New Lawsuit Filed in Buffalo, SNAP Responds

By Zach Hiner
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
February 25, 2019

https://bit.ly/2XoNQU9

A new lawsuit against the Diocese of Buffalo, the Franciscan Order, and a high school school in upstate New York was filed today. We applaud the bravery of the victim and hope that this lawsuit helps her on her healing journey.

We are especially grateful to Gail Holler-Kennedy for exposing the wrongdoing by Fr. Mark S. Andrzejczuk and officials at the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, the Conventual Franciscan religious order and Cardinal O'Hara High School. We hope her courage will inspire others who are in pain to speak up.

According to media reports, the allegedly abusive priest also worked at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore. We hope officials at that school in Baltimore will aggressively reach out to their alumni in search of other victims of Fr. Andrezejczuk.

It’s worth noting that the victim in this case “first sought compensation through the diocese's settlement program but was denied because she did not meet a deadline,” according to her attorney. This unnecessary hurdle is another example of how church-run settlement programs can be harmful to victims and is why we always call for statutes of limitation reform instead of the creation of compensation programs. 

We hope anyone who knows or suspects clergy sex crimes or cover ups will step forward. We hope they call trusted sources of help, like friends, family, therapists, police and support groups like ours.