NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal
Dec. 4, 2019
By John J. Hurley
The resignation of Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo has been greeted with a mix of emotions. There is sadness, of course, at the events that have brought the venerable Diocese of Buffalo to this place: reports of clergy sex abuse long covered up by the diocese, the mishandling of current cases of abuse and misconduct by Bishop Malone and the realization that this is the first time in the 172-year history of the diocese that a bishop has been pressured to leave office.
There is unresolved anger as well, among victims whose reports of sex abuse were ignored or handled poorly and now find themselves as plaintiffs in lawsuits with a long road ahead; Catholics who have made Bishop Malone the lightning rod for everything that has happened; priests who have felt alienated from the chancery and their bishop; and Catholics who have watched parish life around them disintegrate as people have marched out the door in response to the scandal.
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.