BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News
March 1, 2018
By Lou Michel and Jay Tokasz
PORTVILLE – The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo made Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits get psychological treatment after receiving a complaint that he had sexually abused a child.
It was after that, Orsolits said, that the diocese assigned him to work for years in the mid-1980s in a rural parish in tiny Portville.
There, he led the church youth group and gave booze to underage boys while chaperoning the nearby Catholic high school’s ski club on a trip to Vermont, according to a former student and some parishioners. During his time in Portville, parishioners say, Orsolits was even charged with driving while intoxicated.
Worshipers at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Portville, where about 1,000 people live, are angry that the bishop in Buffalo never warned them in the mid-1980s that Orsolits had been treated at Southdown Institute, a mental health facility near Toronto, for abusing a child.
That didn’t come to light until this week, when Orsolits admitted to The Buffalo News that he had sexual contact with “probably dozens” of teenage boys.
“Obviously there’s something not connected in his head. There’s a separation from normal thinking,” said Bernard “Buz” Wenke, who worshiped at Sacred Heart while Orsolits preached there. “Somebody that does something like that should not be around children.”
At a news conference Thursday, diocesan officials said Orsolits was sent to Southdown after the diocese had received a complaint of child sex abuse, but they did not specify the dates they received the complaint or when he was treated.
“He was sent away and went to a facility for counseling and some form of rehabilitation to find out whether or not he was suitable for ministry. When he came back with a clean bill of health, advised that he was able to come back and serve, he did serve,” said Terrence M. Connors, a lawyer who represents the diocese.
Orsolits told The News that following his treatment, the diocese assigned him to the Portville church and to teach at Archbishop Walsh High School.
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