BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News 1 [Buffalo, NY]
July 15, 2026
By Spectrum News Staff
The Diocese of Buffalo is providing new details about a priest who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges.
Last week, federal agents arrested Fr. Jeffrey Nowak, 46, of Lackawanna, after they seized multiple devices inside his home that contained sexually explicit videos and pictures of children.
In 2019, the diocese said it received numerous complaints regarding Nowak, claiming he was inappropriate with adults. Then-Bishop Richard Malone suspended Nowak that year and required him to get counseling, which the diocese says he never did.
In 2021, now-Bishop Michael Fisher told Nowak he would not consider reappointing him to active ministry. The diocese claims that no allegations they received mentioned Nowak was involved children, and therefore the diocese had no grounds to petition the Vatican to remove Nowak from the clerical state against his will.
The diocese says that, as required by canon law, some level of financial support must be supplied to priests, even if they have been removed from active ministry. Therefore, the diocese says Nowak was provided a “modest monthly stipend.”
“In light of the abhorrent criminal conduct recently alleged by federal investigators, the Diocese is no longer providing any financial support to Rev. Nowak, who remains incarcerated pending his trial,” the diocese said in a statement. “Moreover, Bishop Fisher has now instructed the Diocese’s Judicial Vicar to gather the necessary documentation based on these latest allegations to petition the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to dismiss Jeffrey Nowak from the clerical state.”
Nowak told agents last week that he accessed several online sites to view child sex abuse material. He faces up to 20 years in prison.