Ex-Law aide faces cover-up allegation
Cited in probe of Buffalo priest abuse
A former lieutenant of disgraced past Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law is facing accusations of covering up sexual-abuse allegations in Buffalo — and is taking shots at Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley for what he sees as an overzealous response.
Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone, who served as an auxiliary bishop in Boston from 2000 until 2004, is facing calls to resign after an investigation by a local TV station found he allowed multiple priests accused of misconduct to return to the ministry.
Malone has acknowledged “past inadequacies” in his handling of complaints, but says he will not resign. The Diocese of Buffalo did not respond to a request from the Herald for comment yesterday.
The Buffalo TV station 7 Eyewitness News took its findings to O’Malley, the current archbishop of Boston and head of Pope Francis’ Commission for the Protection of Minors. O’Malley’s spokesman, Terrence Donilon, told the TV station that O’Malley was “deeply concerned” about the allegations, which the cardinal was forwarding to the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S.
“The cardinal has referred the material to the Nuncio in Washington, D.C., for review and any determination by the appropriate church authorities,” Donilon told the Herald yesterday. “This is in step with the revised protocols established over the summer for correspondence received at the archdiocese in his capacity as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.”
O’Malley announced last month that he personally would review all allegations of sexual impropriety. That change followed criticism over O’Malley’s handling of sexual-abuse claims three years ago against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Malone was ordained as a priest in 1972 in the Boston Archdiocese, and held various archdiocesan positions before rising to the rank of auxiliary bishop overseeing the area south of the city of Boston from 2000 to 2004. The archdiocese was rocked by abuse scandals in the early 2000s, when reports of a large-scale cover-up under thenArchbishop Law became public.
The Buffalo television station aired a three-part series documenting church records that showed more than 100 priests in the diocese were accused of sexual abuse or misconduct, despite the fact Malone in March released a list of only 42 priests “who were removed from ministry, were retired, or left ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.”
Malone said the TV reports “misrepresented the truth.” Last week Malone said O’Malley “didn’t check the facts,” and that he wishes the cardinal had reached out to him to “hear our side of the story.”
The Boston Archdiocese declined again yesterday to respond to Malone’s statement.