The EWTN News article reports on recently unsealed personnel files from the Diocese of Brooklyn revealing that diocesan officials, including then-Monsignor (now Cardinal) Otto Garcia and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, had detailed knowledge of credible sexual abuse allegations against priest Patrick Sexton for decades prior to his formal removal from ministry in 2004 and eventual laicization by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. The files document admissions by Sexton of photographing naked boys (ages 7-10) in 1979 and of inappropriate touching of an 11-year-old in 1986, with Sexton stating his actions were “because it was pleasurable.” The diocese only formalized his removal in 2004, despite informal removal in 1990, and implemented “safe environment” programs following the U.S. bishops’ Charter. The article frames the scandal as a matter of “civil accountability and transparency,” with an attorney stating the release shows institutions are “subject to civil accountability and transparency” in court.
This scandal is not merely a failure of clerical discipline but the inevitable fruit of the conciliar sect’s apostasy from the integral Catholic faith. The Brooklyn Diocese’s actions—and the entire post-conciliar framework for handling such cases—reveal a complete abandonment of the supernatural mission of the Church in favor of a naturalistic, humanistic, and legally-driven approach that fundamentally contradicts the kingship of Christ over all aspects of life, as defined in Quas Primas and condemned in the Syllabus of Errors.
Naturalistic Humanism Replaces Supernatural Authority
The diocese’s response, as reported, centers on “safe environment programs,” “mandatory background checks,” and compliance with civil laws like New York’s Child Victims Act. This is a direct manifestation of the “secularism of our times” condemned by Pius XI in Quas Primas: “the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations; the Church’s authority to teach men, to issue laws, to govern nations… was denied.” The conciliar hierarchy has substituted the Church’s divinely given authority to govern and sanctify with the protocols of secular psychology, risk management, and civil litigation. The article’s emphasis on “civil accountability” and the attorney’s statement that institutions are “subject to civil accountability and transparency” echo Syllabus error #55: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” Here, the State is not merely separate; it is the ultimate arbiter, dictating the terms of “transparency” and “accountability” to which the “church” must submit. This is the precise inversion of Catholic doctrine, where the Church, as a perfect society established by Christ, possesses rights that are “innate and legitimate” and cannot be revoked by civil power (Syllabus, errors 19, 26, 27). The Brooklyn Diocese’s actions demonstrate its submission to the “civil power” as the source of its operational legitimacy, not to the divine law and the supernatural end of saving souls.
The Omission of Supernatural Realities: The Gravest Accusation
A systematic analysis of the article’s omissions is more damning than its content. There is not a single mention of:
- The state of mortal sin in which Sexton lived and persisted, which is the primary cause of such abominations.
- The necessity of sacramental confession and penance for the salvation of the perpetrator.
- The supernatural remedy of excommunication (crimen sollicitationis and the 1917 Code’s automatic penalties for such crimes).
- The duty of bishops, as pastors, to judge and punish with the authority of Christ, not to “manage risk” for civil liability.
- The final judgment of Christ, before whom Sexton must appear, and the eternal damnation that awaits unrepentant sodomites (Gal 5:19-21, 1 Cor 6:9-10).
- The primary duty of the Church to protect the sacraments and the faith of the faithful from scandal, which is infinitely more serious than any civil tort.
This deafening silence on the supernatural order is the hallmark of Modernism, condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu (Propositions 56-65) and Pascendi Dominici gregis. It reduces the Church to a mere human institution concerned with “civil accountability” and “transparency,” precisely the “naturalistic and theological sciences” and “evolution of dogmas” that Modernism promotes. The article’s entire frame is naturalistic: it discusses lawsuits, court orders, background checks, and program implementations. It is a report on the administrative failure of a corporate entity, not the spiritual catastrophe of a hierarchy that has lost the faith.
Canonical Invalidation and Sedevacantist Reality
The article references actions taken by Bishop DiMarzio and Pope Benedict XVI. From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, these individuals held no legitimate ecclesiastical office. The entire post-conciliar hierarchy is sede vacante because the occupants of the See of Rome since John XXIII have been manifest heretics, as proven by their adherence to the errors of Vatican II (religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality) which are condemned in the Syllabus of Errors (e.g., errors 15-18 on indifferentism, 77-80 on liberalism) and by St. Pius X. As St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, a “manifest heretic… ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church.” The Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio of Paul IV declares the promotion of a heretic “null, void, and of no effect.” Therefore, DiMarzio’s “canonical precept” and Benedict XVI’s laicization decree were juridically null acts performed by private individuals. The true Church, which endures in those who profess the integral faith, possesses the authority to judge such crimes, but that authority resides only in validly ordained bishops in communion with the true Roman Pontiff (who has not existed since 1958). The conciliar sect’s canonical processes are a theatrical sham, a “disinformation strategy” akin to that described in the Fatima file’s analysis of Masonic operations—staging procedures to create an illusion of order while the substance of faith is destroyed.
