Buffalo, N. Trautman, now 83, retired as Bishop of Erie in He served in various roles in the Buffalo diocese under Bishop Edward Head, including chancellor and vicar general. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the diocese in He had been Bishop of Erie since As regards the alleged abuser, Fr.
Gerard A. The plaintiff in the case was born in The lawsuit said the plaintiff was abused multiple times by Smyczynski for about a year, starting when he was a ten-year-old student and altar boy. Smyczynski lost his faculties in The priest died in Smyczynski and covering up those abuses. He alleged that this allowed the priest to abuse at least one other child.
Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany now serves as apostolic administrator of Buffalo, following the resignation last year of Bishop Richard Malone, who was accused of covering up sexual abuse. Although he denied these accusations in November , in April he apologized for his handling of some cases. In August , a RICO lawsuit was filed against the diocese and Bishop Malone, alleging that the response of the diocese was comparable to an organized crime syndicate.
The Buffalo diocese said Jan. The Erie diocese said Jan. The lawsuit was announced at a press conference organized by Buffalo resident James Faluszczak, an advocate for sex abuse victims and a former priest of the Erie diocese. He has said a priest abused him when he was a teenager.
The lawsuit takes advantage of a new one-year legal window for sex abuse victims to sue regardless of statutes of limitations, the result of recent legislation in the New York legislature. A similar Pennsylvania bill failed to pass the General Assembly. Pennsylvania Attorney General Shapiro criticized Trautman at an August press conference releasing his grand jury report on clergy sex abuse. He alleged that the bishop failed aggressively to pursue an abuser.
