BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
March 21, 2018
By Jay Tokasz
A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo declined on Wednesday to disclose more information about 42 priests who were identified as having had credible allegations of child sexual abuse brought against them, but he said further disclosures “certainly will be considered” in the future.
“At this time what we felt was most appropriate was to get the names out on a timely basis and that’s what we did,” said the spokesman, George Richert.
Diocesan officials, he said, will “take under consideration” the release of a fuller accounting, such as when the priests were accused of abuse, what parishes they served in, how many allegations were lodged against them and when they were removed from ministry or left ministry on their own.
Richert also declined to say how the diocese determined that the allegations against the priests were credible.
The list included the names of priests who started working in parishes as far back as 1935. The accused priests served in parishes across all of the eight counties of the Buffalo Diocese.
Bishop Richard J. Malone’s reversal on Tuesday of a longstanding policy in which it kept secret the identities of clergy accused of sexual misconduct with minors failed to mollify victims and their advocates.
They said the list of 42 was incomplete and lacked the kind of full transparency that would help victims heal and find justice.
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