Contradiction of Christ the King’s Reign
Pius XI, in Quas Primas, established the feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the secularism that “denied Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations.” He writes: “the Church, established by Christ as a perfect society, demands for itself… full freedom and independence from secular authority.” The Brooklyn Diocese’s subservience to civil court orders and its adoption of state-compliant “safe environment” protocols is the antithesis of this doctrine. It accepts the Syllabus error #41: “the civil government… has a right to an indirect negative power over religious affairs.” By allowing civil courts to dictate the unsealing of “confidential” ecclesiastical files and by framing its response in terms of civil liability, the diocese acknowledges the State’s superior power in matters of clerical discipline. This is a repudiation of Christ’s kingship. Pius XI further states that rulers must “publicly honor Christ and obey Him,” and that Christ’s reign “encompasses all human nature.” A diocese that treats its primary mission as avoiding civil lawsuits, rather than defending the faith and the sacraments from contamination by predators, has explicitly denied the royal dignity of Christ. It has chosen the “wisdom of this world” (1 Cor 1:20) over the “foolishness of God.”
The “Twofold Power” Perverted
The Syllabus of Errors, citing the divine constitution of the Church, condemns the notion that the civil power can interfere in spiritual matters (#44, #45, #46). The Brooklyn Diocese’s actions, as described, constitute precisely this interference: civil courts ordering the release of internal church documents, civil laws (like the Child Victims Act) dictating the timeframe for canonical and civil actions, and the church’s own programs being designed to meet civil “standards.” This is the “double order of things” inverted. The “twofold power” (spiritual and temporal) is now a single temporal power to which the spiritual is subordinated. The diocese’s statement that it “recognizes the devastating impact of sexual abuse and has and will always continue to apologize” is a purely naturalistic, humanistic sentiment, devoid of reference to sin, offense against God, or the need for supernatural reparation. It is the language of a psychotherapy clinic, not the Mystical Body of Christ.
Symptom of the Conciliar Revolution’s “Abomination of Desolation”
This scandal is not an anomaly but the logical outcome of the conciliar sect’s embrace of the “errors of Modernism” listed in Lamentabili sane exitu. Proposition #63: “It is lawful to refuse obedience to legitimate princes, and even to rebel against them” is ironically mirrored in the hierarchy’s rebellion against Christ the King. But more directly, Proposition #57: “The Church is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences” is rejected by the conciliar church’s obsession with “progress” in “safe environment” science. The hierarchy has adopted the Modernist principle that “truth changes with man” (#58) and that doctrine must be “reformed” to align with “modern progress” (#64). The “reform” of clerical discipline post-2002 is not a return to Catholic tradition but an adaptation to modern secular norms, a “dogmaless Christianity” (#65) applied to canon law and child protection. The Brooklyn files show a system that, for decades, prioritized the “positive credential” of avoiding scandal and maintaining operations (a naturalistic concern) over the “negative credential” of excommunication and public condemnation (a supernatural duty). This is the “hermeneutics of continuity” in action: the same naturalistic, man-centered mentality that produced the abuse is now used to “manage” its fallout, with no conversion to the supernatural principles of the pre-1958 Church.
Conclusion: A Call to Repudiate the Conciliar Sect
The Brooklyn Diocese scandal is a microcosm of the post-conciliar apostasy. It demonstrates a hierarchy that:
- Operates on naturalistic, legalistic principles, not supernatural ones.
- Submits to civil authority over the Church’s own divinely given rights.
- Omits all reference to sin, grace, sacraments, and eternal judgment.
- Uses canonical procedures that are null due to the sede vacante status of the purported popes and bishops.
- Fulfills the prophecy of Pius X about Modernism: “the synthesis of all errors,” which “aims at the corruption of the faith.”
The only legitimate response for a Catholic is to reject this “conciliar sect” and its “neo-church” structures entirely. One must adhere to the unchanging faith of the pre-1958 Church, recognize the sedevacantist reality of the vacant See, and seek sacraments and guidance only from validly ordained priests and bishops who maintain the integral Catholic faith, free from the contamination of Vatican II’s errors. The feast of Christ the King, as instituted by Pius XI, demands that we subject all human institutions, including the Brooklyn Diocese and the entire conciliar hierarchy, to the absolute sovereignty of Christ the King. Their failure to do so is a public act of apostasy.
Source:
Brooklyn Diocese knew of abuse allegations decades before barring priest from ministry, files show (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 20.02.2026