Buffalo Catholic Diocese

The Vatican has ordered an investigation of a sexual abuse allegation against a Brooklyn bishop who was previously named by Pope Francis to investigate the church's response to clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo.

The Director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has stepped down after just over a year in the role.

Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger will serve as interim administrator for the troubled Buffalo Diocese after embattled Bishop Richard Malone’s resignation. Scharfenberger returned from Buffalo Thursday afternoon. The bishop will be making the commute regularly.

Nazareth College history professor Timothy Thibodeau, who studies the Catholic Church, says it is hard to know what long-term effects the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone will have on the Buffalo Catholic Diocese. Thibodeau says some Catholics will leave the church in disgust over Malone’s alleged cover-up of sexual misconduct by priests, but others will wait to see who replaces Malone and what reforms are put in place.

The Movement to Restore Trust was one of the last to call for Bishop Richard Malone's resignation, as it instead worked to implement reforms in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese over the past year. With Wednesday's acceptance of Malone's "early retirement" by the Vatican, the local laity's response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis is heralding "a new day."

The Diocese of Buffalo has announced the sale of the former Niagara Catholic High School. Niagara Catholic, located at 540 66th Street in Niagara Falls, was the only Catholic high school in Niagara County until its closure in August 2018.

The Buffalo Catholic Diocese has created "a new protocol for dealing with credible allegations of sexual abuse against adults by bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay ministers and seminarians." In a video message Tuesday, Bishop Richard Malone outlined the "Adult Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures," alongside an updated "Code of Pastoral Conduct for Clergy," which are both effective immediately.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office has confirmed it has opened a criminal investigation based on allegations made by a former seminarian in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese.

The prominent lawyer leading a sex abuse case against a dead priest is continuing his efforts to get the name of the alleged abuser taken off a Buffalo Catholic Diocese parish hall.

A small group of church whistleblowers held a demonstration in front of Bishop Richard Malone's residence Sunday to call attention to what they call the "sickly dysfunctional environment" at the Buffalo Catholic Diocese's Christ the King Seminary.

Two more priests have been put on administrative leave. The move comes after the priests were publicly named in sexual abuse lawsuits filed Wednesday, the first day of the one-year Child Victims Act window.

Three Catholic priests who were placed on leave after making inappropriate remarks during a party with seminarians in April are being reinstated.

The Buffalo Catholic Diocese has appointed a new Controller and three new lay members to its Finance Council. Bishop Richard Malone said the appointments are a "positive" result of the Movement to Restore Trust asserting financial transparency by the diocese, as well as the laity’s rightful role in the church.

About 200 people came out for the first listening session of area Catholics held by Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone. The sessions came about through the recommendation of the Movement to Restore Trust for the diocese to be more transparent and responsive to parishioners' needs.

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and the Movement to Restore Trust have formed a Joint Implementation Team, facilitated by Leadership Roundtable, to address the clergy sex abuse scandal. Among the first orders of business was to agree to changes in how the diocese handles abuse cases.

The Diocese of Buffalo, its Review Board and Bishop Richard Malone have determined the immediate fates of three priests accused of sexual abuse.

After three months of work by hundreds of Catholic lay volunteers, the Movement to Restore Trust has presented its recommendations to Bishop Richard Malone.

Abortion opponents who run the St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center were networking and raising money Tuesday night at Cheektowaga's Millennium Hotel with New York State's new Reproductive Health Act, signed into law in January, inspiring pro-life advocates.