BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
June 8, 2019
By Lou Michel
The woman who leaked documents on clergy sex abuse in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese attended Bishop Richard J. Malone’s first listening session with the laity Saturday.
One of about 200 Catholics in attendance at the two-hour session at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Amherst, Siobhan O’Connor said the gathering left her with a sense of concern that Catholics are divided — including whether the bishop should remain as head of the diocese.
Several prominent local Catholics and public officials have called for Malone to step down for his handling of sex abuse by clergy, but he has said he has no intention of resigning.
“I was just really taken that there is such polarization. If we are divided, we’ll be less effective as members of the church,” O’Connor said after the session.
O’Connor, who had served as the bishop’s executive assistant until she released reams of confidential documents to WKBW-TV last year, said she felt an obligation as a Catholic to attend the session and learn more about where fellow Catholics stood on church issues.
She said a tightly scripted format for the listening session did not allow that to happen.
Since she released the documents and left her job at the chancery, O’Connor said she has not spoken with the bishop.
“This is the closest I’ve been to him. I was a little more than a table away from him. I believe he saw me. I’m trying to be respectful. My presence might not have been welcome,” she said.
She noted a divide among the attendees over whether the bishop should resign or stay.
“There were people calling for the bishop to resign at my table and a handful of others,” she said.
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