Falsely accused priest Fr. Roy T. Herberger of the Diocese of Buffalo fighting back
There are some abuse accusations against priests that are so crazy that they give pause to even the most ardent Church hater, and we just found yet another one.
Rev. Roy T. Herberger of the Diocese of Buffalo just filed a lawsuit against a man who falsely accused the retired priest of abusing him as an 8 year-old boy in the 1980s.
News of the lawsuit was first reported by Jay Tokasz at The Buffalo News.
A clear case of fraud
The search for truth:
Buffalo investigator
Scott Riordan
In 2018, Herberger's accuser surfaced to claim that the priest "sexually assaulted him multiple times over an approximate three-year period" in the 1980s with acts including sodomy and oral sex at St. Ann's Parish and school in Buffalo. Yet as the investigation into his claims revealed:
• Investigators found no record of the accuser even having attended St. Ann's;
• St. Ann's parish was operated by the Jesuit order, and Fr. Herberger, a diocesan priest, himself had no connection to the parish at all until 2010, many decades later; and
• The accuser also claimed abuse at "the priest's house in Lackawanna," a city just south of Buffalo, but the priest never even owned or rented a home there.
And quite remarkably, when Buffalo diocesan investigator Scott Riordan asked the accuser where he attended elementary school, the accuser claimed that he couldn't remember, prompting Riordan to write in his report to the diocesan review board, "It is not believable that someone would be completely unable to remember what elementary school he attended." Indeed.
In the end, Riordan concluded that Fr. Herberger's case was not just one where the facts did not add up, but the accuser's wild claims of repeated acts of sodomy and oral sex were so implausible that it was literally "impossible for it to have happened."
Meanwhile, Herberger's personal attorney also did some digging of his own and found that the accuser already had a criminal background that includes a charge of falsifying documents. Nice.
Yet … will this accuser score some cash?
Upon the complaint in June of 2018, Fr. Herberger was immediately removed from public ministry, and six months later, after the investigation determined that the accuser's claims were bogus, Herberger returned to ministry. But the story doesn't end here.
Despite the fact that his claims against Herberger are clearly fraud, the accuser still filed suit (pdf) in August 2019 under the "Child Victims Act," a law passed by New York's legislature in 2019 to target the pockets of the Catholic Church.
The gall of this fraudster is off the charts. He is represented by an attorney who clearly has no shame: contingency lawyer Stuart Mermelstein from Herman Law in New York City, a firm that advertises itself as "Voice for Victims." But it seems the only victim in this entire episode is Fr. Herberger.
We will keep an eye on this case with the hope that this flimflammer and his lawyer don't get a penny from the Catholic Church. It is Fr. Herberger who deserves money from the accuser for destroying his reputation.
Dan the hypocrite non-christian says the following:
You:
I asked you to show me Biblical proof that the sins of your church deserve my respect. I get NOTHING!
Me:
WRONG. I have given you not only biblical references but the testimony of the early Church fathers that clearly backup what the Church claims itself to be and what it teaches. Again, FAIL.
You:
Instead you wish to ask me several of your own madeup false beliefs you think you can pin on me, as if you really know how a real Christian believes. I prefer not to answer to your nonsense and ignorance. Had myself too nice a day in the Lord. servant.
Me:
WRONG. I have asked you myriad questions but you never answer them directly with applicable bible verses but divert to another out of context biblical verse linked with another tired old accusation backed up with your usual vitriol against the One True Chruch and the Mother of God Incarnate. Please explain the following to me, taken from my list of questions previously posted:
Dan, Explain to me why St. Paul calls his followers his spiritual children and then explain to me what that makes him.
Dan, Show me in the bible where you can be assured of your salvation or once saved always saved and then explain to me Ezekiel 18:24.
Dan, Show me in the bible where Jesus tells his apostles to write everything he said down and then explain to me John 21:25.
I'm still waiting for a logical explanation Mr. Dan.
You:
P.S. Please quit deceiving others by labeling me the hypocrite or liar, when you know darn well those terms apply to you and your apostate church of heathen heretics.
Me:
I am not deceiving others, I am just duty bound to defend the One True Church. I am duty bound when I can to alert others to the absolute trash that so-called servants like you dish out in the name of God. People like you need to be shown the Truth. Sorry Dan, you FAIL.
Reply if you must, but I am through casting true pearls to lying deceiving swine. servant of the Truth
I will try to educate you one more time, but I believe you are hopelessly blind and deaf to the Truth and the One and Only True God and His Word.
1) You have shown me no Biblical proof as to why you think the church deserves respect for their filthy sinful hierarchy and false teachings. NOTHING! FAIL!
2) You are unwilling to dispute Biblical depictions of your cult and its practices. – Isaiah 44: 6-23, Jeremiah 44 (Q of H), Matthew 23:9, Romans 1:18-32, 2 Peter 2, Jude, Rev 17-18, 21-8, 22-15 I don't want to hear about your corrupt church fathers twisted opinion of Bible Truth.
3) First Dan sentence – Matthew 23:9 and Paul never asked them to call him Father or made some stupid dogma saying they must "TITLE" him Father or HOLY FATHER. WRONG!
4) I don't agree with "once saved always saved" or that we are "assured of [our} salvation". Like I said, you think you can put words in my mouth claiming to know my beliefs even when you're dead wrong. WRONG AGAIN!
5) Once again, I never said the Bible was totally complete. It's obvious that I believe in true and tested against the Word prophecy. I don't accept the false additions and dogmas of your dumb church.
In conclusion – You are a lying deceiver in every sense of the word. You must be awful proud of defending your filthy sinful unrepentant church. You wouldn't know the Truth if it came and bit you in the ass. SORRY, BUT YOU ARE A COMPLETE FAILURE EXTRAORDINAIRE!
Reply if you must, but I am through casting true pearls to lying deceiving swine. servant of the Truth
Dan,
I already did respond to your out of context biblical references but you refuse to read them because if you did, then you would stop throwing those out of context bible verses at us and as per m.o. of uneducated fundies, throw new out of context verses at us only to be rebuttted and then you will recylce the same verses over and over again. You fail on all accounts because we have the assurance of Christ that the Church he founded, the Church I attend will not have the gates of hell prevail against it. You on the other hand belong to one of the myriad denominations that have come into existence all on account of Martin Luther and his bible only error. IF he was correct then there should only be Lutherans but alas his movement failed because there are now tens of thousands of competing denominations all claiming biblical authority as their driving forse. It's too bad your twisted mind and heart have become hardened as a result of your arrogance and pride. So once again you FAIL but BLESS YOUR WAYWARD, HERETICAL, HAUGHTY, ARROGANT, ERRONOUS, TWISTED AND HARDENED HEART!!!!!!
Reply if you must, but I am through casting true pearls to lying deceiving swine. servant of the Truth