{"id":4868,"date":"2021-07-20T23:43:08","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T03:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2021-08-05T13:10:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T17:10:31","slug":"clericalism-in-diocese-of-buffalo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/?p=4868","title":{"rendered":"A portrait of clericalism in the Diocese of Buffalo"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
Photo: Video screenshot of retired Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz still serving in active ministry in November, 2020 at a Confirmation in the Diocese of Buffalo\u2014despite allegations by clergy sexual abuse survivors of his abuse of power in handling their reports.<\/em><\/pre>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
On the one hand, Buffalo\u2019s Bishop Michael Fisher acts<\/a> on the recent Child Victims Act lawsuit<\/a> that alleges Bishop Edward Grosz sexually abused a minor. [He allowed the retired auxiliary bishop to excuse himsel<\/a>f from active ministry]. Yet on the other hand, he continues to do nothing about the credible allegation <\/a>that this same auxiliary bishop threatened a seminarian to keep him from reporting sex abuse suffered at the hands of a priest. The Buffalo Diocese STILL hasn\u2019t opened an investigation into that allegation made by the victim in 2019 (which I have corroborated<\/a> for the diocese).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Abuse is abuse, right? Let\u2019s revisit whistleblower Siobhan O\u2019Connor\u2019s detailed concerns with Bishop Grosz<\/a> to find out why one case gets attention and another equally deserving case does not. Here\u2019s an excerpt from the former bishop administrative assistant\u2019s blog post:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In recent days [September 2019], Father Ryszard has shared the unbelievable story<\/a> of how Bishop Grosz harassed, threatened, bullied and silenced<\/a> him regarding Father Ryszard\u2019s abuse by Father Art Smith. Bishop Grosz\u2019s actions seem criminal and are certainly morally reprehensible. What he did to Father Ryszard is unthinkably cruel and calculating.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It is important to remember that Father Art Smith is one of Bishop Grosz\u2019 classmates. It has been well known for years \u2013 especially among the priests \u2013 that Bishop Grosz covers for and protects his classmates and other select priests. These select priests are usually Polish Americans since Grosz is Polish American well. Yet Bishop Grosz does not protect an actually Polish seminarian who has been abused!!<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Of the 15 members of Bishop Grosz\u2019s 1971 seminary class, [photo highlighted below] 5 of them have been publicly accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. Leising and Riter were reinstated, Maryanski was kept safe for decades, Nogaro was recently named in a CVA suit and thus suspended, and Father Art Smith was given a $1,300 a month condo for years (on the diocese\u2019s dime) along with a host of other very special treatments.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Thus Siobhan O\u2019Connor offers a clue as to why one abuse allegation is excused while another gets response:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Clericalism- <\/strong>a form of elitism. A sense of belonging to a separate class of persons marked by privilege, deference and power.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Please read her entire September, 2019 article here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Bishop Fisher and his predecessors clearly protect their brethren in arenas where the arm of civil justice has not reached\u2014just as Bishop Grosz practiced. Only when forced by civil litigation do they release their protective grip on brethren culprits.Fast forward to November, 2020, a couple weeks after that Confirmation photographed above…the New York State Attorney General acted where bishops refused and included Bishop Grosz in a lawsuit<\/a> for failing to protect victims and mishandling clergy sexual abuse allegations. Still Bishop Grosz enjoyed some \u201climited ministry\u201d in the diocese, according to Bishop Fisher\u2014until the CVA lawsuit kicked in a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Bishop Grosz denies all allegations brought against him\u2014even to Fr. Ryszard Biernat\u2019s face in front of Bishop Malone.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Clericalism- a form of elitism. A sense of belonging to a separate class of persons marked by privilege, deference and power. Bishop Michael Fisher continues to do nothing about the credible allegation that this auxiliary bishop threatened a seminarian to keep him from reporting sex abuse suffered at the hands of a priest. There’s been NO investigation into that allegation made by the victim back in 2019. Want to know why? Keep reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7295316,"featured_media":4867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Clericalism is a governing principle bishops use to determine if and when a fellow bishop or priest needs to be held accountable.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[691052677],"tags":[677318960,691052667,123451347,2878280,691052686,687837787],"class_list":["post-4868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disturbing-actions-of-the-bishop-of-buffalo","tag-bishop-edward-grosz","tag-bishop-michael-fisher","tag-catholic-diocese-of-buffalo","tag-clergy-sexual-abuse","tag-clericalism","tag-fr-ryszard-biernat","without-featured-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb24kG-1gw","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/laydob.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_4324.jpg?fit=864%2C328&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7295316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4974,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions\/4974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laydob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}