Sex abuse crisis: Buffalo whistleblower, deacon to appear on ’60 Minutes’

Last updated on: October 26, 2018 at 1:50 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

Sex abuse crisis: Buffalo whistleblower, deacon to appear on ’60 Minutes’ 2018-10-26T13:50:35-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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In the video here, you can see part of Correspondent Bill Whitaker’s interview with Deacon Paul Snyder, who concludes: “It’s hard being a saint when it’s your ass on the line. I want these cardinals and these bishops to start putting their ass on the line.”

From Crux:

As embattled Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York faces serious scrutiny of his handling of sex abuse cases, the original whistleblower in the case is set to appear in an interview with 60 Minutes.

Siobhan O’Connor, the former secretary to Malone, will speak publicly for the first time on this Sunday’s broadcast.

O’Connor has become a central figure in an investigative story chronicled by Charlie Specht of WKBW Buffalo. His reporting efforts have led Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the pope’s point man on sexual abuse, to request the Vatican to investigate Malone.

…In a statement in advance of her Sunday interview, O’Connor said “Please know that my conscience compelled me to take action regarding Bishop Malone because of my profound concern for victims, the diocese and our community. As a faithful Catholic, I could not abide by what I witnessed at the Chancery.”

CBS News adds:

Hundreds of documents O’Connor secretly copied from the confidential files of the Diocese of Buffalo offer an extraordinary window into Bishop Malone’s decisions about priests accused of abuse. The devout O’Connor professes love for her church and her bishop. But she says she left the diocese last summer after three years because the documents she discovered indicated the bishop had allowed the accused priests to continue in ministry. “The reality of what I saw left me with no other option because at the end of my life, I’m not going to answer to Bishop Malone, I am going to answer to God,” she tells Whitaker.

“I did betray [Bishop Malone], and yet I can’t apologize for that, because there was a greater good to consider,” says O’Connor.

Whitaker also interviews Deacon Paul Snyder of the Buffalo Diocese. He is the first clergyman of the diocese to call for Bishop Malone’s resignation. The information exposed by O’Connor enraged him. “[Bishop Malone] is behaving in a way that you would typically think a CEO in a corporation that’s being accused of corrupt practices might act, hiding behind attorneys,” he says. Some of the documents O’Connor found were prepared by the dioceses’ attorneys.

Since calling for Bishop Malone to step down, he has received 400 notes and emails. “They want to be part of the solution but they think this bishop is preventing that,” says Deacon Synder.

60 Minutes has learned that the Buffalo diocese is under investigation by federal authorities. Bishop Malone declined to be interviewed by 60 Minutes.

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