A major shakeup atop the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo could happen this week. A highly-placed source says Bishop Richard Malone plans to take an early retirement, which could be announced as soon as Wednesday. This comes after nearly two years of pressure to step down amid the clergy sex abuse scandal within the diocese, and several weeks after Bishop Malone visited with Pope Francis in Rome.
James Faluszczak has been an outspoken critic of Bishop Malone's handling of sexual abuse claims against priests within the diocese.
"Even 18 months ago, I thought, 'Wow, I don't know how he's going to be able to hold on,'" Faluszczak said.
He himself is a victim of abuse, a former priest, and now an advocate for survivors. He says according to canon law of the Church, there are only a couple of reasons a bishop would step down early, before the typical retirement age of 75. Bishop Malone is 73.
"One would be for health reasons, and the other would be for significant scandal," he said.
Faluszczak says a detailed explanation from the Vatican or the diocese about the reasons behind the retirement likely won't be given.
A high-ranking source tells Spectrum News Bishop Malone's decision is not a result of the review recently conducted by the Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn into Bishop Malone's handling of the sex abuse crisis, with more than 100 priests accused.
"Part of the frustration for victims and advocates and I think just ordinary Catholic faithful is that we never find out the results of these internal investigations. It's exceptionally rare that we would," Faluszczak said.
Vatican expert Rocco Palmo reports the bishop of Albany, Edward Scharfenberger, will take over the Buffalo Diocese temporarily until a permanent bishop is installed. Faluszczak has questions about Bishop Scharfenberger and accusations his predecessor Howard Hubbard tried to cover up abuse of a child decades ago. Still, he believes Bishop Scharfenberger is more transparent than what Bishop Malone has been about abuse cases.
"He's going to take very seriously this report, this internal investigation that I doubt we're going to ever see, but he'll use that as a starting point I would expect for determining the needs of the diocese for its next permanent bishop," he said.
Faluszczak says Bishop Malone's retirement would be an important moment for survivors who've had the courage to come forward.
However, he believes more accountability for the decades of abuse in the diocese could come from ongoing investigations by the FBI and the New York state attorney general.
"We really have to step up what the government is doing to hold the Church's feet to the fire I think in these matters,” said Faluszczak.
Spectrum News asked a diocese spokesperson about Bishop Malone's potential retirement, or if he's even currently in Buffalo, and was told, "The diocese has no comment at this time."
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