How does Catholic Church watch four ex-priests accused of abuse? It's not an easy endeavor

By Steve Janoski
North Jersey Record
February 18, 2019

https://njersy.co/2TPnKYp

Some have died. Others have been removed from the priesthood. And many have retired and have moved about the country.

But there are at least four unidentified ex-priests, who have likely molested children, who are being watched by church authorities under unclear circumstances.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Newark, said last week that the archdiocese is monitoring at least four ex-priests who were removed from the ministry. The men, all in their 80s, are living in an undisclosed retirement home and "don't have free rein of their lives," he said.

Tobin's comments were made as the Newark Archdiocese, which oversees churches in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties, posted a list of priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children over decades. The list includes a total of 63 names, 33 of them priests who are deceased. Some of the priests had one victim, according to the list, but 33 had multiple victims. Eight of the living priests, all of whom are alleged to have abused more than one person, have been defrocked.

The rest of the state's five dioceses, in Paterson, Metuchen, Trenton and Camden, posted their lists shortly after Newark. The Paterson Diocese put up a list of 28 clerics — including one priest who was also listed by Newark. Camden's had 57 names, Trenton had 30 and Metuchen had 11.

One church official says it can be nearly impossible to track priests once they leave the ministry. And a former Bergen County prosecutor, who once seized oversight of one such cleric from the archdiocese, said it's often a question of will, not ability.

"This is a major corporation; they had every resource at their disposal to know the whereabouts of their staff members," said John Molinelli, the former Bergen County prosecutor.

His office took over the monitoring of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who was removed from ministry after the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office charged him with violating an agreement that he never again work with children. Molinelli took over the monitoring five years ago because he did not trust church officials to watch him.

Archbishop John Myers, Tobin's predecessor as head of the Newark Archdiocese, had allowed Fugee to continue wearing the priestly collar and to live in a church rectory even after he confessed to fondling a 13-year-old boy at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Wyckoff and was convicted in 2003 of aggravated criminal sexual contact.

Fugee recanted his confession, and the charges were dismissed on a technicality — they were overturned by an appellate panel of judges who determined that the trial judge made an error in instructing the jury.

Prosecutors did not retry Fugee, but they had him sign an agreement saying he would no longer work with children. Fugee later admitted to violating that agreement.

"I never believed he just slipped through the cracks and they didn't know," Molinelli said.

It's unclear whether the way church officials shadow accused clerics differs from diocese to diocese.