BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
October 15, 2018
It is a sign of the Catholic church’s peril that the question of who leads the Buffalo Diocese is among the least of its worries. Any organization that countenances pedophilia among its leaders is on the road to perdition. For a church to have done it is unimaginable.
Nevertheless, local leadership matters and, for the second time, a deacon has called for Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone to resign over his handling of credible accusations of sexual abuse by clergy. Malone, who has previously declared his intention to stay on, needs to heed the advice. He is a symbol of the church’s unwillingness to confront its culpability.
Following the August call of deacon and businessman Paul Snyder III for Malone to resign, another church leader this weekend added his voice, and it is an especially powerful one: Paul C. Emerson is not only a deacon at St. Joseph University Church in Buffalo, but a victim of sexual abuse by two area priests. He understands, as do Snyder and many other influential people, that Malone has lost the confidence of parishioners.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.