BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
March 18, 2018
By Jane Kwiatkowski Radlich
A nationally known recovery group for sexual abuse victims increased the pressure Sunday on the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo to release the names of all clergy involved in the growing number of sexual abuse cases in Western New York.
“Bishop Richard Malone told the media recently that he inherited a policy of secrecy regarding the names of sexually abusive clergy in the Diocese of Buffalo, yet he has done nothing to change that policy for five and a half years,” said Robert M. Hoatson, president of Road to Recovery Inc., a nonsectarian organization that works with survivors of sexual abuse.
“In the interest of full transparency, validation and the safety of children, Bishop Malone must release the names of sexually abusive clergymen in the Diocese of Buffalo and the documents surrounding each and every case,” said Hoatson. “The secrecy must end.”
The pronouncement came Sunday morning during a press conference called by Hoatson on Franklin Street, one block from St. Joseph’s Cathedral, where Malone was celebrating Mass. Hoatson was accompanied by a priest who came forward Sunday morning to identify himself publicly as the victim of sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie, Pa.
“I was molested by my priest in Erie from the time I was 16 to 19, and I ended up actually becoming a priest myself,” said James Faluszczak, 48, who lives here now and also called on Malone to release the names of priests accused of abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.