By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – In the late 1980', Buffalo was stunned by the brutal, unexplainable murders of two inner city priests. Two young men were captured, convicted and are serving sentences for killing Monsignor Herlihy and Father Joe Bissonette.
But, in the years to follow, the savage murders haunted Fr. Joe's younger brother Ray. So, the psychiatrist decided to go to the source of the pain for answers. Some of those answers, as well as the lingering questions, are in Ray Bissonette's new book, "Joe's Story, The Quietly Courageous Life and Death of an Inner City Priest."
Ray Bissonette says his brother's singular mission was to be "a good priest." It was his devotion to that ideal that on a quiet evening in a parish rectory would claim his life. Fr. Joe opened the door to take in and befriend two poor, young, troubled African American men -- Milton Jones and Teddy Simmons.
Bissonette told our Joyce Kryszak he needed desperately to know what happened in that room. Click the "listen" icon above to hear their conversation.
Bissonette's book is available through wnybooks.com.