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May 18, 2005
Weirdness back in Lakeland
....back in my old parish, as a matter of fact
A Catholic priest was arrested Tuesday and charged with following a woman, breaking into her home and assaulting her.
Wladyslaw Gorak, 49, also known as Walter Fisher, worked last year at Church of the Resurrection on South Florida Avenue as the parochial vicar, similar to an associate pastor.
Gorak was charged Tuesday with burglary with an assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery. He was wanted on a warrant issued last week and turned himself in to Lakeland police about 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Gorak was driven to the Polk County Jail on Tuesday night. A jail spokeswoman said Gorak was in line to be booked into the jail, so his bail had not been set.
A spokeswoman at the Diocese of Orlando, which administers parishes in Polk County, said Gorak came to Resurrection from Newark, New Jersey, where he served as a priest. She said Gorak served the Lakeland church between February and December of 2004.....The Diocese spokeswoman, Carol Brinati, said that in December 2004, church officials decided Gorak "was not adapting" and was not a good leader.
Um, yeah. Perhaps one of my Lakeland contacts gave fill out this story a bit more?
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
Let's see....if the plan was to bring in needed priests from other dioceses and/or from overseas, does this mean it's on to another plan?
Posted by: Seamus at May 18, 2005 12:08:48 PM
10,000 lakes and a few weirdos
Posted by: rathernotsay at May 18, 2005 1:06:04 PM
We pretty much got the same story in the local section of the Lakeland Ledger this morning. Last we knew of this priest he was slated to return to the parish in July. (before this news broke, obviously) Won't know anything more until I head over to the school for afternoon pickup. Also odd that this incident apparently happened last fall, but he's been around stalking her at her job in the mall as recently as last month? Allegedly of course!
Posted by: Patti at May 18, 2005 1:14:30 PM
I wonder how long this guy has been this unhinged.
Posted by: Nancy at May 18, 2005 1:44:38 PM
Letter from the pastor came home in my son's backpack today. He said Fr. Walter Gorak was granted faculties to serve at Resurrection Parish (Lakeland, FL) in February of 2004. "During the time he served at Resurrection, Fr. Walter did not adapt to Diocesan and parish ministry." Bishop Wenski removed his faculties in dec. 2004 and he was asked to return to Newark, NJ. "We were informed of Fr. Gorak's arrest yesterday."
Wondering what he was doing between Dec. and now...allegedly hanging out in the mall on the lookout for this woman? Wonder how he picked her out. The whole breaking & entering plus ripping off the clothes thing is just too bizarre. Allegedly!
Posted by: Patti at May 18, 2005 3:58:58 PM
Fr. Walter did not adapt to Diocesan and parish ministry.
Well, that much is clear.
But....adapt from what? Such a strange story.
Posted by: Nancy at May 18, 2005 4:05:22 PM
Seamus,
Thank you for the notation about bringing priests in from the outside, whether outside the diocese or outside the country.
I keep running into this thing.
I am now in touch with a woman who bore a child to a priest originally from Mexico. Twelve years ago. An Order priest, who is now pastor of a big parish in a big urban area in the United States. The Provincial of his Order knows, but I don't think the bishop does.
This guy is in fact a deadbeat Dad. Neither he nor the Order is paying meaningful child support. The website for the parish praises this guy's "multicultural basis," which is very fine, but of course there's more to the story.
Why did he leave Mexico? How much more is there to this story? Are we getting the discards?
I don't know the answers to any of these questions. Maybe the priest is to blame. Maybe the mom is to blame. Maybe they're both to blame. But I can name the one party in this dispute who is not to blame.
Him, and the unknowing parishioners, I guess.
Posted by: Nancy at May 18, 2005 4:10:31 PM
Moving pervert "problem" priests from diocese to diocese, country to country, is just one of the many "coincidences" that the bishops would have us believe.
Think about it: in this time of clerical shortages, what bishop is going to let a priest roam freely, unless there is a reason to ship him out. Just check out some of the recent revelations about the Diocese of Fairbanks. The Orlando Diocese had another recent case in which the priest did a tour in Fairbanks........coincidence? Yeh, right.
Posted by: Jim at May 18, 2005 6:58:25 PM
The bishops don't care what happens to the potential victims. That much is clear.
Posted by: Nancy at May 18, 2005 7:01:07 PM
"It must be her(his) fault anyway, the sexual partner. This person this priest was stalking and assaulted was an adult, so there you are, case proven. How can it be his fault? Especially if it's a woman, who we all know are evil from the start, haven't you read Genesis?
"Anyhow, an Order priest is vowed to 'evangelical' poverty, so he can't pay child support. And diocesan priests don't make all that much money. And people who are abused or even made pregnant, or the kids, well... that's... too bad. And assault? She's probably making it up. And why should a priest support his children anyway? He shouldn't have any children, and if he does we'll just pretend he doesn't, so, what's your problem???
"We haven't figured out quite why yet, but we know that it is.
"Remember, though, that most everything we say Comes Straight From God.""
Posted by: Nancy at May 18, 2005 7:09:29 PM
Let go Nancy.
Posted by: fidens at May 19, 2005 3:25:50 AM
I hear it fidens. It's hard when so many innocent people are getting hurt.
Posted by: Nancy at May 19, 2005 2:42:24 PM
Are there any other victims? That's the question. What was the reason his faculties were really removed four months eariler? And if he was removed from the Diocese in December, why was he still there? The diocese has a lot of questions to answer.
Posted by: jason at May 26, 2005 9:10:50 PM
and now it seems a lawsuit is filed. I hope this costs the Diocese a lot of $$$. Father Gorak should go to jail for a long time...
Posted by: Jason at Jan 27, 2006 10:43:59 PM
I understand that Father Wladyslaw Gorak was harrassed by this woman in NJ. He moved to Florida & she & her husband moved after Father Wladyslaw Gorak to Florida to the same town & went to his parish. Who is chasing who in this case?
Posted by: Ed Jankovski at Aug 14, 2006 10:06:42 PM
Something is not wright in this whole story...
Why this couple followed this priest from NJ to Florida, and why she wants five million dollars?
Posted by: Sophie at Mar 5, 2007 12:24:53 AM
