As Criminal Probe Continues, Senate President Urges Newark Archbishop to "Step down Now"

By Mark Mueller
The Star-Ledger
May 9, 2013

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/as_criminal_probe_continues_se.html

Senate President Stephen Sweeney listens to testimony earlier this month during a hearing in Trenton. (Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

Saying leaders "must be held to a higher standard," state Senate President Stephen Sweeney yesterday joined in calls for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers to resign over his supervision of a priest who violated a lifetime ban on ministry to children.

Sweeney (D-Gloucester) is at least the fourth New Jersey politician to wade into the controversy over the Rev. Michael Fugee, the subject of a criminal investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

"As the days go on, it becomes clearer and clearer that Archbishop Myers cannot remain in his position," Sweeney said in a statement.

While politicians rarely venture into the affairs of the Roman Catholic church, let alone demand the resignation of an archbishop, Myers’ role in the Fugee case has become a lightning rod for criticism from around the nation.

Fugee, who admitted in 2001 that he fondled a teenage boy, is barred from working with children under the terms of a 2007 agreement with prosecutors in Bergen County. The archdiocese also signed onto the agreement, pledging to supervise the priest.

Newark Archbishop John J. Meyers, seen here in March, has come under criticism for his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee.

But The Star-Ledger found that in recent years, Fugee has openly attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors through an association with St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, part of the Diocese of Trenton. The pastor and two youth ministers resigned Saturday after a visit from Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell.

Fugee also attended youth group meetings at Holy Family Church in Nutley, where he is friends with the pastor, The Star-Ledger found.

When confronted with the findings, a spokesman for the archdiocese initially defended the priest’s interactions, saying they fell within the scope of the legal agreement because Fugee was under the supervision of other priests or lay ministers.

The spokesman, Jim Goodness, has since reversed course, saying that while Fugee clearly violated the agreement, he did so without the knowledge of Myers or others in supervisory roles. Myers granted Fugee’s request to leave ministry last Thursday.

Sweeney faulted the archbishop’s refusal to comment on the issue and the shifting stories from Goodness. The senate president called the apparent lack of supervision "deeply disturbing."

"Those who are put in a position of trust, whether it be through elected office, as a coach, or as a person of faith, must be held to a higher standard," Sweeney said. "And when we are talking about children, that need to trust those in charge leaves absolutely no margin for error. Archbishop Myers must step down now."

The Rev. Michael Fugee in 2003 after a jury in Bergen County found him guilty of aggravated criminal sexual contact. The verdict was later overturned, leading to an agreement that bars him from contact with children.

Sweeney joins Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), a candidate for governor, in seeking Myers’ ouster. Advocates for victims of sexual abuse also have demanded Myers step down.

Goodness declined to comment on Sweeney’s statement, and he said he would be unable to answer other questions posed by the newspaper.

"At this point, we’re concentrating on providing all information that the prosecutor’s office would be interested in getting," he said.

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli ordered the investigation after The Star-Ledger alerted his office to Fugee’s actions. A spokeswoman for the office, Maureen Parenta, said that because of the ongoing probe, Molinelli would have no comment.

Asked whether the archdiocese was responsible for supervising Fugee, Parenta wrote in an email that the 2007 agreement "clearly states that the archdiocese will monitor Michael Fugee’s activities while serving as a priest."

Demetra Maurice, the assistant prosecutor who authored the agreement, previously said Fugee could face civil or criminal penalties. Maurice declined to say whether Myers could be culpable.

The case has reverberated well beyond the Archdiocese of Newark, home to about 1.3 million Roman Catholics in Essex, Union, Hudson and Bergen counties.

The Rev. Michael Fugee participates in a prayer circle with teens and adults during a pilgrimage to Canada in 2010.

The Rev. James Connell, a Minnesota priest who once served as vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, wrote to the Vatican asking for an investigation. The crisis also has come to the attention of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the national conference, called the controversy "most unfortunate" in light of the progress the nation’s bishops have made in addressing clergy sex abuse over the past decade.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who serves as president of the conference, "is aware of the situation in Newark and has stayed on top of developments," Dolan’s spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said.

Under the church’s hierarchy, however, Dolan has no authority to investigate or take action against Myers, Zwilling said. Such investigations are the purview of the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, known as the papal nuncio, or of Vatican officials in Rome.