BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW
October 18, 2018
Bt Charlie Specht
When Father Joseph Gatto last month was added to the list of more than 100 priests in Buffalo who stand accused of sexual misconduct, many Catholics were stunned.
Gatto won praise and popularity as a dynamic priest with stirring homilies, and some thought he would someday wear a bishop’s hat. Gatto was promoted by Bishop Richard J. Malone, who named him the president and rector of Christ the King Seminary.
But others were aware of what they saw as Gatto’s darker side.
“We don’t want to think that the person that we’re vulnerable to or the person that we’re confiding in, the person that we trust with our family, is actually a predator,” said Marty Lougen, whose brush with Gatto nearly two decades ago resulted in Gatto’s recent suspension.
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