KRAKOW, Poland, July 26, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – We can’t say he didn’t warn us.

Father Dariusz Oko became world-famous in 2013 for his bombshell essay on clerical homosexuality. In “With the Pope Against Homoheresy,” Oko asserted not only that homosexual priests and bishops have abused seminarians, teenagers, and children, but that there is a “mafia” of powerful clerics protecting these men and ensuring their advancement in the Church’s ranks.

Today Oko told LifeSiteNews that part of the problem is that up to 50 percent of American bishops have “homosexual inclinations.”

Writing from Krakow’s University of Pope John Paul II, where he is a lecturer, Father Oko told LifeSiteNews that the revelations about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick represent only “the tip of the iceberg” of what can be revealed about homosexual misconduct among the clergy.

“According to reliable estimates, it is estimated that about 30-40% of priests and 40-50% of bishops in the USA have homosexual inclinations,” he stated.

“At least half of them, at least periodically, may commit serious abuses, like Cardinal McCarrick or [Poland’s] Fr. Krzysztof Charamsa,” he said. “This also results from the fact that the lavender mafia often rules in dioceses, monasteries and seminaries, and even forbids the ordination of normal men who do not knuckle under to them. Such scandals are just the tip of the iceberg of what can still be brought to light.”

It will take the actions of the General Council of Bishops or “many holy people” to bring about change.

He offered some advice to laypeople who are feeling both fed up and powerless in the wake of the McCarrick scandal:

“I think that in this situation it is most important to pray, to cling as much as possible to Jesus and Mary, to sanctify oneself, to cooperate with people who also don’t agree with such a state of affairs, to protect [good] priests and laity--and above all, children--threatened by the homo-mafia. If one knows honest prelates, one can ask them to help (but their power also is restricted).”

“Beyond that, depending on the situation, one must protest loudly, publicize through media or ask for legal help,” Oko continued.

Jumping ship is not included in his pastoral advice.

“Despite everything, the Church is the best of what we have,” he said. “Here are Jesus and Mary, but also, unfortunately, quite a lot of human sins.”

One passage in “With the Pope Against Homoheresy” is frighteningly reminiscent of the testimony given by Cardinal McCarrick’s victim James, who wishes for his last name to be withheld, for it details the power a protected cleric feels as he makes his way smoothly up the Church career ladder.

This week James told Rod Dreher that “[McCarrick’s] ego is bigger than yours and mine and 300 people put together. He believes that he is untouchable, and that there’s nobody else in the world who can put him aside.”

In 2013 Oko wrote: “Along the road, members of the homo-clique can achieve such positions and influence that they come to believe they have extraordinary powers and will go unpunished forever.”

“Their life often becomes a diabolic caricature of priesthood, just like homosexual relationships are a caricature of marriage,” he continued. “As can be learned from the media, for instance, they act like homosexual addicts, becoming more and more unbridled, resorting to violence. They start to molest and abuse even minors. A grievous wrong may result, including murder and suicide.”

James said he attempted suicide, with a combination of pills and gin, at the age of 33.

In his famous essay, Oko mentioned several bishops who had already been removed from their offices for committing or hiding sexual offences, beginning with Poland’s own Archbishop Juliusz Paetz and Ireland’s Bishop John Magee of Cloyne. The men knew each other and worked together in the Vatican “as part of the closest, most influential associates of the last three Popes,” the priest observed.

Oko then recalled the antics of Rembert Weakland, the Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002:

“He openly admitted to being gay and to having had many partners in life. Throughout the term of his office – for 25 years – he continuously opposed the Pope and the Holy See on many issues, particularly criticizing and rejecting the teaching of the Magisterium on homosexuality.”

“He supported and protected active gays in his diocese,” Oko continued, “helping them avoid liability for sexual offences they repeatedly committed. At leaving his office, he defrauded about a half million dollars to support his ex-partner.”

Other bishops belatedly removed for preying on young men or boys included Patrick Ziemann of Santa Rosa, California (1999), Juan Carlos Maccarone of Santiago del Estero, Argentina (2005), Georg Müller of Trondheim and Oslo, Norway (2009), Raymond John Lahey of Antigonish, Canada (2009), Roger Vangheluwe of Brughia, Belgium (2010), John C. Favalora of Miami (2010), Anthony J. O'Connell of Palm Beach, Florida (2010), and Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh, Scotland (2013). All but the first removal were carried out during the reign of Pope Benedict XVI.

Oko reflected that Pope Benedict made removing sexually abusive priests and prelates a “priority” of his pontificate, and in 2005 issued an instruction “to strictly forbid ordaining untreated homosexuals.”

“The instruction was preceded by a letter sent from the Holy See to bishops around the world, ordering that priests with homosexual tendencies be immediately removed from any [office of authority] in a seminary,” explained Oko.

In 2008 came Benedict’s instruction forbidding men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies from being admitted to seminary at all.