Priest's Resignation Brings Back Old Memories for Wyckoff Parishioners

By Denisa R. Superville
The Record
May 5, 2013

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Colts_Neck_pastor_youth_ministers_step_down_amid_controversy_surrounding_former_Wyckoff_priest.html


WYCKOFF — For some parishioners attending Sunday Mass at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the resurfacing in the news last week of a former assistant pastor once accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy brought back memories they had left in the past.

“I would say people have put it behind them,” said Michael Jones, 34, a former Franklin Lakes resident who now lives in Bloomingdale, as he left noon Mass.

Jones said he only recalled the incident after reading an article on Friday about the Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, who served as assistant pastor from 1997 to 2001, when he was charged with criminal sexual contact and children endangerment for allegedly groping a 13-year-old boy.

“No one talks about it,” Jones said

Fugee was back in the news last week after reports that he had attended several youth retreats at the invitation of longtime friends at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Colts Neck in Monmouth County, during which he heard confessions from youngsters.

The reports created a furor over whether Fugee’s participation in the retreats violated the terms of a 2007 agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that barred him from unsupervised contact with minors.

Fugee resigned Thursday from his positions as director of the Propagation of the Faith and co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests. In his resignation letter, Fugee said the archdiocese wasn’t aware that he was engaging in those activities..

James Goodness, a spokesman for the dioceses, said last week that Fugee will no longer be able to represent himself as a priest, conduct Mass or perform any sacramental work.

Also, over the weekend, it was learned that the pastor and two youth ministers at St. Mary’s had resigned from their positions. The Rev. Thomas Triggs announced his resignation from the pulpit during Saturday evening services. It was unclear when the two ministers, Michael and Amy Lenehan, had left their positions.

The Rev. Paul Houlis, an assistant pastor at St. Elizabeth since September 2012, said on Sunday that he felt an obligation to address the reports concerning Fugee as part of his homily.

As it happened, the first reading on the Sixth Sunday of Easter was taken from The Acts of The Apostle and dealt with discord in the early church.

“The church has never been and will never be perfect,” Houlis said. “The church is still the instrument of salvation — despite the sinfulness of its members.”

God has always chosen leaders who were imperfect, he said.

“Nobody was perfect,” he continued. “Not Abraham, Moses, Elijah. Jesus was the only one who was perfect. God has always chosen people who are capable of great sin to do his work.”

Not everyone appreciated his homily, he said. One young woman told him she needed to hear his sermon, while another parishioner suggested that Houlis probably should not have mentioned Fugee by name, he said.

Houlis said he was not there to defend or accuse.

“I am here to pray,” he said.

“I think we need to pray for everybody,” he said, including teachers, parents, aunts, uncles and everyone charged with looking after children.

Parishioners appeared to want to put the whole episode behind them, unwilling to dredge up unpleasant memories from more than decade ago when Fugee was accused of grabbing a 13-year-old boys’ crotch while play wrestling with him on several occasions in the family’s living room during 1999 and 2000.

Fugee initially confessed to the accusation, but then later recanted, saying that he felt coerced by investigators. He was found guilty of aggravated sexual misconduct, but the conviction was later overturned on appeal. In 2007, Fugee entered into a program for first-time offenders, which required him to serve two years of probation, obtain counseling and have no contact with the victim.

In addition, he signed an agreement with the prosecutor’s office and the archdiocese to not have unsupervised contact with children, an accord that barred his involvement with the youth groups.

John Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor, said last week that he had opened an investigation into whether Fugee violated the terms of the agreement.

Fugee returned to the ministry in 2009, after a review board found that no sexual abuse had occurred.

Some parishioners declined to speak on their way to Mass, and others said they came to the parish after Fugee had left.

But a few longtime parishioners had only praise for Fugee

One women said she didn’t know “anything about what happened,” but added, “He was a very good priest when he was here.”

Patrick O’Sullivan, a parishioner since the late 1980s, said he remembered Fugee as someone who did what he was hired to do.

“He came across as a kind person,” O’Sullivan said. “He connected with the people. He never showed any signs of being a problem.”

He said the incident was not something on which many people dwell.

 “We think about positive things, not negative things,” he said after leaving Mass.

O’Sullivan said that Fugee should have exercised better judgment instead of participating in the youth ministries.

“He should not have gone,” he said, adding the resignation would allow the church to move in a more positive light.

Contact: superville@northjersey.com