BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
March 17, 2020
By Jay Tokasz
Gary Astridge has spent much of his adult life cobbling together dribs and drabs of information about the Rev. Edward Townsend, the priest he says molested him multiple times in the 1960s, starting when Astridge was 7 years old.
So, when Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger first suggested in January that abuse survivors could examine Buffalo Diocese files on their alleged abusers at the chancery offices, Astridge left three messages with Scharfenberger’s office seeking an appointment.
Two months later, the City of Tonawanda resident said he has yet to receive a return call.
“To me, once again, it’s just words, empty,” said Astridge, who last August sued the diocese over the abuse. “Emotionally, it’s so disheartening, so discouraging. It’s a slap in the face.”
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