Alleged Predator Bans Journalist George Neumayr From National Shrine

by Stephen Wynne  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  June 24, 2019    

Msgr. Walter Rossi slaps Catholic author with five-year Basilica ban

WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Investigative journalist George Neumayr has been banned from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

On Sunday, Basilica rector Msgr. Walter Rossi barred Neumayr — a faithful Catholic — from the church for a period of five years, ostensibly owing to "inappropriate behavior."

As a result of his investigation into homosexual corruption in the D.C. archdiocese, last year, Neumayr landed on Rossi's "Most Wanted" list, an internal memo instructing Basilica security officers to notify police if he set foot on Church property. After spotting Neumayr at Sunday's Mass and Corpus Christi procession, Rossi's security detail did just that.

Speaking to Church Militant on Monday, Neumayr recounted, "I noticed that a number of the security guards were casting meaningful glances at me, and at one point I think one of them recognized that I appear on that security watch poster, and I think then they called the higher-ups at the Basilica and I think that's what set the removal in motion."

"I was actually surprised that they would go to the trouble of removing me and thereby drawing more attention to Rossi, who's an open sore in the D.C. archdiocese — he doesn't need any more bad publicity," he continued. "This is just a classic example of how the gay mafia operates, you know. Those who live in darkness fear the light — even a small journalistic one."

Writing in The American Spectator after the incident, Neumayr recalled security officers "called the police, who turned up near Rossi's Lexus in his special parking spot near the Basilica's doors. ... But it was left to the director of security to do the deed."

Monsignor Rossi is, without a doubt, a member of the 'gay mafia.'Tweet

Security chief Valencia Camp met Neumayr outside the Basilica, telling him: "You are barred from the Basilica ... for five years."

Camp added that the "bar notice is with the Metropolitan Police." When pressed as to the grounds for the ban, she refused to answer, telling Neumayr, "I need you off the property."

Before leaving, Neumayr asked if Basilica policy includes banning journalists. Camp replied: "When their behavior is inappropriate."

On Monday, Church Militant contacted the Basilica with the following questions:

1. For what specific reasons is George Neumayr banned from the basilica for a span of five years? The security told him it was for "inappropriate behavior" but failed to specify.
2. Critics say Msgr. Rossi's ban of a member of the media from the church shows a lack of transparency and an attempt to censor a journalist who reported on him. What is his response to this?
3. Does Msgr. Rossi deny that Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, as papal nuncio, received complaints that he sexually harassed students and seminarians?
4. Where did Msgr. Rossi get the money to purchase a condo on Galt Ocean Mile for $470,000?
5. Where did Msgr. Rossi get the money to purchase a Lexus?
6. For the sake of transparency, is Msgr. Rossi willing to disclose his annual salary, plus perquisites and benefits? If so, how much total does he make?
7. In light of Viganò's claims and other media revelations, some critics say Msgr. Rossi should step down from the Board of Trustees of Catholic University of America to spare them further embarrassment and scandal. Will he do so?

Monsignor Rossi failed to answer Church Militant's questions. Instead, Basilica Communications Director Jacquelyn Hayes offered the following statement:

Following protocols initiated several years ago when Mr. Neumayr received a barring notice for disrupting business activities, he was asked to leave following the Corpus Christi Mass and Procession. All Catholics and non-Catholics alike, including Mr. Neumayr, are welcome to take part in the liturgy so long as they don't disrupt Shrine activities or threaten visitors and staff.

The ban (illegal under canon law) comes just months after Neumayr outed Rossi as an alleged predator of seminarians — an accusation confirmed by Abp. Viganò earlier this month.

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

"Monsignor Rossi is, without a doubt, a member of the 'gay mafia,'" said Abp. Viganò.

"I can say that, while I was a nuncio in the United States, I received the documentation that states that Msgr. Rossi had sexually molested male students at the Catholic University of America," the archbishop noted. "The Vatican, in particular Cdl. [Pietro] Parolin, is well aware of the situation of Msgr. Rossi, as is Cdl. Wuerl."

"I can finally testify that Rossi's name was proposed for promotion to my predecessor, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who blocked his progress," Viganò added. "These facts clearly show how the 'gay mafia' operates."

In his Sunday American Spectator article, Neumayr added to the archbishop's observations:

Rossi is a protégé of two confirmed frauds and out-of-control gay clericalists, Michael Bransfield and Theodore McCarrick. He learned at their knees how to treat the Basilica as his personal fiefdom. Because Rossi sees the Church's "property" as his own, he feels no hesitation in violating the canonical rights of a Catholic simply because he doesn't want to be questioned by him about Viganò's charges and other sordid matters.

Neumayr noted that for now, Rossi is shielded by homosexual/homosexualist fellow travelers within the hierarchy, "which preaches poverty by day and practices decadence by night."

"Pope Francis goes on and on about 'self-interested clericalism' then protects and promotes its most obvious practitioners," he added. "The McCarrick-Bransfield-Rossi triumvirate, with its beach houses, boy toys, and ballooning bank accounts, resembled nothing less than self-interested clericalism on steroids."