Father Robert Zilliox has released a statement to clarify statements he made during a recent "60 Minutes" interview regarding the handling of sex abuse allegations in the Buffalo Diocese. During the interview, Zilliox spoke of 8 or 9 priests who "remain in the priesthood" but who should have been removed. He clarifies that this does not mean these priests are in the "active ministry." "In fact, some or even all of those priests may be on leave...including suspension, administrative leave, medical leave or retirement," he wrote.
Zilliox also states that though he was charged with reviewing the priests accused of misconduct, Bishop Richard Malone had sole authority to move those cases forward, a point he contends the Bishop did not make clear. Zilliox explains, "I was asked to conduct a preliminary review of these cases and to makle a recommendation to Bishop Malone as whether each met the standard of submission to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) in Rome. In each case, I completed the review and recommended to Bishop Malone that the case should move forward. Bishop Malone had the sole authority to assign each case to the Promoter of Justice, whose responsibility then would be to prepare the case for presentation to the CDF."
He also wrote that he is prevented from identifying the priests in question.
Zilliox claims this is his last public statement on the issues.
