Polish Gay Network in Detroit

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TRANSCRIPT

Father Miroslaw Krol, Chancellor of Orchard Lake Schools, is at the center of two lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct.

In the first lawsuit, the institution's vice chancellor and also the former director of the school's Polish mission are both claiming they were aggressively recruited, sexually harassed once hired, verbally abused when they refused Krol's advances and fired when they complained of the treatment.

The first lawsuit charges, "Krol has a history of boundary-crossing behavior, often making inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances towards younger men ... he recruited to Orchard Lake Schools to serve as priests, seminarians or employees."

Wieslaw Walawender, a former seminarian, confirms the homosexual undercurrent at Orchard Lake in the 1980s, when he was assaulted by a different priest.

"At one point, Mast turns to me, drops his hand on my front end, and he says, "I like it," Walawender reports.

Another Orchard Lake seminarian explains how vulnerable Polish students were.

Father Ryszard Biernat: "There's a high number of predators in the seminaries because of the prey being so vulnerable. You don't have a voice, and you can be dismissed for no reason whatsoever."

Krol learned at the feet of a master predator. After Orchard Lake, he transferred to Newark's Immaculate Conception Seminary, where he studied under and was ordained by the notorious Theodore McCarrick.

In 2019, Seton Hall University conducted its own investigation of those years and confirmed McCarrick had been sexually harassing seminarians for years.

Father Boniface Ramsey: "So there are five seminarians, one archbishop; and there were five beds. That meant that one of those seminarians had to sleep in McCarrick's bed."

Krol has another powerful protector in fellow Polish clergyman Cdl. Stanisław Dziwisz, widely recognized as Pope John Paul II's gatekeeper.

Dziwisz has come under the scrutiny of Polish media, accusing him of covering up a global pandemic of sex abuse.

While the archdiocese of Detroit is not named in the lawsuits, Abp. Allen Vigneron serves on the seminary's board of trustees and has refused to investigate allegations when they've been brought to his attention.

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