St. Mary’s Palm Sunday Mass reconciles with sex abuse allegations

By Tom Dinki
Olean Times Herald
March 26, 2018

http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/st-mary-s-palm-sunday-mass-reconciles-with-sex-abuse/article_675b181e-3092-11e8-8439-bf93f44a483a.html

The Very Rev. Gregory Dobson, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels’ pastor, speaks to the congregation during Mass on Sunday. The basilica celebrated Palm Sunday, while also acknowledging the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s sexual abuse scandal. Photo by Tom Dinki

The Very Rev. Gregory Dobson, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels’ pastor, leads Palm Sunday Mass. Photo by Tom Dinki

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels parishioners offer each other signs of peace during Palm Sunday Mass. Photo by Tom Dinki

Celebration and victory, as well as shame and betrayal, were the themes the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels conveyed to its parishioners at Palm Sunday Mass.

The basilica celebrated Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem by having its younger parishioners roam the aisles with palm fronds and tambourines, but also acknowledged the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s sexual abuse scandal and the revelation several former St. Mary’s priests are among the accused.

“I’m very upset,” said Lucille Shavalier, 81, of Eldred, Pa., holding a palm frond in her hand while on her way out of the basilica on Sunday.

It was St. Mary’s first Sunday Mass since the diocese on Tuesday announced the names of 42 priests who were removed from ministry, left ministry or retired after allegations they sexually abused a minor.

The announcement came amid public pressure for transparency following last month’s admission from a former St. Mary’s assistant pastor, the Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits, that he sexually abused “probably dozens” of teenage boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“This is not what the church is about,” the Very Rev. Gregory Dobson, St. Mary’s pastor, told the congregation on Sunday.

During the service, Dobson read a letter from diocese Bishop Richard J. Malone that apologized to victims and asked that they come forward so the diocese can help them. The diocese has announced a fund to settle claims of child sexual abuse against its clergy.

Malone, in the letter, noted that while the list of accused priests has caused feelings of great distress and betrayal for victims and parishioners, it has done the same for the diocese and its clergy. He also said the diocese is ashamed.

“The Diocese of Buffalo is committed to correcting the mistakes and sins of the past as we continue to assist the victims,” said Malone in the letter, adding he feels the diocese will come out of the scandal stronger.

Speaking his own thoughts afterward, Dobson added the diocese will also be more humble, humane, responsible, observant and transparent.

“And I suppose if we do all of that, we will be stronger,” he said.

Similar thoughts were voiced by St. Mary’s parishioners who spoke with the Olean Times Herald while leaving Mass.

The 42 names included at least three former St. Mary’s assistant pastors — Orsolits and the Revs. Roy K. Ronald and Thomas J. McCarthy. The list also included two priests who taught at then-Archbishop Walsh High School, the Revs. James A. Spielman and Donald S. Fafinski. Orsolits also taught at Walsh.

Dobson said he believed the Rev. Francis T. Hogan, one of the accused and who some media reports indicated taught at the former St. Mary’s school, never actually taught at the school. However, Dobson added Hogan was born and raised in Olean.

Shavalier knew Orsolits when he was her pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Portville from 1984 to 1988. She described “Father Norb” as “wonderful, jovial and colorful,” but also as an alcoholic.

She had less fond memories of Ronald, who Times Herald archives show served at St. Mary’s from 1962 to at least 1975.

“I didn’t like him at all. I would believe that of him,” she said of the allegations. “He was mean and rotten.”

While releasing the names, the diocese has not elaborated on the allegations, including which churches they stem from.

Theresa Schueckler, who’s attended St. Mary’s for approximately 25 years, said perhaps one mistake made by the diocese is covering up the allegations for so long. Accused priests like Orsolits were sent to treatment facilities and allowed to continue serving prior to dioceses overhauling their policies in wake of the 2002 sexual abuse scandal uncovered by The Boston Globe.

“We all kind of knew it was there,” she said of allegations against Catholic priests. “But you have to look at the big picture. This is not what Jesus was all about. This is not what our priests are about.”