NEW JERSEY
The Record
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
NEWARK — The Rev. Bernard A. Hebda comes from a place where reprimanded priests are named in press releases, and where the members of a panel charged with investigating clergy sex abuse are listed in the diocesan directory for anyone to see.
As bishop of Gaylord, Mich., Hebda expanded that review panel to include laypeople who work with children and teens. He also met personally with priests who were accused of sex abuse to ensure that they did not pose a danger to children.
On Tuesday, Hebda was named coadjutor bishop to Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, and on those critical points — issues at the heart of a scandal that has consumed the Newark archdiocese — the contrast between Hebda and the man he stands to succeed as archbishop one day could not be more stark.
Myers, who called his critics “evil” in an August letter to clergy, has come under fire for his treatment of a former Wyckoff priest who, prosecutors allege, violated a court-ordered agreement that barred him from ministering to children. And church records released last month in a $1.3 million lawsuit settlement with the Illinois diocese that Myers once headed showed a pattern of denial by Myers pertaining to knowledge of a priest’s alleged sex abuse — for which he faulted underlings who failed to alert him, or shoddy record keeping.
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.