Bishop’s Secret List of Accused Priests Leaves Him Besieged

That seemed to be the last straw for some. On Sept. 5, a council of prominent lay people that had formed to help the diocese through the crisis, the Movement to Restore Trust, called for him to step down so the diocese could move forward.

Some Buffalo priests began circulating a letter of no-confidence, based on a similar letter circulated in Boston during its clergy abuse crisis in 2002.

An online petition calling for Bishop Malone’s resignation gathered about 12,500 signatures. On Tuesday, The Buffalo News published a poll that said 86 percent of local Catholics wanted him to leave.

The Rev. Robert Zilliox, a canon lawyer, drafted the no-confidence letter. Father Zilliox, who said he was a victim of abuse by a priest when he was 13, said he had firsthand knowledge of at least “two or three cases” where Bishop Malone had returned priests to ministry despite accusations against them, against church protocol.

“He has been picking and choosing” when to send cases to Rome as required, he said.

The diocese, he said, is now racked by division, with some parishes trying to isolate themselves from the bishop.

Even so, he said, he was having trouble getting most of the 270 or so active and retired priests in Buffalo to sign their names to the letter.

As of Wednesday, he said, only 18 priests had signed. He fretted that it would not be enough.

“We can’t put up with this for another year and a half,” he said, referring to when Bishop Malone would turn 75 and automatically be required to submit his resignation to the pope. “I am challenging my brother priests to step up.”