Accountability is key to establishing Trust in the Diocese of Buffalo

This pulled quote from today’s Buffalo News front-page article by Jay Tokasz accurately quotes me. But…

Let me further smash the bubble of deference to a Catholic bishop. Most laity are unified on this point: If diocesan officials cited in the AG report covered up clergy sex abuse, they need to be relieved of duty, NOT promoted. We don’t trust them.

This is a crucial point that separates most laity in the diocese from the handful that make up the Movement to Restore Trust‘s self-appointed leadership culled from decades-entrenched lay advisors to our bishops. This group pretends to speak for all 600,000 laity in the Diocese of Buffalo. They do not. Tell them so, because nothing in their recommendations calls for accountability for diocesan officials who are alive and at work TODAY who betrayed our trust. Want to know why? Please read my posts detailing concerns with the MRT’s loss of objectivity, propensity towards enabling betrayers of our trust, and lack of recognition that accountability is a fundamental expectation of clergy who hold diocesan office.

Tokasz’s article provides excellent background information on Bishop Michael Fisher’s connection to the corrupt Washington, DC diocese. But, as Tokasz also points out, that is not necessarily a bad omen for Diocese of Buffalo as a fellow bishop from that diocese was recently assigned to take over the corrupt Wheeling-Charleston diocese, and by all accounts, is doing an excellent job of ridding that diocese of corruption and holding officials to account–including his predecessor!