NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter
Patricia Lefevere | May. 1, 2013
MENDHAM, N.J. About 70 advocates for victims of childhood sexual abuse gathered Sunday on the lawn of St. Joseph Church in Mendham, N.J., for the rededication of a monument to sex abuse victims that was vandalized twice in the last 17 months.
Almost as powerful as the sledgehammer that first destroyed the millstone monument in November 2011 was an article in the day’s Newark Star-Ledger disclosing that a New Jersey priest — Fr. Michael Fugee of the Newark archdiocese — who admitted in 2001 to molesting a teenage boy was allowed back in ministry to Catholic youth despite having signed a binding agreement barring him from unsupervised contact with minors.
The revelations in the article “show a terrible disregard for children,” said Theresa Padovano, co-director of the New Jersey affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, citing “lack of accountability” by church officials. She said all names of accused molesters should be made available digitally “so people can check them out” or abusers should go to prison where they cannot harm children.
Mary Gannon of Floral Park, N.J., said she worries for all children, not just her four grandchildren, and said she finds it impossible to understand how anyone could mistreat a child. She said she and her husband, Gerry, support survivors “because they’re still suffering all these years later.”
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