Robert Kapal spent nearly 40 years trying not to remember a Buffalo Diocese priest he says abused him as a child.

But when a reporter showed up at his door four years ago with diocese documents naming the priest, the 46-year-old firefighter burst into tears.

“I haven’t heard that name in a long time,” Kapal said, before recalling details of sexual abuse he said he endured at St. Christopher Catholic Church in the Town of Tonawanda in 1980. 

That was four years ago, and it might have been financially beneficial for Kapal to come forward. New York’s Child Victims Act was about to become law, opening a “look-back window” for survivors of sexual abuse to sue abusers and the institutions responsible for their abuse. But emotionally, Kapal wasn’t ready.

“I wanted to forget about this and just move on with my life, and I couldn’t,” Kapal said.

Legally, Kapal has…