Our View: Let diocese’s work to regain trust begin now

Olean Herald
December 8, 2019

http://www.oleantimesherald.com/commentary/our-view-let-diocese-s-work-to-regain-trust-begin/article_bfe604e6-19e1-11ea-ab19-f3620e7f630e.html

After resisting calls for him to resign for several months, Bishop Richard Malone took what he called “early retirement” Wednesday and stepped down as leader of the Diocese of Buffalo.

In his exit, Malone offered acknowledgement he made mistakes in his handling of the flood of sexual abuse claims against priests dating back decades, but he still pointed out that during his tenure no priest ordained in the past 30 years had an allegation of child sex abuse substantiated.

That assertion alone perhaps helps explain why the now former bishop, despite widespread calls from the Catholic community throughout Western New York for him to step down, held out for as long as he did. A “this wasn’t on my watch” justification simply wasn’t enough to appease abuse victims and their families, as well as an active and discerning Catholic community that has been looking for both justice and healing.

Fair or not, Malone was hounded by accusations that he engaged in a systemic coverup of sexual abuse by priests, a legacy that has proven to be all too true elsewhere in the Catholic world. After seven years as Buffalo’s Catholic bishop, Malone led a diocese facing an investigation by the FBI and more than 200 lawsuits filed under the New York State Child Victim’s Act. The diocese has paid more than $18 million to more than 100 abuse victims under a compensation program established in 2018, Meanwhile, bankruptcy is a very real possibility for the diocese.

Too much damage had been done to the diocese — with too much mistrust emanating from the flock — for Malone to stay on.

The Movement to Restore Trust, made up of lay Catholic leaders in the diocese, summed up the reaction to Malone’s resignation, greeting it “with a mixture of sadness and relief.”

From its inception in October 2018, MRT had made it clear that the problems the church faces were not caused by a single person, but they revealed a culture of ignoring or wishing away the abuse scandals that predated Malone’s arrival in Buffalo. In recent months, however, MRT leaders saw Malone had become the “lightning rod for all that was wrong in the diocese and that progress toward the healing, reconciliation and reform that the diocese so desperately needs was impossible while he remained in office.”

Now, MRT — indeed all Catholics in the region — must play a role in moving the diocese forward into an era of accountability, trust and renewed faith in the good works and positive presence that the church represents. The benefits of Catholicism, from its charitible contributions, to its moral and ethical leadership, to its legacy in education, run as strong threads through the fabric of Western New York — in the Olean area not least.

There’s too much good about the church to wholly reject its worth over the scandal. But the work the diocese faces to regain its communties’ trust is monumental, and it won’t be finished overnight.

Let that work begin now.