BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

August 15, 2018

By Dan Herbeck

A Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse involving more than 300 priests in that state criticized Buffalo’s Catholic Diocese for its handling of allegations against the Rev. Michael R. Freeman, a former Buffalo priest.

Freeman was moved from Buffalo churches to parishes in Pennsylvania even after the Buffalo Diocese learned in 1981 that he had been involved in “criminal behavior” and “admitted inappropriate sexual behavior” with young men and children during five assignments in the Buffalo area, according to the report issued by Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general.

Shapiro said investigators found no records that church leaders in Buffalo or Pennsylvania ever alerted law enforcement to Freeman’s admissions of “sexually violating children.”

“The Buffalo Diocese continued to permit Freeman to serve in active ministry until March 1989 and continued to provide financial aid to Freeman until July…