WIVB News 4 recently interviewed Fr. Ryszard Biernat regarding Fr. Biernat’s call for the removal of Diocese of Buffalo Auxiliary Bishop, Edward Grosz. Fr. Biernat was joined by his attorney, Barry Covert, for the interview with WIVB.
The Diocese of Buffalo has been the focus of extensive media coverage over the past year for its handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations. Fr. Biernat has been featured in local and national media recently as a second whistleblower from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. Prior to taking a personal leave of absence in August, Fr. Ryszard Biernat served as Bishop Richard Malone’s secretary and diocesan vice chancellor for the Diocese of Buffalo.
As detailed in a previous post, Fr. Biernat was concerned about Bishop Richard Malone’s handling of allegations of misconduct against a priest within the Diocese of Buffalo. This concern prompted Fr. Biernat to record Bishop Malone to expose how the Diocese of Buffalo was handling the allegations of misconduct.
WIVB’s recent report includes details of Fr. Biernat’s concerns about Bishop Malone and the subsequent recordings of meetings with Bishop Malone. However, the focus of WIVB’s report and recent interview with Fr. Biernat pertains to concerns regarding another high ranking official in the Diocese of Buffalo, Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz.
In his interview with WIVB, Fr. Biernat recounts an incident in 2004 when he was a seminarian in the Diocese of Buffalo. At that time, Fr. Biernat filed a sexual abuse complaint against another priest in the Diocese of Buffalo and addressed the matter with Edward Grosz. As WIVB reports, Fr. Biernat recounts Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz telling him in 2004 that he needed to keep quiet about the incident if he wanted to be ordained. Fr. Biernat was quoted as saying “It got at me, I became like a shell of a person and I think it was not only what he said but what he stood for. Not only he was not willing to hear my hurt, was not willing to listen to what happened to me, but to threaten and blackmail me?”
WIVB’s report continues by stating that Fr. Biernat has met with the FBI twice. He also plans to meet with state and local prosecutors who have reached out to him. When addressing the prosecutors’ request, attorney Barry Covert stated to WIVB “So, it certainly would imply that there’s a current investigation that they’re interested in pursuing. They have not identified to me what that is.”
You can read WIVB’s full report by clicking here. You can also watch WIVB’s report by clicking the video below.
