Shameful: Church Militant Continues To Falsely Defame Buffalo Priest

Michael Voris : Church Militant : Simon Rafe

Too crazy to be bothered with the facts: Michael Voris (l) and Simon Rafe (r) of Church Militant

Despite overwhelming evidence that a decades-old abuse claim against Fr. Dennis Riter of the Diocese of Buffalo is an outright fraud, the right-wing Church Militant web site continues to claim that Riter is an abuser.

Church Militant should be ashamed.

The calumnies of Voris and Rafe

Rev. Dennis Riter : Diocese of Buffalo

Rev. Dennis Riter of the
Diocese of Buffalo

The facts of the Riter case are quite simple: As we reported back in September, it was not until just last year, in 2018, that a dude named Wieslaw ("Wes") J. Walawender, who was a seminarian in Buffalo back in the early 1990s, came forward to claim that in 1992 – some 26 years earlier – he wrote a letter to local bishops claiming that he and others had actually witnessed the immediate aftermath of the sexual abuse of a 6 year-old boy by Fr. Riter. Quite astonishingly, Walawender even claimed that the 6 year-old still had semen in his hair from the encounter.

Among the numerous problems with Walawender's claims was the letter itself. For starters, the diocese had no record at all of ever receiving any such letter from Walawender anywhere in its files. And, most notably, Walawender's "1992" letter claimed that a police report had been filed about the incident, yet an exhaustive search by police concluded that there was no such police report. Nothing.

And as we demonstrated, although the letter has a date of 1992 on it, the letter itself shows hallmarks of a modern forgery. The proportional spacing and font of the letter were uncommon for the popular software and consumer printers of that time. (See this example, from here, for starters.) And when Walawender was challenged on a comment board about the authenticity of his 1992 letter, Walawender responded that the letter had been composed using WordPerfect for DOS (6.0) software. But – oops – that software was not even in existence until the middle of 1993!

Wes Walawender : Rev. Riter : comment-captured-081719

Uh-oh: Wes Walawender claims his '1992' letter was written on software
that was not even in existence yet!

And despite the clear evidence that Walawender's letter is a fraud, Church Militant still continues to claim that the software somehow existed when it didn't. (Rafe laughably cited a single used bookseller who incorrectly listed the wrong year on a trade book.)

Need more evidence? Well, on Tuesday, March 23, 1993, media reported on the very announcement of the release of WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS at which company executives also said they soon planned to begin shipping the new software "in June or July" of that year. We also then found a July 6, 1993, article from the New York Times announcing, "The WordPerfect Corporation introduced version 6.0 of its popular DOS word processing program last week at the PC Expo computer trade show." Note to Church Militant: 1993 came after 1992.

The various problems with Walawender's claims are off the charts, but Church Militant's Michael Voris and Simon Rafe are not swayed, so hungry are they to attack the Church hierarchy for not being sufficiently right wing.

It is no surprise that a former sex-crimes investigator thoroughly investigated the claim against Fr. Riter and determined that Walawender's story was outright bogus, and Bishop Richard Malone rightly returned Riter to ministry.

Church Miltant needs to head to confession pronto and unburden itself of their sin for attacking this innocent priest.

[See previous/related: "Church Militant and Buffalo Reporter Charlie Specht Target an Innocent Priest to Boost Their Audience" (23 September 2019)]

[Also: "Church Militant Praises Gay Priest Who Penned Steamy Love Letter To Seminarian Roommate" (8 September 2019)]

Comments

  1. Voris and his opperation would've folded if it were not for the McCarrick revelations.  His stuff was just wearing thin on people.   He continues to hit & miss like a farm tractor because he relies on his connections within the Homosexual Underworld.   Of all people, he should know that the information they provide isn't trustworthy.  Vindictiveness is what motivates all this calumny.  

  2. Malcolm Harris says:

    The two clowns pictured reminded me of something from my childhood.    Michail Voris and Simon Rafe, of Church Militant, should rename their group…. "Bigots Militant'.   Because when I was a kid needed to walk past a government school on my way to the Catholic School. But every morning it was like enduring a verbal onslaught of abuse from across the road.. Clowns like these two just want to attack you, and the facts don't matter to them. Twenty years later was telling this to my neice. She laughed… and said she always detoured on her bike to avoid riding past the same school.  Guess bad habits die hard.

  3. Fiat Voluntas Tua says:

    I’ve often wondered, since Voris is always spouting off about homosexuals being serial abusers of minor males (hypothesis for which I can agree there is much evidence ), doesn’t it stand to reason, based on that line of reasoning, that Voris himself may have abused minors? Just saying.

  4. Dan says:

    You catholics, living in your glass houses built on shifting sand, should be very careful of pointing your fingers at others. If your church even promotes pedophile protecting, idol worshiping popes to sainthood, then what would that say regarding the rest of your self-appointed saints. I'm not even convinced that those you claim as martyrs, weren't murdered because of their harsh treatment, theft or abuse of others. Thankfully only God decides who truly is a real martyr or saint. If the Word says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend to heaven?' (that is to bring Christ down) or 'Who will descend into the Abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." Romans 10:6-7  Please explain to me how your church thinks it's so special that it can freely disobey God's Word and promote sinful people to sainthood? I'll be looking forward to all your poor excuses.        servant of the Lord