Editor’s note: This report includes descriptions of illicit sexual behavior. Viewer discretion advised.

(LifeSiteNews) — Leaked audio recording of a heretical clergy group’s annual meeting reveals that its retreat leader, a theology professor, downplayed or heretically denied the gravity of an array of serious sins, including masturbation, fornication, and receiving Holy Communion while in grave sin.

The Lepanto Institute recently shared audio clips from the 2025 annual meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP), a dissident group which was refused participation in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Eucharistic Congress last year due to its rejection of transubstantiation.

Father Ronald Rolheiser, the retreat leader of the priests’ conference, openly condoned grave sin in a variety of ways, the leaked audio shows, amplifying concerns about the extent to which other priests are dismissing realities of grave sin in the U.S.

Further concerns are raised by the fact that Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the AUSCP’s Episcopal Counselor, and Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, an AUSCP member, were both in attendance at the conference, and said nothing to correct his errors.

During a discussion on masturbation, Fr. Rolheiser dismissed the teaching of the Catholic Church that the act is gravely disordered, instead framing it as merely falling short of an ideal. He recalled his former seminary professor’s view that the matter is not so much one of sin, but of, “at what level do you want to carry your soul?”

“I like that, rather than what’s right or what’s wrong,” remarked Fr. Rolheiser during the priests’ retreat.

Shockingly, one priest at the retreat can be heard in the recording not only admitting to masturbating but sacrilegiously describing it as a “prayer.”

When a self-described “gay” priest during the retreat claimed that “ignoring sexual desire” can lead people to “act out,” including through violence and perhaps even mass shootings, Fr. Rolheiser affirmed this idea, which suggests that sexual self-mastery is a negative “repression.”

“Sometimes masturbation’s the better option,” said Fr. Rolheiser, in reference to the idea that sexual “repression” can lead to violence.

The retreat leader also claimed that fornication, in most instances today, is not a mortal sin. He recalled a woman who once told him her children were having sex outside of marriage and asked whether they were in a state of mortal sin.

“In most cases, no,” said Fr. Rolheiser, rejecting the idea that “most of these kids,” who are “good kids,” would go to hell. He claimed that for the most part, they have “invincible ignorance.” That is, they “simply don’t know better” because of the culture they live in, said Fr. Rolheiser.

“In most cases, it’s basically irresponsibility, it’s not mortal,” he concluded.

The idea that all these Catholics committing fornication are invincibly ignorant simply due to the culture, however, does not stand. According to Catholic teaching, “Ignorance is said to be invincible when a person is unable to rid himself of it” even when using “moral diligence, that is, such as under the circumstances is, morally speaking, possible and obligatory.”

READ: US Catholic priests’ association exposed for supporting female ‘ordination’

In the age of the internet, virtually all Catholics can easily access the Church catechism with a simple Google search.

Even worse, Fr. Rolheiser essentially promoted sacrilege by encouraging the reception of Holy Communion after having committed a grave sin even without repentance in confession — which adds grave sin upon grave sin.

“If someone sincerely wants to go to Communion, it’s a sure sign they’re not in mortal sin,” said the priest, making exceptions for those who want to “desecrate” the Eucharist.

Michael Hichborn, founder and president of the Lepanto Institute, remarked that here, Fr. Rolheiser “directly contradicts Catholic teaching.”

“The Church holds that sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion is itself grave matter, and subjective desire to receive Holy Communion is not proof of being in a state of grace,” said Hichborn. “To suggest otherwise is false, theologically reckless and spiritually dangerous.”

The priest’s errors during the retreat did not stop there. Audio recording showed that he went on to claim that it is permissible to bless gay couples, but only if not within a Catholic church.

“Gay marriage, what do we do with that?” Fr. Rolheiser said, going on to tell the AUSCP priests on retreat, “You can bless the gay couple but you can’t bless them in the church.”

He cited Pope Francis, who he claimed did not change Church teaching, but rather the “approach” to gay couples by giving “permission” to “bless” them, if only not in a public manner.

The Vatican approved of “blessings” for same-sex couples in Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández’s document Fiducia Supplicans, in contradiction to the unchangeable Catholic teaching that the Church cannot bless sinful relationships.

“The grave errors in this presentation are absolutely staggering,” remarked Hichborn, stressing concerns over the fact that Fr. Rolheiser is a theology professor at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.

“That he could say these things unchallenged in a room full of priests is one thing, but the idea that he may be teaching these things to young priests and nuns is deeply upsetting,” said Hichborn.

“The ideas and teachings floated in this conference are sure to lead souls to Hell. And the fact that at least two bishops were in attendance is unconscionable,” he remarked in a Lepanto Institute press release.

Other bishops besides Wester and Stowe who have participated in AUSCP meetings include Cardinal Blase Cupich, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop Robert Carlson, Archbishop John Hartmayer, Bishop Richard Pates, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, and Bishop William Wack.

“With episcopal support, the AUSCP is working its dangerous ideologies into many aspects of the life of the Church in the United States,” said Hichborn. “The threat to human souls posed by this organization is immense, and if left unchecked, an incalculable number of souls will be led into Hell by them.”