Clergy Sex Abuse Victims Call for Transparency, Resignation of Bishops

Erie News Now
June 21, 2019

https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/40691453/clergy-sex-abuse-victims-call-for-transparency-resignation-of-bishops

A man who has spoken out about alleged clergy abuse to Erie News Now in the past called for transparency and action against former Erie Bishop Donald Trautman, who is accused of not doing enough to stop the abuse, during a news conference in Buffalo late Friday morning.

James Faluszczak, a former priest who said he was sexually abused by a priest, claims Trautman is being protected by the church and has not faced any sanctions or investigations against him.

All speakers at the news conference believe it is incomprehensible that Trautman is still functioning as an active member of the ministry.

Recently, Trautman participated in a mass celebrating the 50th anniversary of the priest class of 1969 in the Buffalo Diocese.

The speakers are calling on the current Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone and Bishop Persico to exclude Trautman from church activities.

Faluszczak told Erie News Now that Bishop Persico has the authority to take action within his own Diocese and withdraw Trautman's faculties. He criticized Persico for not suspending Trautman from public ministry.

Siobhan O'Connor, who was Bishop Malone's secretary, also spoke during Friday's news conference. She released secret documents to the media and the FBI, basically blowing the lid off the priest sexual abuse scandal in Buffalo. O'Connor called on fellow Catholics in the Diocese of Erie to hold their leadership accountable.

Paul Barr, who joined Faluszczak on Friday, said he was sexually abused by a priest from the Buffalo Diocese when he was a teenager. He is the second man this week to accuse the late Father Michael Freeman.

During a news conference in western New York on Tuesday, attorneys announced Trautman will be sued by James Bottlinger who says he was also abused as a high school student by Father Freeman in the 1980s, and Donald Trautman saw him in the priest's private quarters.

He said Trautman, 50, who was chancellor of the Buffalo Diocese at the time, knew what was going on, and the church knew of victims before him and did not stop the abuse.

Trautman called the claims inaccurate in a statement to Erie News Now:

"I can state with absolute certainty that I never saw Freeman and Bottlinger in Freeman’s bedroom or “private quarters”. If I had observed any inappropriate actions, I would have immediately corrected it. I did not cover up anything.”

Faluszczak testified before a grand jury in its investigation of abuse in six diocese across Pennsylvania, including Erie.