February 10, 2021
For Immediate Release
For More Information: media@ruthinstitute.org
On February 3, former seminarian Anthony Gorgia filed a $125 million lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and several officials of the North American College in Rome, a pontifical
seminary. Gorgia says he was defamed and discriminated against for trying to report the sexual abuse he witnessed at the NAC.
Ruth Institute Founder and President, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., said she won’t prejudge the case. However, “If the shocking allegations are
true, they would fit a pattern of homosexual predation and cover up by priests and members of the Catholic hierarchy.”
The suit contends that while he was a seminarian in Rome in 2018, Gorgia witnessed an unwanted sexual advance by the NAC’s Vice-Rector, Fr. Park. He
says other students told him of similar experiences and that when he tried to bring these matters to the attention of the College’s rector, he
was rebuffed. His efforts to get a meeting with Cardinal Dolan, whom he charges with being complicit in his removal from the NAC, were ignored.
Gorgia claims that during a medical leave for back surgery, he was forced to leave the seminary and now has no hope of being ordained.
A 2018 Ruth Institute report, “Questions and Answers on the Clerical Sex Abuse Scandal”
by Fr. Paul Sullins, notes that in a 2002 survey of almost 2,000 priests by the Los Angeles Times, 44% of respondents confirmed the existence
of a homosexual subculture in seminaries. In his complaint, Gorgia says Fr. Park would target seminarians who were “athletic, handsome, young and
naïve” for grooming.
The North American College says it “contests every and all” of Gorgia’s allegations “completely and categorically.” The Communications Director of
the Archdiocese of New York said Gorgia’s claims are “absurd and have no basis in fact or law.”
Morse stated, “We at the Ruth Institute sincerely hope that the truth is revealed and that justice is done, as the legal process runs its course. Only
the truth can really set us free.”
The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization, leading an international interfaith coalition to
defend the family and build a civilization of love.
Jennifer Roback Morse is the author of The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Morse, contact media@ruthinstitute.org.
