BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News
Published February 27, 2018; Updated March 1, 2018
By Jay Tokasz and Aaron Besecker
A retired priest from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo admitted Tuesday he had sexually abused “probably dozens” of teenage boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits made the admission after a South Buffalo man publicly accused Orsolits of abusing him when he was a teenager during a ski outing more than 35 years ago.
Michael F. Whalen, 52, said Orsolits was his parish priest at St. John Vianney in Orchard Park when the abuse occurred.
Orsolits, 78, said he did not recall Whalen. But he described other incidents of sexual contact with teenage boys to a Buffalo News reporter who visited the priest Tuesday afternoon at his cottage home in the Town of Ashford.
He told The News that he was later sent for treatment at a psychological facility in Canada, before the diocese assigned him to work at a small rural church and school. He was removed by the diocese from ministry in 2003.
During a 10-minute interview, Orsolits talked casually of having had sexual contact with teenage boys, saying it had been fueled by alcohol. He admitted to having touched teenage boys sexually and having had them touch him.
He suggested that the contact was consensual and that he was “led on” by some. He also said that he never persisted with any sexual touching if a teenage boy resisted.
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