Syracuse Bishop Forced to Clarify Comments

WGRZ
September 14, 2015

http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/2015/09/14/syracuse-bishop-forced--clarify-comments/72288684/

Bishop Cunningham

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Catholic Bishop with ties to Western New York is clarifying comments he made in a 2011 deposition involving a sexual abuse case.

Bishop Robert Cunningham currently leads the Diocese of Syracuse and is a former pastor, Chancellor and Administrator in Buffalo.

Bishop Cunningham testified in a 2011 deposition as a part of a federal lawsuit against the Syracuse diocese, filled by a man who said he was sexually abused as a child by a Syracuse priest.

The report on Syracuse.Com states that in the deposition, Cunningham said that victims of child-molesting priests are partly to blame for their own abuse.

Following the report by Syracuse.Com, Cunningham wrote a letter saying that the victims of secual abuse are never at fault.

A national victims' advocate group responded today by calling for New York Cardinal Tim Dolan to denounce Cunningham and his predecessor, Bishop James Moynihan, for blaming victims of pedophile priests.

You can read the full report here and Bishop Cunningham's response letter here.