(Lepanto Institute) — The heretical Association of US Catholic Priests (AUSCP) announced earlier this year that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approached the Association, asking it to host a virtual consultation on the USCCB’s laity document. Public materials describe the event as a joint effort between AUSCP and the USCCB, presenting it as a continuation of “synodal engagement.”
The AUSCP has a long history of promoting views in direct conflict with immutable Catholic teachings regarding the “ordination” of women, human sexual morality, the sacraments, and the nature of the priesthood.
In the latest announcement, the AUSCP confirmed that the primary speaker will be Sr. Marie Kolbe Zamora, who was an official in the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops during the global synod process. According to the AUSCP, she will speak about her experience in Rome, what she believes is the importance of “synodality” to the Church in the United States, and how “deep listening” has reportedly changed her own spiritual life.
This collaboration between the USCCB and the AUSCP indicates that it moves under the banner of “synodality,” despite the grave moral and theological concerns pertaining to the AUSCP. Just three months ago, the AUSCP held its annual assembly in San Antonio. There, Catholic priests spoke openly about the mortal sin of masturbation as a form of “prayer.” These remarks were delivered from the floor, in public, during official sessions. The room responded with laughter, not outrage. Nobody in attendance raised an objection. No statement of correction followed.
And now, this heterodox organization is claiming a role in shaping national Catholic policy for lay formation.
This article examines the facts: the AUSCP’s promotion of doctrinal dissent, the bishops’ silent or not-so-silent participation, and the institutional failure to draw clear moral lines. It also reveals the deeper cost of collaboration with an organization that no longer hides its anti-Catholic agenda.
At stake is more than theological confusion. What emerges is a betrayal of mission, of trust, and of the faithful themselves.
Evidence of collaboration
The Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP) is not merely offering commentary on a USCCB initiative. It is formally hosting a consultation on it.
The event, titled AUSCP Consultation on USCCB Laity Document, is scheduled for September 17, 2025. It is being conducted virtually, and registration is handled entirely through AUSCP’s own website. The confirmation email sent to participants includes branding from the AUSCP, references the USCCB by name, and describes the consultation as part of the Church’s “synodal engagement” process.
But this consultation was not initiated by the AUSCP. According to the AUSCP’s August 6 newsletter called “Wisdom Wednesday,” the USCCB reached out to the AUSCP, asking them to host “a call to get input from priests and laity on the new USCCB Laity Document.” The AUSCP further claimed in this newsletter that the USCCB “strongly recommend that you invite your episcopal liaison, advisor, or moderator (or a bishop or bishops active in your group) to be part of the listening sessions.”
On August 17, the AUSCP sent out an email indicating that the “USCCB has invited AUSCP to host a Conversation in the Spirit between Clergy and Laity.” Additionally, the AUSCP indicated that the USCCB’s associate director for the laity, Paul Jarzembowski, would be providing a testimony on the topic, “Why is this listening session important to the USCCB and how will it impact the US Church?“
Screenshots from the official registration and event page show the USCCB name featured prominently. The AUSCP’s announcements, which have been circulated since July 27, refer to the consultation as part of the national synodal process. The most recent update includes details about the keynote speaker: Sr. Marie Kolbe Zamora, who was an official in the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. She is scheduled to discuss her time in Rome and the supposed relevance of “deep listening” within the Church in the United States.
This consultation is not a hypothetical scenario. It is a real event, promoted for weeks by the AUSCP, featuring a high-profile speaker who participated in the Synod at the Vatican. The organizers claim to speak not just with theological insight, but with synodal authority.
There is no ambiguity. The USCCB’s laity document is the topic. The AUSCP claims that the USCCB reached out to them to host the call. The AUSCP identified a USCCB staffer as a participant. The AUSCP is leading the conversation. The name of the bishops’ conference is being invoked as a partner.
This is the context in which the next section must be understood, not as an isolated scandal or miscommunication, but as part of an official collaboration, made visible through registration forms, promotional pages, and confirmation emails. At the AUSCP assembly, we obtained a photo of the USCCB’s booth there, as well as one of the business cards sitting on the table belonging to Marc J. Delmonico, USCCB assistant director for the certification of ecclesial ministry.
Previous USCCB-AUSCP collaboration
In 2022, we reported that the USCCB’s Office of Certification for Ecclesial Ministry was a vendor at the AUSCP’s assembly that year. In addition to photographing the USCCB’s table at the AUSCP’s Assembly, we also obtained the business card for Dr. DelMonico, the director for the USCCB office vending at the event.
In the course of our investigation into this matter, we discovered that DelMonico didn’t just happen to show up to the AUSCP’s assembly – he identified himself as an actual member of the AUSCP. In 2020, Delmonico wrote the following on his own website, under the headline “Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP) Virtual National Conference 2020”:
“I am participating in this virtual gathering of the largest association of U.S. Catholic priests as an associate (non-clergy) member of the AUSCP. Their annual event is focused on the theme of “Our Catholic Faith in the Political World.” Opportunities for an online retreat and keynotes on church teaching in the context of legislative advocacy, preaching to the political needs of today’s society, practical action during the 2020 election year, and more. Very modest and daily or all-inclusive rates are available and anyone can register for the event. The AUSCP is an organization which is deeply committed to collaborative ministry with lay ecclesial ministry leaders and other lay ministers in today’s church. Read more and register here.”
Subsequently, in January of 2021, the AUSCP hosted DelMonico as a speaker for a webinar with the title, “God’s Own Vintage: Developments in Lay Ecclesial Ministry 15 Years after Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord.”
