EDITORIAL: To the Albany Diocese – Not an agenda, it’s just wrong

• Priest funeral at St. Thomas in Delmar last week not a good idea for Albany Diocese

We don’t act on any kind of agenda. Our priorities are based on an obligation to our community, which sometimes places us in the uncomfortable situation of writing stories that we, as individuals, don’t want to write.

As journalists, we are obliged to the community we serve. Our Code of Ethics, shared by the entire industry, mandates that we act as watchdogs, ensuring those in power are held accountable. We do not harbor any animosity towards the Catholic Church or the Albany Diocese, nor do we seek to dismantle the faith of our Catholic readership. However, we must report truthfully and act in the community’s best interests, especially when ethical boundaries are crossed.

In light of the recent decision by the Albany Diocese to host funeral services for Father Gregory Weider at St. Thomas the Apostle, we must voice our profound disappointment and concern. Weider served at St. Thomas the Apostle from 1971 to 1977. Although victims came forward in 2004 and 2010 and an additional victim came forward in 2020 through a Child Victims Act lawsuit, it wasn’t until our story about Weider in 2021 did the diocese act.

To his credit Albany Bishop Edward Sharfenburger at that point removed him from ministry and investigated the older two allegations that the diocese ignored in the past . A year later, he was placed on the diocese’s list of those credibly accused of child sexual abuse and permanently stripped him of his duties.

After his death on July 12, the Diocese chose to hold his services in a community he once served. This decision was a grave misstep.

The decision to hold Weider’s services at St. Thomas the Apostle disregards the traumatic history tied to his tenure. This church, where he served, is now a site of renewed pain for potential victims and their families. Despite the diocese’s public commitment to transparency, it declined to say if any of the accusations occurred at St. Thomas. Its refusal to answer this simple question, cloaking their silence under the guise of protecting victims, only deepens the mistrust.

The diocese still fails to understand that when there is a victim at a parish community, the parish community is betrayed as well. These are parish children, our children.

Or are they? We don’t know.

Our responsibility is to inform the community, ensuring it is not blind sided by decisions that can re-traumatize victims and further erode trust in the Church. The diocese’s priority should be to protect its congregation, yet time and again, it has shielded the accused rather than the victims. This pattern of behavior betrays its moral and ethical obligations.

It is a stark reminder of the Church’s repeated failures to prioritize the well-being of its congregations over the protection of its own. By granting a request to a credibly accused priest’s family to have a funeral mass in a place where he may have abused children is wrong.

Every member of our community who has ever walked into St. Thomas to worship deserves better. They deserve to know that their church is a place to find solice, not grief.

We stand with the victims, including the parishes, and the community, who advocate for transparency and justice. The Albany Diocese had the opportunity to do the right thing, to show genuine remorse, compassion and consideration for those affected by Weider’s actions. Instead, they chose a path that further alienates.

In this time of division and mistrust, our role is to report with integrity, to ask uncomfortable questions, and to hold those in power accountable. The Albany Diocese had an opportunity to reconsider, to place its priorities on the community, and to act in a manner that truly reflects the values of protection, care, and justice they claim to uphold. Instead, they failed.

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