Christ the King Seminary and Sexual Misconduct: What’s the Best Path Forward?

November 14, 2019

Christ the King Seminary and Sexual Misconduct: What’s the Best Path Forward?

BUFFALO (NY)
National Catholic Register
Nov. 13, 2019
By Peter Jesserer Smith
“How’d he get through?”
Huddled with his priest-secretary, vicar general and vicar for priests, Bishop Richard Malone repeated the question raised in the room: How did the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, end up with a priest whom they believed had not only aggressively pursued a seminarian for an inappropriate relationship and sought revenge when spurned, but had the ability to do an enormous amount of damage due to the blackmail he held over other priests?
As detailed in Part 1 of this report, Father Jeff Nowak, a graduate of Christ the King Seminary, faces allegations of sexually pursuing a seminarian, violating the seal of the confession, hearing invalid confessions via FaceTime and working with two other priests who came out of that seminary to emotionally blackmail and then slander in revenge his target after refusing his advances. That seminarian, Matthew Bojanowksi, quit in August, citing Bishop Malone’s failures to protect his seminary career and reputation.
But secret audio recordings taken in March by Father Ryszard Biernat, Bishop Malone’s former priest-secretary, reveal that the group is concerned about the seminary’s image if Father Nowak’s actions get out and that homosexual persons collectively would be unfairly blamed.