Buffalo Diocese Whistleblower's Attorney Calls on Pope Francis to Instruct Bishop Malone to Resign

WKBW
October 30, 2018

https://www.wkbw.com/news/buffalo-diocese-whistleblower-calls-on-pope-francis-to-instruct-bishop-malone-to-resign

In a Tuesday morning news conference, the attorney for Catholic Diocese of Buffalo whistleblower Siobhan O'Connor called on Pope Francis to instruct Bishop Malone to resign.

WATCH the full news conference above.

O'Connor said, "I also want people to understand that this is truly happening, and we have to stand up and fight for the soul of our church."

O'Connor was joined by her attorney, Mitch Garabedian, and survivor advocates Bob Hoatson and Jim Faluszczak. In addition to O'Connor's private push for change in the diocese, the three men have publicly put pressure on diocesan leaders for several months.

"Her voice has given voice to the voiceless. So many victims now know even in much more stronger terms that they are not alone, that they are heard," Jim Faluszczak said of O'Connor's decision to leak documents to 7 Eyewitness News Chief Investigator Charlie Specht.

O'Connor revealed her identity publicly for the first time this past weekend, appearing both on '60 Minutes' and on 7 Eyewitness News. O'Connor had been a confidential source for Charlie Specht's ongoing investigation into the sexual abuse crisis and its cover-up in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo for months leading up to these appearances.

O'Connor obtained the documents she shared with Specht while working as a personal secretary for Bishop Malone. She chose to share the documents after seeing how the diocese responded to a wave of allegations from sexual abuse survivors.

In Tuesday's press conference she also addressed her decision to work with Charlie Specht:

I just do want to take a moment to thank Charlie. And he’s very very humble, and I know he’s not going to want me to go on and on. But I have never once doubted that I made the right choice to work with Charlie. I’m so grateful for his thoroughness, his integrity, his kindness, and just for being so tenacious about this from the beginning. I watched him from day one and I couldn’t be more grateful that I could be his source.