NEW YORK
Buffalo News
April 19, 2018
It’s anyone’s guess whether it will be enough, but no one can say Bishop Richard J. Malone isn’t putting his money where his mouth is: With the announcement that the Diocese of Buffalo is putting the bishop’s mansion up for sale, it seems clear that the local Catholic Church is serious about securing the money in needs to settle claims of sexual abuse by priests.
Malone announced the plan this week after hinting at it weeks ago when, as new accusations of abuse were being made public, the church announced creation of a fund to compensate victims. No properties would be off limits, he pledged – even the bishop’s stately mansion on Oakland Place in Buffalo. Plainly, he meant it.
It’s an encouraging step in what has previously been a disastrous policy in dealing with self-created crisis that ruined thousands of lives around the world and created a grave threat for the church. That threat will continue for as long as abusive priests go unidentified and their victims suffer what can be lifelong consequences of having put their innocent trust in a priest.
What the church can do now is to get right with the victims of its abusive priests and the policies that enabled them. That includes both acknowledging the fullness of its guilt and compensating, as best as possible, those whose lives were contaminated by those priests and the church’s attempts to shield them. Malone’s announcement is a welcome step in that direction.
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