BUFFALO (NY)
The Spectrum
December 6, 2018
Monsignor Patrick Keleher of UB’s Newman Center does not want Catholic students to lose faith, despite the reemergence of a 17-year sexual abuse scandal that has again rocked the Catholic Church.
He’s been in the church for half a century and knows worshippers in the Buffalo Diocese, which has in the past year been consumed with a new string of abuse accusations and calls by prominent Catholics for Bishop Richard Malone to resign. He knows Catholics worldwide are undergoing a crisis of faith.
But Keleher believes the 2,000-year-old Catholic Church will find its strength again.
“We pray that the church can change,” said Keleher, the director of the Newman Center, which has served Catholic students since 1936. “We need change and we’ve had too much secrecy, too much clericalism, all of the things we hear about all the time.”
UB’s Catholic community wants to bring believers together to help them maintain their faith and discuss how the church can change moving forward so such acts won’t happen again, local religious leaders told The Spectrum. Community churches like the Newman Center and the St. Joseph University Parish near South Campus are coming to terms with the abuse scandal through forums and discussions, as priests are opening their doors and listening to students’ and community members’ concerns.
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