Christ the King Seminary and Sexual Misconduct: What’s the Best Path Forward?

By Peter Jesserer Smith
National Catholic Register
November 13, 2019

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/christ-the-king-seminary-and-sexual-misconduct-whats-the-best-path-forward

Huddled with his priest-secretary, vicar general and vicar for priests, Bishop Richard Malone repeated the question raised in the room: How did the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, end up with a priest whom they believed had not only aggressively pursued a seminarian for an inappropriate relationship and sought revenge when spurned, but had the ability to do an enormous amount of damage due to the blackmail he held over other priests?

As detailed in Part 1 of this report, Father Jeff Nowak, a graduate of Christ the King Seminary, faces allegations of sexually pursuing a seminarian, violating the seal of the confession, hearing invalid confessions via FaceTime and working with two other priests who came out of that seminary to emotionally blackmail and then slander in revenge his target after refusing his advances. That seminarian, Matthew Bojanowksi, quit in August, citing Bishop Malone’s failures to protect his seminary career and reputation.

But secret audio recordings taken in March by Father Ryszard Biernat, Bishop Malone’s former priest-secretary, reveal that the group is concerned about the seminary’s image if Father Nowak’s actions get out and that homosexual persons collectively would be unfairly blamed.

They characterized Father Nowak, and two of his seminary classmates who are now also priests, as an apparent “homosexual triumvirate” spreading rumors and “cat-fighting” against other priests in the diocese they wanted to take down, including Father Biernat.

The group noted the obvious signs that should have barred Father Nowak from ordination: He left seminary twice, refused to show up for seminary assignments; but despite this record, he was ordained in 2012.

Beyond looking into his file and wondering how he was deemed suitable for ordination, nobody in the recordings suggests the need for a formal investigation into how the priest made it through the seminary’s safeguards, or whether his actions and those of the other members of the alleged apparent “homosexual triumvirate” pointed to the existence of an active homosexual subculture at Christ the King Seminary.

In fact, the March recordings show Bishop Malone and his inner circle agree there is a “larger group” of possibly homosexual priests with “unresolved” personal issues, in addition to Father Nowak and his associates, who are “not gonna go down quietly” and “will take anybody down” they have issues with.

The fear of Bishop Malone and his inner circle regarding these priests, who are products of Christ the King Seminary, did not abate months later.