(LifeSiteNews) — A group of prominent Catholics, including Janet Smith and Elizabeth Yore, and clergy abuse victims have sent the following letter to Vice President JD Vance:
March 7, 2025
Dear Vice President Vance,
We are impressed and grateful that you called upon the U.S. bishops to be transparent about how they have spent government funds to settle refugees and immigrants. Your remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast were what we all needed to hear and give us great hope. We couldn’t be prouder that you are the vice president and so strong in your faith and that you understand loving the Church means working to ensure that it is all that Jesus wants it to be.
There are few things worse than pedophilia. Unfortunately, as you very well know, it is widespread in our culture, in Hollywood, among government officials, and worst of all in the Church. DOGE has discovered that an obscene amount of funds has been given to the Catholic Church through its various organizations to help settle refugees and immigrants. That makes little sense for many reasons.
Many Catholics believe the USCCB, Catholic dioceses, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and all NGOs that have received government funding through the Catholic Church must make a full disclosure of how the funds were used. For example, it was reported that the Diocese of Fort Worth, TX, which has received over 1 billion dollars in federal funding, partnered with the Islamic Circle of North America that has ties with terrorist organizations.
Although the USCCB has argued that it has used federal funds primarily to help resettle vetted refugees and immigrants, one wonders if the USCCB exercised due diligence in respect to those whom they settled. How many illegal immigrants did they assist? Did any of the funds end up in the hands of cartels who are involved in criminal behavior such as sex trafficking and the smuggling of Fentanyl? What did they do to protect vulnerable children and women?
In fact, most faithful Catholics are happy that it seems that USAID will no longer be using the USCCB to help settle refugees and immigrants. It grieves us a great deal to suggest that the Church cannot be trusted, but we fear that is the case.
Indeed, many suspect that the money the USCCB has received from previous Democratic administrations is why it has been so silent on anti-Catholic issues such as abortion. One must ask if the USCCB is truly without political alignment, and if it is worthy of its tax-exempt status?
It is not just that the USCCB has not been responsible with taxpayers’ money, but also that it has failed in its moral responsibilities. The Church cannot be trusted to care for children and women who have crossed our border in search of safety and opportunity. The attached letters written by victims of clerical abuse give a glimpse into the Church’s treatment of predator priests and victims.
Rachel Mastrogiacomo, who was ritually raped by a former San Diego priest, Father Jacob Bertrand, writes out of a desire to protect other innocent persons from criminal sexual abuse. Wiesław Walawender, an immigrant from Poland, writes in support of Rachel and reports on the sexual abuse he experienced by priests and Cardinal McCarrick.
Rachel calls Cardinal Robert McElroy, soon to be installed as the Archbishop of Washington, “the poster boy” for the Catholic Church in America’s criminal response to sexual abuse. The appointment of McElroy shows that the Church is not serious about cleaning up its serious sex abuse problem.
Indeed, McElroy is also the poster boy for Church advocacy of open borders. During President Trump’s first term, McElroy called upon community organizers to “disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented.”
We request that a RICO investigation be undertaken into how the USCCB dispersed funds received from USAID. Investigating the Church will not be easy; it has a long record of lack of transparency and refusal to cooperate with law enforcement. Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who headed the USCCB’s National Review Board charged with investigating clerical sexual abuse, resigned after comparing some bishops to the Mafia.
We are prepared to help the government investigate the Church. We have access to some whistleblowers about how the USCCB and the NGOs have misappropriated the money entrusted to them.
It would be no surprise to us to hear that you have already undertaken some measures to achieve the transparency needed. Catholic faithful stand by to support whatever measures are undertaken. Unfortunately, Catholic laity have little to no means to correct the leaders of our Church. It has only been only through civil and criminal lawsuits that justice has been achieved.
Thank you so much for your efforts to correct the grave injustices done by Catholic Church leaders and employees in the U.S. and to prevent them from happening in the future. We pray that together we can make a difference.
Sincerely yours,
Rachel Mastrogiacomo
Wiesław Walawender
Elizabeth Yore, Esq.
Janet E. Smith
Gene T. Gomulka
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