A deacon at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Swormville, N.Y., for 15 years, Paul Snyder felt “complete shock” one night earlier this year when he learned from a local newscast that his longtime pastor was the subject of sexual harassment allegations made by three young adults.
The pastor, Rev. Robert Yetter, had been accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward at least two young men who had reached out to him for counsel and support.
A series of investigations by Buffalo television station WKBW showed that Bishop Richard Malone and other diocesan officials knew about the complaints but decided to allow the priest to retire without making the allegations public. For his part, Father Yetter had implied in an email that the diocese’s fundraising efforts would be harmed if the allegations were made public.
Mr. Snyder, a local businessman who formerly served on the boards of the local Catholic Charities agency and Christ the King Seminary, said his parish community had been told that Father Yetter had chosen to retire, with no mention that the priest had been accused of misconduct.
“That was one of the lies the diocese told our congregation,” Mr. Snyder told America in a recent interview.
The deacon said that when he tried to talk about the situation with Bishop Malone, he was told the bishop would not meet with him nor would he make time to visit the parish.
Deacon Paul Snyder will tell his story on “60 Minutes” this Sunday.
“How could he in good conscience not come to our aid?” Mr. Snyder recalled thinking, as confused and angry parishioners demanded answers.
Mr. Snyder will tell his story on “60 Minutes” this Sunday. The segment will also feature Siobahn O’Connor, a former assistant to Bishop Malone who is described as a whistle-blower. Ms. O’Connor provided copies of internal documents to local media that showed the diocese did not release a full list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse against children after it said it had and that the diocese knew of complaints from adults against Father Yetter and another priest.
“The reality of what I saw left me with no other option, because at the end of my life, I’m not going to answer to Bishop Malone, I am going to answer to God,” Ms. O’Connor tells “60 Minutes,” according to a press release from CBS. “I did betray [Bishop Malone], and yet I can’t apologize for that, because there was a greater good to consider,” she adds.
In a statement to 60 Minutes, a copy of which was provided to America by the diocese, Bishop Malone said that the diocese plans to extend to adults its protections for children, has launched a compensation program for victims, hired a former F.B.I. agent to monitor how the diocese handles abuse allegations and is cooperating with law enforcement.
Bishop Malone has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he has never mishandled a case involving minors.
Bishop Malone has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he has never mishandled a case involving minors—but he acknowledges that he has made mistakes in cases involving adults.
“People need to see, I have apologized for the mistakes I have made in how we handle allegations of clergy being involved with misconduct with an adult,” Bishop Malone said in an interview on Oct. 25 with WIVB in Buffalo.
He added that he has “never ever knowingly or intentionally left a priest in ministry who I knew has abused a child, or moved him from one assignment to another. Never.”
Mr. Snyder says the bishop is splitting hairs.
Bishop Malone acknowledges that he has made mistakes in cases involving adults.
Though the alleged victims of Father Yetter’s advances were not minors when the abuse is alleged to have taken place, in at least one instance the priest knew the accuser when he was a minor.
“To be a self-sacrificing, servant leader, wouldn’t you offer your resignation to show people how hurt you are about your own actions?” Mr. Snyder asked.
In one instance, Father Yetter was accused of placing his hand on the thigh of a 25-year-old, whom the priest had brought to dinner and a movie, and leaving it there for around 30 seconds. The alleged victim complained to the diocese in 2017.
In a second instance, which allegedly occurred in 2007, Father Yetter was accused of serving wine to a 19-year-old during dinner at the church rectory and then kissing him and touching his genital area. Father Yetter admitted to the behavior when questioned by diocesan officials in 2017.
A third man, as reported earlier this month by WKBW, alleges that Father Yetter began grooming him while he was in grade school. When the young man was in college, the report says, the priest invited him for a drink in the rectory and approached him with his pants down.
Because these allegations involve only adults, the diocese said they were not required to report the priest’s behavior to authorities.
Because these allegations involve only adults, the diocese said they were not required to report the priest’s behavior to authorities.
Earlier this month, Mr. Snyder sent a letter explaining the situation in Buffalo to Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the pope’s ambassador to the United States. Mr.Snyder included nearly 100 letters from Catholics in the diocese who expressed their anger and pain over the situation. Many of them included calls for Bishop Malone to resign.
Mr. Snyder received a letter from the Archbishop Pierre, who thanked him for forwarding the information.
“I can assure you that, even before I received your letter, events within the Diocese of Buffalo has not escaped my attention,” Archbishop Pierre wrote.
Archbishop Pierre may have been referring to news earlier this month that Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston who chairs the Vatican’s sex abuse commission, had forwarded materials about the Diocese of Buffalo to the nunciature in Washington.
Mr. Snyder decided to go public about his wishes for Bishop Malone to step aside earlier this summer, releasing a copy of an Aug. 23 letter he sent the bishop.
“We expect that those who fail in their leadership duties will accept responsibility and allow new leadership to emerge,” Mr. Snyder wrote in the letter. “It is time for you to accept responsibility for your negligence, ask our community for forgiveness and allow a new Bishop to begin the long and painful process of healing.”
Home to more than a half-million Catholics, the Diocese of Buffalo is facing an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office. The United States Justice Department is investigating other Catholic dioceses, and on Friday the Catholic blog Whispers in the Loggia reported that federal law enforcement authorities has sent a letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops directing all U.S. dioceses to keep historical records intact.
