NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
By Valerie Vainieri Huttle
Newark Archbishop John J. Myers must go. I agree wholeheartedly with The Star-Ledger editorial calling for his immediate resignation. If he does not resign, the Roman Catholic Church should swiftly investigate his support and protection of the Rev. Michael Fugee, a priest who admitted to sexual contact with a minor.
The archbishop placed Fugee in various positions throughout the archdiocese, from chaplain at St. Michael’s Medical Center to co-director of the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, to a parish in Rochelle Park. Myers shuffled Fugee into each new post after his history came to light.
There seems to be a blatant breach of the agreement reached with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Archdiocese of Newark to keep Fugee away from minors by Myers.
As a lifelong Catholic and a public official, I was outraged to learn of the archbishop’s efforts to promote Fugee and to continually expose children to him knowing his past behavior. Myers may have confused turning the other cheek with turning a blind eye, but lay Catholics have not.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.