Br. Alexis Bugnolo's Letter on the SSJ

January 27, 2002 A.D.

Mr. Steve Brady
Roman Catholic Faithful
POB 109
Petersburg, IL 62675

Dear Sir,

This letter is a follow up to our phone conversation of 1/27/2002 at 4 PM EDLST.

I visited St. Gregory the Great Academy the week ending the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, February of 1999. The reason for my visit was to make the acquaintance of the founders of the Servants Minor of St. Francis, who were at that time staying with the Community of St. John, on the grounds of the Academy.

Prior to my visit I had spent about 100 hours doing street ministry among the homosexual community of Boston with a group of pro-life laymen who had done this for many years on their own initiative. During that time I was familiarized with the various non-verbal gestures by which those of such proclivities identify themselves to one another.

During my visit to the Academy at least two students manifested to me in the refectory such non-verbal gestures, which indicated to me, accompanied with their habitual behavior with adult men in their presence, to which I was a witness, that they had problems with their sexual identity in this regard. On one night, a slide show was shown in the empty room adjacent to the Chapel. During this slide show, I noticed students in the row in front of me inappropriately placing their arms on one another's shoulders, in a manner that was inconsistent with normal boyhood affection.

On the night before the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, having inquired about the opportunity of making confession, and learning that it was being given in a room on the boys' side of the dormitory wing (for I was staying in the Society's wing of the building, which was on the opposite side of the building), I had to cross in front of the chapel as I went to the other side of the building, where confessions were being heard. As I did I noticed two students kissing/embracing in front of the chapel doors. Hearing me approach they resumed normal behavior and went away. Having entered the other side of the building, I was witness to the following scene: a door of one of the student's rooms, which opened on the hallway facing the door of the corridor to the chapel's foyer, opened and out came two students; one of which took up the other in his arms and carried him down the dorm corridor to the left; shouting aloud as he did so: "Girls, girls, girls, get them while they're hot!"

Deeming it imprudent to enter the dormitory proper to investigate the causes of what I was a witness, I sat down on the bench outside the confession room, determined to report what I had seen to the confessor outside the seal of the sacrament. This I did. My confessor was Father Urigoity (forgive the spelling), the superior at that time, as I understood it, of the community of St. John. As I described to him what I saw and recommended that he make this known immediately to the superiors of the School and the Bishop, and recommending likewise that experts from Courage and the National Association for the Pastoral Care of the Homosexuals be invited to the Academy to assist the staff in identifying and treating this problem, he assured me that he would take action; his demeanor was of the greatest dread and fright; and seeing this I encouraged him not to be afraid but to do the right thing for the sake of the Lord and these boys.

Later that same night, awaking from a deep sleep with a terrible fever, which I had contracted while at the Academy, I rose to get some aspirin and take them in the hallway bathroom, just outside the door of the room I was staying in on the Society side of the dormitory. As I left my room I encountered one of the young men who had sat in front of me during the slide shown on one of the previous evenings; he was exiting the computer room of the Society. When I returned home to Massachusetts, I reported this to Father Urigoity by letter sent by surface mail, within a few days, accompanied by another letter in which I thanked him for the hospitality of his community. In reply he thanked me for my visit in a letter sent to me by surface mail, referring only to the letter regarding hospitality. I took the occasion of this my letter to send Father a copy of the 1962 Vatican regulations regarding chastity of members in formation, which warned against accepting unworthy candidates. And I urged Father to remove his community from the premises of the Academy as soon as possible.

Some time later, I do not remember if it was months or a year or more, I noticed a picture of this same young man that I had seen exiting the computer room, clothed now in a cassock and among the other members of the community. I noticed in another solicitation brochure a photograph of another young man, dressed in lay clothes, who had given me non-verbal gestures in the cafeteria of the Academy when I visited. Concerned that I had not reported to the correct individual, I spoke about these matters with Mr. Peter Vere, who shortly after or at that time was retained as a canon lawyer for the diocese of Scranton; however without mentioning places or names; and was advised that I had no reason or evidence sufficient to proceed with informing the local ordinary of a problem. And so I forgot it.

This summer, while in Arkansas, I was informed by a lay-woman, who told me that a priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter, who was visiting the Academy saw a young man in his underwear leaving Fr. Urigoity's room late at night.

I am willing to swear to the truth of all that I have written above; and I give Roman Catholic Faithful and its legal representatives to make this testimony and my own identify, known where and when appropriate and necessary.

Finally, I would like to make known the advice of St. Anthony Marie Claret in such cases as this academy: the only morally certain solution to cure such a problem is the disbanding of the faculty and student body, and the dismissal of the chaplains and confessors from their duties there; if the institute is to be reconstituted, this may only be done if there are entirely new faculty, students, and priestly support to do so; this is so because there are always relationships which will never be discovered, and if these are present in the new foundation, the conspiracy will be renewed. Problems like this can be avoided in good foundations only if confessors and spiritual directors take recidivism in matters of the 6^th and 9^th commandments seriously, and are given authority to expel candidates that do not have the grace of chastity and continence, without human respect.

Sincerely in Christ Jesus and His Ever-Virgin Mother,

Br. Alexis Bugnolo

62 Pilgrim Road

Mansfield, MA 02048

508-339-2218