Clergy abuse activist calls for Bishop Scharfenberger to resign over Buffalo lawsuits

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

September 24, 2020

By Mike McAndrew

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/clergy-abuse-activist-calls-for-bishop-scharfenberger-to-resign-over-buffalo-lawsuits/article_357ea602-fe77-11ea-924a-233b2460123a.html

Clergy abuse activist and former priest Robert Hoatson on Thursday called on Bishop Edward Scharfenberger to resign as the Buffalo Diocese administrator because of revelations in a recent Buffalo News story about the number of priests sued.

Hoatson accused Scharfenberger of keeping secret information about clergy sexual abuse of children and allowing a priest accused of abuse in a lawsuit of remaining in ministry at a Buffalo church.

The News reported Tuesday that 173 Catholic priests in the diocese have been named as molesters in Child Victims Act lawsuits over the past year.

The diocese has allowed one of them, the Rev. Donald J. Lutz, to continue to run a South Buffalo parish despite being linked to abuse by a lawsuit filed on July 30, The News reported. Lutz denied abusing any children when The Buffalo News contacted him at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

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