BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A clergy abuse survivor reached out to share their story as the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo gets closer to settling nearly 900 Child Victims Act cases.
"I've suffered for years with this in my head," Gregg Siddons said.
Siddons, a Western New York native, now lives in Erie, Pennsylvania. He tells me he lives with post-traumatic stress and daily nightmares of what happened to him as a teenager.
"The physical abuse that was done to me and the sexual abuse and how this priest took advantage of me and there was nothing I could do," Siddons said.
Siddons said in a week he'll be turning 67, but for the last 53 years of his life, he has been tormented by the memory of being molested by a Roman Catholic priest when he was only 14 years of age.
It happened to him at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Williamsville. The priest was Monsignor George Zimphfer.
Siddons tells me, as a troubled teen, his parents sent him to live at the then Gateway Methodist youth home, not far from the church. That's when he started to attend in 1973, where he said his accuser abused him multiple times.
"I thought going was gonna help me, and then I met a Catholic priest that I thought was gonna be my friend and be able to talk to, and he just took advantage of me, and I was extremely naive," Siddons said. "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to talk to, what to say. I remember every time."
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Siddons tells me he tried to tell his counselors and his parents, but no one believed him.
"'A priest is not gonna do this to you.' I tried to tell my parents. No one wanted to believe us," Siddons stated. "I grew up in the 60s, and no one believed children. They looked at children as if we're all liars."
He's now one of the hundreds of Child Victims Act cases filed against the Diocese of Buffalo.
Siddons tells me he has voted in favor of the $327 million settlement being decided, but he said no money will ever take his pain away.
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"Nightmares daily. I see a psychiatrist once a month. I take medication. I'm also epileptic. I have seizures," Siddons said. "There's things that he did to me that stick in my head, and I wish I could forget, but I can't forget."
Siddons and other survivors delivered impact statements last January in federal court with current Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher listening. He hopes the bishop realizes how the abuse left him a broken man.
"I want the church to say, 'Gregg, we're sorry for what was done to you.' If he would tell me, call me on the phone, tell me in person, shake my hand and give me a hug and say, 'Gregg, I'm sorry' – that would be, that would be nice, but I don't think that's ever gonna happen," Siddons said.
