New chair of diocesan board heard from Bishop Weldon victim. He says he doesn’t remember it.

PITTSFIELD (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

July 10, 2020

By Caroline White and Larry Parnass

Springfield – The Springfield Diocese said Friday that a survivor of clergy abuse will take the helm of an internal board. That survivor, a Dalton resident, was present when his board heard allegations in 2018 against Christopher J. Weldon, one of the diocese’s most prominent bishops.

But, James A. Stankiewicz says he does not remember that other survivor’s emotional presentation to the board he now will lead — and could not say why.

In two interviews Friday with The Eagle, Stankiewicz was not able to explain why he does not recall a Chicopee man’s presentation to the board about sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of Weldon and other priests in the early 1960s.

The diocese confirmed Friday that Stankiewicz attended the survivor’s meeting with the board.

“I don’t know what to say,” Stankiewicz said.

The Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski appointed Stankiewicz to lead the board this week, after its former chair, John M. Hale, stepped down after holding the post since 2018 and serving on the panel for more than a decade.

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