COLUMBUS, Ohio – A bishop in the Detroit Archdiocese said Wednesday he was touched inappropriately by a priest when he was a teenager, making him the first U.S. Catholic bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, spoke at a news conference in support of an Ohio bill that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church over their alleged abuse. He said some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will be is through the courts.
Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have vigorously lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago.
“I regret that we need this kind of legislation, but I insist we do need it,” Gumbleton said before meeting with House lawmakers.
Gumbleton said he was a 15-year-old seminary student in Detroit when a priest took him and other boys to a cabin northeast of the city. Gumbleton said the priest started wrestling with him playfully, then put his hand down the back of Gumbleton’s pants. He said he quickly removed himself from the situation; he did not elaborate.
“I was able to escape a terrible trauma,” he said.
Even 60 years later, Gumbleton said, he’s embarrassed talking about the incident, which he said explains why some victims never brought lawsuits within legal time limits, which in most states are two to five years.
“I understand why victims of sexual abuse need this new window of opportunity,” he said. “For many of them, probably almost all of them, it would be very difficult to come forward and speak.”
The priest, who was middle-aged in 1945, has long since died. Gumbleton said he knew of only one other victim, who left seminary studies about a decade later.
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