Deacon Snyder says the institution’s credibility is at stake.
Earlier this week, the U.S.C.C.B. announced that U.S. bishops will gather in Chicago in January for a week-long retreat to reflect on the sex abuse crisis. The following month, heads of bishops conferences from around the world will gather in Rome to meet with Pope Francis about the ongoing crisis.
As for Mr. Snyder, he said he remains committed to the church, but he says the institution’s credibility is at stake.
“I’m not telling people to leave the faith,” he said. But he added, “We must set an example as an institution because if we don’t fix ourselves, we lose the moral authority to turn to others and say, ‘you must change,’ whether it’s about corporate greed, indifference to the poor, all the important social justice issues.”
“We lose our moral voice when those tasked to lead fail,” he said, “and that hurts the mission of the church. It hurts the people.”
He said that what happens in Buffalo is a test case for how serious bishops are about ending the cover-up of abuse. Anything short of Bishop Malone’s resignation, he said, will show that they have failed to grasp the gravity of the problem.
“You have evidence of a cover up,” he said. “You have a bishop who admitted his own failures, but who has not done anything about them. And you have people coming forward and saying, ‘We’re in crisis and we need help.’”
As any concrete mason knows, before a driveway, street, or footing can be installed, a good base must be found or prepared. An appropriate metaphor for what needs to happen in our wounded church.
Just curious...in writing this article, if Rev. Robert Yetter is referred to later as Father Yetter, why was Paul Snyder continually identified as Mr. Snyder when quoted and not Deacon Snyder or Dc. Snyder? Surely the title of his ordained ministry is worthy of use. The only use of Deacon Snyder was in the "tweet" suggested "Deacon Snyder says the institution's credibility is at stake". That wording is different from the title used in the actual article "As for Mr. Snyder, he said he remains committed to the church, but he says the institution’s credibility is at stake."
Excellent point, Mr. Thomas. Perhaps the Jesuits are not yet ready to accept deacons? By the way, America Media, I am "Deacon" Thomas E. Brandlin, M.N.A.
OK, I give up! 36 different meanings on the internet and not one recognisable as something to do with church or ministry.
WHAT DOES MNA STAND FOR?
Master of Non-Profit Administration
Correct, Ms. Chapman! Or, when you get to know me it could mean, "Mean and Nasty Administrator." I'll leave it to the reader to decide which meaning s/he prefers.
Though obviously not apparent in my opinion, as a married woman, I technically prefer the title Mrs. Thomas.
Yes, of course. I'm glad you prefer Mrs. Thomas.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
When McCarrick Wuerl Tobin Bukowski and francis were accused they stayed silent and hired lawyers and PR firms and francis blamed satan and held tight to their pensions and health benefits.
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
When McCarrick Wuerl Tobin Bukowski and francis were accused they stayed silent and hired lawyers and PR firms and francis blamed satan and held tight to their pensions and health benefits.
Was Judas really that bad....as opposed to francis wuerl cupich...
I think Deacon Snyder's summed it up nicely. The Church as an institution loses its moral credibility when leaders involved in sexual acting out do not face real consequences. We cannot be a teaching church if our leaders teach one thing and live another thing entirely. I don't necessarily believe that our leaders' failures have to be aired on TV. However, it is only through this kind of publicity that the bishops have been forced to acknowledge that something is wrong and it has to be righted. Thank you Deacon Synder!
I agree with all these comments and yes it comes back to Creditability of our Bishops. I had lost faith in them long before the sexual scandal. The American Conference of Bishops need to show true rependence. A week’s retreat of prayer is not going to cut it. They need to get out, roll up their sleeves, and work with the poor, the homeless, the Immigrants at the border, the sick who don’t have health care, only then can they restore Creditability.
Great ideas !
All those " good works" alone won't make the Bishops believers!
Didn't you guys post article, after article after article on this? A live web talk. All kinds of stuff ad nauseam? And now this stuff just happens. Again. Did you ever hear the saying, "same shit, different day?" Well it's same shit different day in the good 'ole catholic church.
Now America Media is going to pat itself on the back for promoting Deacon Snyder's courageous and laudable actions.
Where was America Media 20 +/- years ago when Fr. Thomas Doyle, O.P. tried to blow the whistle to the bishops on the pedophilia problem and he was forced to leave the country after being harrassed? You were nowhere because you were busily covering for the bishops. Ten or so years ago when one of your editors deliberately obfuscated my inquiry to America Magazine I had to engage my attorney to straighten that out. I have a Declaration of Factual Innocence and lodged a successful recourse in the Congregation for the Clergy against a Cardinal Archbishop and you wouldn't even give me the professional courtesy of responding to the article you asked me to submit. Why, because you didn't want the full truth to become transparent; you were covering for the bishops.
It's not only America Media. We can include most, but not all, of the media, many prosecutors including the D.A.'s office in Los Angeles County, California, and many in law enforcement.
Wake-up America Media - alot of us are onto your game.
Deacon Thomas E. Brandlin, M.N.A.
Why don't these Bishop's resign for the good of the Church ?
I just don't get it.
Because we, who are the Church, have not put enough pressure on the darlings who bask in their episcopal privileges.