Catholics poured their hearts out to Bishop Malone. He blocked their emails.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Last week, Bishop Malone said he was getting mostly positive feedback from Catholics about his handling of multiple sexual abuse scandals .
“Just today [I got] probably 12 or 13 either voicemails or emailing saying, ‘Stay with it, we need you, do not resign,’” Malone said Friday.
But that would soon change.
Within hours of hearing the bishop’s interview, Catholics across Western New York -- young and old, practicing and lapsed -- began flooding the bishop’s email with letters asking him to resign.
Many of the Catholics -- 52 of them, to be exact -- copied the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team on the emails sent to the bishop. All 52 asked for his immediate resignation.
“I think we've all come to the realization now that it's time for the bishop to go,” said William Ogilvie, a parishioner at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Clarence. “The large majority of people in my parish specifically -- and in all the parishes, from what I have seen -- the large majority want the bishop to resign.”
The messages sent by Catholics to the bishop said things like:
“...You have failed your people. You have failed your flock. It is time to step down…”
“...Because of you Bishop, I have thought of leaving the faith…”
“...I pray that you do the right thing. Step do...