A Boston attorney plans to sue the Catholic Church over alleged child molestation by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio – the man Pope Francis selected last month to oversee sex abuse allegations at the Buffalo Diocese.
Mitchell Garabedian notified Catholic officials in New Jersey he’s preparing a lawsuit on behalf of Mark Matzek, who alleges he was abused by DiMarzio and another priest in Jersey City when he was an altar boy at St. Nicholas Church and a student at the St. Nicholas School in the 1970s, The Associated Press reports.
“The investigation of the diocese of Buffalo by Bishop DiMarzio is tainted because of these allegations,” Garabedian told the AP. “There needs to be a truly neutral investigator to determine whether Bishop Malone should resign.”
Garabedian said police, not Catholic officials, must investigate the situation in Buffalo, where Bishop Richard Malone faces “a true crisis situation” involving a seminarian, Rev. Jeffrey Nowak, pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Cheektowaga, and Malone’s secretary.
Nowak allegedly violated confessional of the seminarian to pursue a romantic relationship with the man, then launched a smear campaign against him when the seminarian rejected the pastor’s advances. Nowak also alleged a romantic relationship between the seminarian and Malone’s secretary as part of the harassment campaign, though the two claim they’re only friends. – READ MORE