Buffalo Diocese Paid $1.5 Million to Settle Priest Sex Abuse Lawsuit

By Jay Tokasz

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo quietly paid $1.5 million in 2016 to a man who alleged a priest sexually abused him when he was a teenager more than three decades ago.

It was the diocese's second financial settlement of a lawsuit alleging abuse by James A. Spielman, a former diocesan priest who served in at least six Western New York parishes and taught religion at Archbishop Walsh High School in Olean.

The settlement is the largest that has come to light so far in the Buffalo Diocese for a clergy sex abuse case.

The News found the case in a recent search of federal court records from Hawaii, where the lawsuit was filed.

The massive settlement added to questions about whether diocesan officials have disclosed the full extent of clergy sex abuse in Western New York.

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Source: The Buffalo News (via Empire Report New York)