed Tom who was in Ramstein at the time. He told me it was a ploy bishops use to defame priests.
O’Brien got rid of both of us and here we are today. I’ve seen how canceled priests are harmed when they are gotten rid of. Tom told me that the best thing I did to save my life was to get married and start a family and the fact that God blessed me with twins born on my birthday is an indication I did the right thing.
To answer your question about what the military helped me with: when I was serving as the Deputy Chaplain of the Marine Corp, one of my jobs was to serve on the Inspector General team. Being on this team, you learn certain investigative procedures. You are working with lawyers and investigators.
I [helped to] prosecute five priests for abuse, four of which involved homosexual predation because they involved teenage boys and vulnerable young servicemen who were Midshipman at the Naval Academy and Marines at Quantico. There was also one case of pedophilia. Three of those chaplains were sent to prison and two were given other than honorable discharges.
The military taught me how to investigate and what to look for. The most important thing about being an investigator when it comes to searching for evidence is you look for what they are hiding.
So did the military impact what I am doing today? Absolutely. The skills I acquired in the military I use every day up until this very moment.
Laura: That’s really interesting. Being close to the military for so long I can see the good, the bad, and the ugly. But there is so much good. There is sort of an expectation of integrity. Not that people always live up to it. But just having that as an ideal makes a difference.
Laura: I once had a priest friend who said his superiors were just waiting for him to do something wrong so they could manipulate him. This was before any of this was on my radar at all, so it was kind of shocking. It is very difficult for someone to leave. Any advice?
Gene: Laura, here is the problem. In the military if you give me an unlawful order, I can refuse the order. There is a difference between a lawful and an unlawful order. If I disobey your unlawful order, it goes to court martial and so forth. When it’s found out you gave me this unlawful order, as long as we have a moral chain of command then I am going to be exonerated and you are going to go to jail.
When it comes to seminarians today: I knew a man who was in search and rescue (SAR). He was in the Navy, and he wanted to be a priest after he reached his twenty. (Military retirement is reached at twenty years.) I wrote him a recommendation. He went to the seminary. Guess what happened? He left after 6 months. Why? He was hit on. He reported it to the administration. Are they going to do anything? Of course not. They are sleeping with each other and the other seminarians. He was such a fine young man. Straight. We lost him.
To answer your question what can these seminarians do? Unfortunately, nothing. There is nothing they can do. They can’t appeal to anybody. They can appeal to the papal nuncio or to the pope himself, but it is a waste of time.
Laura: How do you cultivate balance in your life? Because it is really hard and really exhausting to be a whistleblower. How do you stay healthy and positive? Do you take breaks sometimes?
Gene: I’m doing more work now than I was as a parish priest. My parish now is all over the country. I’m getting calls from all over. My real source of support in being able to handle this is my family, my twins, and my close friends.
My kids are great. They are so loving, affirming, and good. I’m just so so proud of them.
A couple I married 48 years ago—we’re like family. They tell me, “Gene, you have to be careful. Because this work can be very consuming…make sure you take time.” And there’s a priest I worked with in the Navy who now lives in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere. Every day the first thing he does in the morning is pray for me. Everyday he prays that God will strengthen me.
I should have mentioned that seminarians who are coerced into leaving the seminary because they were abused or reported abuse can, in some cases, bring suit in civil court. Some judges may hear their cases (which are then often settled out of court), or they may dismiss their cases based on the “separation of church and state.” Fortunately, the courts don’t accept this church-state separation argument in clerical sexual abuse cases.