Priest at Heart of Newark Archdiocese Sex Abuse Scandal Resigns
By Jeff Green
The Rev. Michael Fugee, the Catholic priest who allegedly groped a Wyckoff boy more than a decade ago and has been at the heart of a storm of controversy that has engulfed the Newark Archdiocese, has resigned from the ministry, the archdiocese said Thursday. Fugee, 52, wrote a letter to Archbishop John J. Myers on Thursday afternoon announcing his resignation from his two positions within the archdiocese. Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokesman, said the archbishop accepted the resignation. The priest, whose 2003 conviction on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual contact was overturned by an appeals court, recently was revealed to have attended several youth group retreats in apparent violation of a pretrial agreement with prosecutors barring him from working with children. In the resignation letter, Goodness said, Fugee admitted to Myers that he engaged in activities that were not part of the agreement with prosecutors and “were not approved by the archdiocese.” The revelations last weekend touched off a storm of outrage directed at the archbishop, whose office has defended Fugee, saying he was supervised on youth-group outings with a Monmouth County parish and had done nothing wrong. Myers made the decision in 2009 to bring Fugee back into the ministry. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, which brought charges against Fugee that led to a trial, began a new investigation this week into allegations the priest had violated the restrictions outlined in the agreement, which the prosecutor, Fugee and the archdiocese had signed. State Sen. Barbara Buono, the leading Democratic challenger to Governor Christie, called for Myers to resign, and victims’ advocates and clerics across the country urged an investigation into how the archdiocese has handled the embattled priest. Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims’ advocacy group, on Thursday said Fugee’s resignation was “long overdue.” He said Archbishop Myers should never have returned Fugee to the ministry in 2009 based on a review panel and Vatican office that found no sexual abuse occurred. “He should have been fired, not allowed to resign after all these years,” Crawford said. “Myers should have done something to act himself to make sure [Fugee] was removed from ministry.” Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said Fugee’s resignation “will not alter our investigation in any way.” He said his office is busy calling people in for statements and continues to seek anyone with information about his activities that may have violated his agreement not to work around children. Investigators have not yet spoken to Fugee, Molinelli said. Goodness said Fugee has resigned from his positions as director for the Office of the Propagation of the Faith and co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests. Fugee will remain a priest unless the Vatican grants his departure from the role. But he will no longer be able to represent himself as a priest, conduct Mass or perform sacramental work, Goodness said. He will be moving from his residence within the archdiocese, the spokesman said. Goodness declined to explain Fugee’s reason for resigning, adding that more information would be made available today. He also would not say whether the archbishop had asked for the resignation. Youth ministers at St. Mary’s Church in Colts Neck, longtime friends of Fugee, invited the priest on several youth retreats in recent years, including one in Lake Hopatcong in Morris County in 2010, another in Marlboro in Monmouth County in September and on pilgrimages to Canada when other priests were unavailable for confessions, the archdiocese has confirmed. The archdiocese did not give him permission or know about the activities until recent press inquiries, the archdiocese says. Officials in the Diocese of Trenton and the Diocese of Paterson, where some of the retreats took place, have said they did not permit Fugee’s involvement with the youth ministry, and Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell this week barred Fugee from any future diocesan activities. A parishioner who made the 2010 trip said the youth ministers apparently acted on their own to recruit Fugee for the retreats, and the Rev. Thomas Triggs never checked that they followed the proper procedures with Fugee. Fugee was accused of grabbing a 13-year-old boy’s crotch while play wrestling with him on several occasions in his family’s living room during 1999 and 2000. He initially confessed but then recanted at trial, saying he felt coerced by police investigators. The alleged victim, who declined to comment on the new investigation when reached by prosecutors Tuesday, had testified at trial in 2003 that Fugee “used” him and violated his trust. A jury found Fugee guilty of aggravated criminal sexual contact, but the conviction was overturned on appeal because the trial court hadn’t fully explained the charge to jurors to conform with a recent rule change. Fugee entered a special probation program for first-time offenders in 2007 to avoid a new trial. The terms of the program required him to serve a two-year probationary term, undergo sex-offender-specific counseling and have no contact with the victim. He also signed an agreement with prosecutors and the archdiocese to never again be unsupervised with children, minister to children or work with children so long as he remained a priest. The agreement bars his involvement with youth groups, confessions of children and youth retreats. When he finished serving probation in 2009, Archbishop Myers returned Fugee to the ministry after a review board examined his case and found that no sexual abuse occurred. A Vatican office confirmed the findings, which are confidential. Victims’ advocates have criticized Myers for the decision to restore Fugee to ministry, saying it enabled Fugee to participate with the youth ministry, even though he was not assigned to work with children. Goodness said the review board looked over all of the court records and made a “very thorough” decision. He said the board, whose membership also is confidential, is comprised of “extremely capable and forthright people who are genuinely interested in finding out the facts of the situation.”
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