NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Aug. 20, 2013 NCR Today
Pulling few punches, Newark Archbishop John Myers responded over the weekend to what he classified as “deceitful and misleading” news reports of a deposition he made related to a clergy sex abuse lawsuit in his previous Peoria, Ill., diocese.
In a letter sent to Newark archdiocesan priests, encouraging them to share its content with “parishioners, and all who are interested in the truth,” Myers accused his critics — many of whom have called for his resignation — of raising false and misleading statements of his handling of abuse allegations in both Peoria and Newark.
“For those who are truly with us — the Church — in the protection of children, they have my respect, gratitude, and embrace,” he said. “For any who set out to claim that I or the Church have had no effective part in the love and protection of children, is simply evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement.”
“God only knows their personal reasons and agenda. We are still called to love them. And God will surely address them in due time,” Myers wrote in the letter, a version of which was made public online through the personal blog of Fr. Jim Chern, chaplain of the Newman Catholic Center at Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J.
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.