{"id":4057,"date":"2021-05-02T20:56:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T00:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/?p=4057"},"modified":"2023-11-12T12:49:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T17:49:25","slug":"what_the_heck_is_bishop_mike_thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/?p=4057","title":{"rendered":"What the hell is Bishop Mike thinking? Pandering to diocese’s version of “Blue Wall of Silence” won’t “renew” anything"},"content":{"rendered":"
WARNING<\/span>
\nGraphic and disturbing. Trigger alert. Discretion is advised.<\/i><\/h6>\n

Like the police who participate in the \u201cblue wall of silence,\u201d our new \u201cvicar for renewal\u201d embodies the chilling, self-protective clerical instinct for which he has been duly rewarded with this visible leadership role Bishop Mike bestowed upon him.<\/h2>\n

UPDATE<\/em><\/strong>: One of the former seminarian\/whistleblowers reported to me that none of the seminarians who contributed to the report referenced in this post remained with the diocese. “All were either forced out or chose to leave on their own.” He reports that there were at least four seminarians who reported on the incident. He acknowledged that Fathers Zielenieski and Webster’s shaming of the seminarians in the TV interview by not believing them (see video) added to their misery.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A couple years ago, we got a behind-the-scenes look\u00a0at the Diocese of Buffalo’s version of\u00a0law enforcement’s <\/span>“blue wall of silence.”<\/a><\/span> We all know what it is by now: the shameful extent too many Catholic priests are willing to plunge to protect colleagues, regardless of their misbehavior. If we pray for the conversion of officers who went out of their way to protect rogue police, we similarly pray for the conversion of our priests who shamefully went out of their way to protect their rogue brother priests. Such “protectors” are a concern. The problem is, Bishop Michael Fisher apparently does not share our views.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can say this because Bishop Mike, as he prefers to be addressed, recently gave the responsibility of\u00a0<\/span>vicar for “Renewal and Development<\/a><\/span>” to a diocesan priest who back in 2019 publicly stepped up to protect fellow priests caught in an egregious violation of their <\/span>Code of Conduct<\/a><\/span>\u00a0resulting in their eventual\u00a0<\/span>temporary leave of absence<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0Our new vicar for “Renewal and Development,” Father\u00a0Bryan Zielenieski, didn’t stop there. He also publicly refused to give any credence or consolation to the whistleblowers\/victims who dared to expose the offending priests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dumfounding that THIS is the priest Bishop Mike recently chose to lead “renewal” efforts in our diocese. This Saturday, you could ask the bishop what the hell he was thinking\u00a0during\u00a0the\u00a0virtual conversation<\/a>\u00a0online with Bishop Michael Fisher and Father Bryan Zielenieski [May 8 at 10:00am], but such a question likely won’t make it past the screening process with bishop-approved lay “leaders”<\/a>\u00a0in Buffalo running the event. So I’ll ask it here.<\/p>\n

A little background about Father Bryan’s participation in the diocese’s\u00a0“black wall of silence” that protects rogue priests<\/strong><\/p>\n

The April 2019\u00a0local television news report<\/a> of alleged conversations among diocesan priests and unsuspecting seminarians required not only a disclaimer about graphic sexual content but careful editing to pass FCC guidelines<\/a> for public broadcast of obscene, indecent and profane content. It was that bad.<\/p>\n