Additionally, Abp. John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been routinely identified as the AUSCP’s “Episcopal Consultor” (previously, “Episcopal Moderator“) and Bp. John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, is formally recognized as a “member” of the AUSCP. Both bishops (as well as others) are routinely spotted at the AUSCP’s annual assemblies.
The scandalous moral record of the AUSCP
The Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP) has been warned, documented, and exposed repeatedly for its rejection of Catholic teaching. Its leadership promotes “women’s ordination,” endorses homosexual relationships among clergy, and embraces spiritual ideologies that collapse morality into sentiment. Yet many bishops of the United States continue to give them an audience.
At their June 2025 assembly in San Antonio, AUSCP members crossed yet another line. Priests stood at microphones and discussed masturbation as a form of prayer. One, who identified as homosexual, described his personal practice of sexual self-gratification in the context of spiritual reflection. Another affirmed the act, arguing that it prevents worse “explosions” of energy.
No one corrected them. No one rebuked them. The room laughed.
This was not a candid moment in a private conversation. It was a public gathering of priests and religious in an official ecclesial setting. Bishops were in the room. They heard the comments and said nothing.
Lepanto Institute published the audio and transcript. The scandal is real, documented, and accessible.
Instead of disassociating from the AUSCP after this display, the bishops of the United States allowed the group to move forward with a consultation on the USCCB’s own laity document. Not a single public statement was issued. No disciplinary action was taken. No lines were drawn.
This is not a lapse in oversight. It is a pattern.
The AUSCP continues to promote figures like heterodox Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, whose writing reframes sexual desire as a mystical encounter. In AUSCP events and resources, Rolheiser insists that the divine comes to us through sexuality, without sufficient moral distinction. This attempted fusion of sacredness and lust weakens the Church’s witness and confuses the faithful. It is not accidental. It is intentional.
Fr. Frederick Daley, a longtime AUSCP member, is openly homosexual and lives with another man. He has celebrated so-called “Pride Masses” using altered Trinitarian formulas, such as “Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier.” These abuses have been reported, recorded, and confronted.
He remains a priest in good standing.
Despite Abp. Wester’s alleged oversight of the AUSCP, there is no record of his public correction of Fr. Daley. There is no statement from him condemning the AUSCP’s theological trajectory. Despite years of documented defiance, he continues to lend credibility to the organization by his silent presence.
This is the moral record of the AUSCP. It is not a misunderstanding or an isolated incident. It is the fruit of an organization that has lost its Catholic identity and of a hierarchy that refuses to act.
Other fully-documented reports we’ve produced on the AUSCP reveal the following:
USCCB given the opportunity to clarify
Before publication, the Lepanto Institute made direct efforts to obtain clarity from the USCCB regarding its involvement with the AUSCP-hosted consultation scheduled for September 17, 2025.
A formal inquiry was submitted to Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, via his secretary, Sr. Lisa Marie Drover, on Tuesday, September 10. The message included:
- Documentation showing the AUSCP publicly presenting the consultation as a collaborative effort with the USCCB
- Evidence of AUSCP’s long-standing record of doctrinal dissent
- Audio transcripts from the June 2025 assembly, with the aforementioned scandalous comments
- A clear and fair deadline for response: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Wednesday, September 11
The questions posed to Archbishop Broglio were precise:
- Was the USCCB formally collaborating with the AUSCP for this consultation?
- Had any bishop or office within the USCCB authorized the event?
- Did the USCCB consider the AUSCP a theologically trustworthy partner for shaping lay formation?
- Would the USCCB be issuing a statement to clarify or withdraw its name from the event?
No response was received. Not from Archbishop Broglio. Not from the USCCB Communications Office. Not from any spokesperson.
This is not neutral. It is not procedural. It is an institutional shrug in the face of grave scandal.
The same bishops entrusted with shepherding the faithful through a spiritual crisis have allowed their name to be used by an organization where lust is preached as “prayer,” Holy Orders are reduced to gender expression, and sin is romanticized in the name of “deep listening.”
When given the chance to defend the faith – and the faithful – they declined.
‘Accompaniment’ without truth is betrayal
The AUSCP does not hide what it is. Its members speak plainly. They promote “women’s ordination.” They glorify sexual sin and a host of perversions. They hold retreats centered on “erotic mysticism” disguised as theology. They gather, speak, publish, and record.
The bishops see it.
They’ve heard the audio.
They’ve read the documents.
They know exactly what the AUSCP believes and teaches, and they continue to give them a seat at the table.
This is not “walking together.” It is walking away from the Lord, and from His Bride, dragging others with them.
To invoke “accompaniment” without truth is not compassion. It is betrayal. It leaves the faithful – especially the laity – unarmed against wolves in clerical clothing. It replaces doctrine with a one-sided, wicked monologue under the guise of “dialogue.” It tells dissenters they are welcome, and it tells the faithful to stay quiet.
This consultation on the laity document is not an isolated blunder. It is the natural fruit of years of silence, false charity, and refusal to discipline. It is what happens when bishops refuse to name heresy but readily platform its prophets.
Catholics who love the faith – laity, priests, and yes, bishops – must make a choice. Not between left and right. Not between style and tone. But between fidelity and betrayal. Between up forever, or down without end.
The AUSCP has made its choice. The only question now is whether the bishops will continue to follow them, or finally stand up and lead.
Contact Abp. Broglio and the USCCB. Respectfully, but firmly, demand that the USCCB formally separate itself from the AUSCP. Call for a formal condemnation of the AUSCP and for bishops to forbid priests under their charge from being members or from having any contact with the AUSCP, whatsoever.
- Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D.; (202) 719-3600 [email protected]
- USCCB – (202) 541-3000
Reprinted with permission from the Lepanto Institute.
