"Flaming gay" Cardinal Bernardin compromised U.S. hierarchy?

The following from Joseph Kellenyi, who figured prominently in Michael S. Rose's Goodbye,
Good Men, implicates the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (pictured left), formerly Archbishop of Chicago, in developments over the past several decades. Kellenyi, who was once a seminarian at Mundelein in the Chicago area, makes the following statement about a conversation he had with the Rev. John F. Canary, the rector of Mundelein Seminary, in August of 1999, according to Dale Vree, editor of New Oxford Review (July/August 2004), pp. 14-15:

I told Rev. Canary that I had some problems with the Chicago Diocese. I told him that I perceived that while Cardinal Bernardin had probably lived a celibate life, and may not have abused Steven Cook, that he also was flamingly gay. I said that I perceived that under Bernardin's regime, Chicago had become like Santa Rosa under Bishop Ziemann. I said that in Santa Rosa, those priests and seminarians not in the bishop's gay clique were treated unjustly, and that the same was true of Chicago under Bernardin. I said that I perceived that Bernardin fostered and promoted a network of gay priests and bishops, and that they protected each other, covered up each other's 'mistakes,' and promoted one another to positions of responsibility in Chicago and the church at large. I alluded to the fact that Bernardin had appointed Rev. Canary, and that he in turn had appointed the formation faculty. Rev. Canary's response was 'Your perception is accurate. The question is what are you going to do about it.'"

Kellenyi subsequently took a lie detector test to vindicate his testimony on Oct. 21, 2002 at the offices of the Polygraph Security Services in London (Kellenyi then resided in Belgium). The result: "There is no doubt that Mr. Kellenyi was truthful in all his responses," according to the Polygraph Security Services. (The relevant documents, according to Vree, can be found in AMDG, Fall/Winter 2003, the periodical of Roman Catholic Faithful [call 217-632-5920].)

In the same issue of AMDG, Kellenyi writes:

The polygraph results show that I discovered in 1999 that Cardinal Bernardin had fostered a network of gay priests and bishops who were covering up one another's sexual indiscretions. The rector at Mundelein Seminary confirmed this fact.... Andrew Greeley has insinuated that Bernardin was gay. Will he now come out and simply admit that he knew it all along?"

In a related vein, Vree notes that in his book, Amchurch Comes Out: The U.S. Bishops, Pedophile Scandals and the Homosexual Agenda, Paul Likoudis also implicates Cardinal Bernardin, whom he describes as:

"[the] bishop-maker who ... gave the American hierarchy its pronounced pro-gay orientation.... Bernardin acquired power rapidly. As his friends back in Charleston continued buggering little boys, Bernardin used his influence, starting in 1968, as General Secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference, to select bishops (many of whom are still ordinaries) who would, to put it charitably, condone and promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and tolerate the sexual abuse of children by priests."

In what he terms a "telling aside," Vree relates that James Hitchcock reported that "the Windy City Gay Men's Chorus was asked [by Bernardin, who knew he was dying] to sing at his wake in the Cathedral. The chorus's director said that they regarded the invitation as a sign of approval by the Church..." (The Catholic World Report, Feb. 1997). "The Gay Chorus performed six songs -- in the sanctuary to the right of the altar," according to the story.

Kellenyi's article continues:

"I would urge the reader to search The New York Times archives for an article entitled 'Can This Man Save the Catholic Church?'
The article is about Wilton Gregory [President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pictured right], and in it he describes in detail how Bernardin mentored and handpicked him, grooming him from early on for a leadership position.... One can reasonably presume that Bishop Gregory is well aware of the fact that he is where he is today because a gay Cardinal took a special interest in him at a young age. Bishop Gregory has benefited directly from the combination of homosexuality and power in the Church. This alone would explain his waffling over the gay priest problem."

So is this why Bishop Wilton Gregory and the USCCB doesn't really seem serious about solving our 'gay' priest problem at the root of the clergy's sex abuse scandal?