Banner photo: Bishop Richard Malone concelebrates Mass with Father Ryszard Biernat in 2017 at an altar engraved with a memorial sentiment to “mercy.”
Arrested for possession of material depicting the sexual abuse of children, Father Jeffrey Nowak would likely still be an active priest today in the Diocese of Buffalo had it not been for Father Ryszard Biernat being “deeply disturbed” about his behavior–just like the fellow servants were in Jesus’ parable.
In yesterday’s Gospel (Matthew 18: 21-35), Jesus tells the parable about a king who magnanimously forgives a large debt a servant owes him. Part Two of the parable shockingly reveals the same exonerated servant putting a fellow servant in prison for not paying a smaller debt owed to him. Oh, wait. There isn’t a Part Two to this parable until the whistleblowers (fellow servants) inform the king. Otherwise the king (and we readers today) wouldn’t even know about the cruelty of this man which the fellow servants were in a unique position to witness. These fellow servants, according to Jesus’s own sacred words, informed the king because they were “deeply disturbed” by their fellow servant’s actions.
Now, when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. Matt 18:31
Clearly, they acted upon their moral conscience. Jesus doesn’t say this because it is self-evident. That action lead to the king countering his mercy with justice upon the wicked servant–a man who knew exactly what he was doing given the terror he himself experienced facing the king who wanted to extract the debt owed to him.
Many self-evident points in this parable completely hinge on the good faith efforts of the whistleblowers. Since the day Jesus spoke this parable, every person who has ever heard it has presumed the whistleblowing was morally important to save a particular man (and perhaps others) from the cruelty of this wicked servant who also needed to be held accountable. This presumption is so imbedded in the parable, we aren’t consciously aware of it.
Here’s another presumption in Jesus’ tale. The fellow servants could trust the king enough to know he wouldn’t punish them for relaying what they had witnessed. Not just the servants, but all of us hearing this tale have a reasonable expectation that the king would justly deal with the wicked servant for his cruelty (in this case, lack of mercy). The thought that these whistleblowers would loose their job, or be written up with a legal document ruining their reputation or face some other form of retaliation never crosses anyone’s mind, even today. And for heaven’s sake, no one would tap the breaks on this narrative to impugn the whistleblowers for “judging” their fellow servant.
In the Diocese of Buffalo, all of us should be able to operate under the presumption that in this corner of the Roman Catholic Church, whistleblowers, acting in good faith, should feel free to come forward to diocesan officials with information that “deeply disturbs” them concerning behaviors of clerics (including bishops), members of religious orders, seminarians or employees. As with the king and his servants in Jesus’ parable, there should be mutual trust among them. No one should fear retaliation.
Sadly, this is not the case in our diocese. If you are not aware of whistleblowers Siobhan O’Connor (former Bishop Richard Malone’s executive assistant) and Father Ryszard Biernat (former diocesan vice chancellor), please read my free e-book with audio.
Father Biernat’s case is particularly alarming because the very priest he reported to Bishop Malone in 2019, was recently arrested for possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material. That priest, Jeffrey Nowak, was only removed from ministry back in 2019 after Father Biernat blew the whistle to local media about the bishop’s obstinate refusal to act on credible allegations of Nowak’s sexual harassment and violation of the seal of the confession. There were also vague allegations of Nowak in connection with two school boys in a bathroom at St. John Vianney School. Father Biernat has stated that other members of the bishop’s executive team also counseled Bishop Malone to remove Nowak from ministry, but the bishop’s obstinance persisted.
In a last-ditch effort to force the bishop’s hand, Father Biernat publicly disclosed secret audio recordings of Bishop Malone admitting he had grave concerns with Nowak (at one point calling him a “sick puppy”). Finally, Nowak was removed from ministry. But so was Father Biernat. The same bishop who slow-rolled removing/ investigating Nowak for months on end, found the energy to hammer a canonical penalty on Father Biernat for disclosing confidential matters of the diocesan curia (namely, the secret recordings). On the eve of the bishop’s self-imposed early retirement– December 3, 2019– he revoked Father Biernat’s faculties for preaching and celebrating sacraments and banned him from public celebration of Mass. That Penalty (supported by two successor bishops) is still in place. You can read it here:
During that same month that Bishop Malone retaliated against Father Biernat, an email address linked to Nowak with the handle, pigboybuffalo, was identified as an address that accessed a New Zealand cloud-based digital storage and file-hosting website/application, which contained photos and videos files of sexually exploited children, according to the report of the U.S. Attorney’s Office/ Western District of New York. It wasn’t until July, 2026 that the FBI could substantiate its case and arrest him. In the intervening years, Nowak apparently spent his days (supported with a diocesan stipend) completely unsupervised viewing and sharing pictures and video of sexually exploited children, among other wicked acts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office report.
Some of the vile material found in the FBI search dated to his days as not just a priest but a pastor. He would likely still be an active priest today had it not been for Father Biernat being “deeply disturbed” about Nowak’s behavior–just like the fellow servants were in Jesus’ parable. Thank God he acted upon it.
Holy Mother of God.
Father Biernat is still a Roman Catholic priest, but because of the “Penalty” imposed and supported by three bishops (including Bishop Michael Fisher), he is, in effect, mothballed as a priest. He lives a peaceful life working full time in Buffalo in a managerial position for a fine company and attending to his honey bees in his free time. Bees live and work in harmony with one another, he says. He long ago forgave the priest who sexually molested him as a seminarian. He forgave the bishop who threatened him to keep him from reporting the sexual assault to civil authorities. He forgave the bishops and diocesan executives who covered up the crime for 16 years while they left in ministry the priest who sexually assaulted him. He forgave the priests who ridiculed him to his face and called his whistleblowing “evil.” He forgave the bishops who have pulled him from priestly ministry and have kept him mothballed since 2019 because he blew the whistle on sexual predator, Father Jeffrey Nowak. If all he went through was the price to be paid to get Jeff Nowak out of ministry, it was worth it, he recently said. THAT is the magnanimous forgiveness and mercy that Jesus tried to convey through his parable.
The laity in the Diocese of Buffalo, for the most part, do not know or care about Father Biernat’s situation. However, pockets of laity have coalesced around one particular issue in the diocese that concerns them–church buildings. Many of these buildings have been tagged for liquidation by a bishop who sees their worship sites as a source of cash for the diocese’s settlement with clergy sexual abuse survivors. These laity throughout the diocese have expended enormous time, resources and legal expertise to keep these buildings open. In some cases, they have achieved successes with their appeals to the Vatican in saving a few church buildings.
Yesterday, in those saved churches throughout the diocese and in the churches in peril of liquidation and in churches marked to remain open, this Gospel from Matthew was read. And it was read by a cleric who had faculties from the bishop to not only read this Gospel, but to preach to us about its theme: forgiveness. Right?
Photo: Father Ryszard Biernat invited Siobhan O’Connor to enjoy an afternoon beekeeping with him at one of his apiaries in Western New York.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35
