NEW JERSEY
NewJerseyNewsroom
BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church fall below cardinals – the so-called “princes of the church” – in the hierarchy, but that doesn’t stop some of them, and their enablers, from aspiring.
The latest case deals with the bishop of the Camden New Jersey diocese (encompassing six southern NJ counties) whose new home cost $500,000, aka a half-million dollars. An AP report in myfoxdetroit.com indicates the 1908 mansion in Woodbury has an in-ground pool, three fireplaces, a library and a five-car garage.
A church spokesperson indicated last month that Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan needs such facilities to meet with donors, benefactors and use as workspace. Sale of the property, owned by Rowan University as a president’s home, was finalized late last year.
Until his move to Woodbury, Bishop Sullivan – formerly “a top administrator in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York” – lived in an apartment at the St. Pius X Retreat House, Blackwood, where other bishops have lived. That building will be sold.
A Bronx native 67 years old, Bishop Sullivan has been a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on child protection, which oversees the church’s efforts to respond to the issue of sexual abuse by clergymen, according to the NYTimes.com. His appointment to the Camden diocese post in January 2013 drew criticism from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a group that advocates for abuse victims.
In 2011, a second New Jersey bishop — David M. O’Connell, who heads up the Trenton diocese — opted not to live in Trenton, but to move instead to a home described as “austere” on a wooded road in Lawrence Township, which happens to have a Princeton mailing address.
The home reportedly has four bedrooms, 3½ baths, a family room, dining room, eat-in kitchen and a vaulted LR, all on 5.8 acres, newjerseynewsroom.com reported. It went for $550,000, reportedly in cash. (The Mercer diocese includes the counties of Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean.)
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