NEW JERSEY
Why I Am Catholic
May 1, 2013 By Frank Weathers
He would see them up close and personal when I asked questions like, “Isn’t there an abbot in a remote monastery who needs a permanent dishwasher in the scullery for work while said dishwasher is not praying the Divine Office? Why is this man not sent there?”
Who is Father Michael Fugee, and why should you care? Folks in New Jersey are pretty familiar with him and his story. His handling, or mishandling, by Archbishop John J. Myers is pretty much the thing of which legends are made. Legendary ineptness, I mean.
Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers came under fierce criticism Monday for his handling of a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on ministry to children.
At the Monmouth County church where the Rev. Michael Fugee had been spending time with a youth group, angry parishioners said they were never told about Fugee’s background and they questioned Myers’ defense of the priest, the subject of a lengthy story in the Sunday Star-Ledger.
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