As the calls for his resignation continue, Bishop Richard Malone hit the airwaves this afternoon to say he is not stepping down.
Bishop Malone appeared on Bauerle and Bellavia on WBEN this afternoon, taking questions from listeners with a wide array of opinions on his handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis since he was installed back in 2012.
Others point to more recent developments including the sexual harassment case against Father Jeff Nowak from a former seminarian, and his involvement with Bishop Malone’s former priest secretary.
Bishop Malone also spoke again about the audio recordings released this week of him and other key staff members, calling it a breach of confidentiality.
Bishop Malone reiterated at a Wednesday press conference he was not resigning, and has no plan at this time to petition the Vatican or Pope to do so, even as the area’s Catholic universities start to distance themselves from him.
Yesterday, the Movement to Restore Trust, a 200 member laity group formed last year to work with Malone on several church reforms, came out against the bishop.
Leaders there are now calling for Bishop Malone to resign as they say progress can no longer be made with him at the helm.
Bishop Malone said he still wants to be a part of the solution and felt very disappointed by the group’s decision.
“I felt that I had deeply committed myself to working with them and helping to work our way out of it,” Malone said. “To improve our outreach to victims and victim survivors, to enhance the leadership staffs with more lay women and lay men, a lot of things I committed to—and by the way even apart from the movement to restore trust many of those things I intend to keep working on—but I was disappointed. “
Malone said despite all these calls for his to step aside, he still has the support of a majority of Catholics, his clerical colleagues as well as those in Christ the King seminary and once again plans to ride this crisis to the end.
However, he is canceling personal appearances including tonight’s Catholic Charities event.