NEW JERSEY
The Record
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN AND MICHAEL LINHORST
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
The leading Democratic candidate for governor on Wednesday called for New Jersey’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic bishop to step down amid a growing furor over church officials’ defense of a priest who confessed to groping a Wyckoff boy.
In a clash of politics and religion, state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, set off a verbal battle with Governor Christie by questioning Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ ability to lead amid revelations that a former assistant pastor was hearing one-to-one confessions during youth retreats in spite of restrictions barring him from working around children.
Although Christie said he was “disturbed” by the allegations, he called Buono’s intervention “irresponsible” and said he will talk to Myers “to find out his side of the story” before judging the archbishop’s actions. During a press conference in Camden, he accused Buono of poor leadership and for issuing her statement “purely based upon media accounts.”
In response, Buono said “leadership is protecting our children from sexual predators, no matter who they are.”
Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokes¬man, said Buono’s remarks “represent a reckless rush to judgment without having a competent or thorough understanding of all of the facts.”
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