Buffalo Diocese finance officer to resign
Offices of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. (Sharon Cantillon/News file photo)
By Jay Tokasz|Published Wed, Dec 5, 2018 |Updated Wed, Dec 5, 2018
The Buffalo Diocese's chief financial officer will leave his post in January.
Steven Timmel. (Provided photo)
Steven D. Timmel, who spent 31 years working for the diocese, gave notice this week that he will resign as executive director of financial administration, effective Jan. 31.
The resignation comes as the diocese prepares to pay out potentially millions of dollars in awards to childhood victims of clergy sexual abuse. Timmel is the fourth staff member from Bishop Richard J. Malone's inner circle to depart within recent months, as the diocese continues to grapple with a clergy abuse scandal.
Timmel has held the diocese's top financial position since 2004. He first served in an acting capacity and was appointed in a permanent role in 2005. Timmel helps oversee a sprawling, multi-million operation that includes dozens of facilities, hundreds of diocesan employees and more than $47 million in diocesan investments.
"After 31 years of service to the Catholic Church in Western New York, I look forward to new professional challenges. I am grateful to the staff of the Diocese of Buffalo, past and present, for their dedication in support of the mission of the Diocese," Timmel said Wednesday in an email to The Buffalo News.
The Rev. Peter Karalus, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese, announced Timmel's departure in an email sent to diocesan staff Wednesday morning.
"We all thank Steve for his years of dedicated service to our Diocese and its parishes, school and other institutions. We wish him well and offer prayers for all the future holds for him," Karalus said in the email. "Please keep Steve in your prayers during this time of transition in his life."
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Jay Tokasz – Jay Tokasz is part of the watchdog team at The Buffalo News. He has spent 25 years in newspapers, writing on a wide range of subjects, from evidence-tampering cops to papal elections.