Judge rules accused priest Bialkowski can control widow's $2 million estate
An Erie County judge has ruled that a Catholic priest who has been accused of sexually abusing children can spend a dead parishioner's $2 million estate as he pleases, despite the objections of her relatives.
Erie County Surrogate's Court Judge Acea M. Mosey dismissed allegations by the widow's family that the Rev. David W. Bialkowski, former pastor of St. John Gualbert Catholic Church, "groomed" Ruth Peters to become the executor of her estate before her 2019 death.
The March 31 ruling clears the way for the suspended priest, who is on the diocese's list of priests with “substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor” and who is accused in two Child Victims Act lawsuits of sexual abuse, to inherit $125,000 directly, in addition to controlling the remainder of the $2 million estate.
He is one of two Buffalo priests who were accused of taking advantage of elderly female parishioners and inheriting large sums of money when they died.
In 2016, Rev. Joseph Klos inherited the lion’s share of an estate worth at least $467,000 from a widow he befriended while he was pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Lancaster. He also made $242,500 from the sale of a Florida condominium that was once owned by the widow. Relatives of that widow criticized Klos but did not challenge the will, which the Surrogate's Court ruled was valid.
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/judge...eef83.html
An Erie County judge has ruled that a Catholic priest who has been accused of sexually abusing children can spend a dead parishioner's $2 million estate as he pleases, despite the objections of her relatives.
Erie County Surrogate's Court Judge Acea M. Mosey dismissed allegations by the widow's family that the Rev. David W. Bialkowski, former pastor of St. John Gualbert Catholic Church, "groomed" Ruth Peters to become the executor of her estate before her 2019 death.
The March 31 ruling clears the way for the suspended priest, who is on the diocese's list of priests with “substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor” and who is accused in two Child Victims Act lawsuits of sexual abuse, to inherit $125,000 directly, in addition to controlling the remainder of the $2 million estate.
He is one of two Buffalo priests who were accused of taking advantage of elderly female parishioners and inheriting large sums of money when they died.
In 2016, Rev. Joseph Klos inherited the lion’s share of an estate worth at least $467,000 from a widow he befriended while he was pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Lancaster. He also made $242,500 from the sale of a Florida condominium that was once owned by the widow. Relatives of that widow criticized Klos but did not challenge the will, which the Surrogate's Court ruled was valid.
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/judge...eef83.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
