NEW JERSEY
The Record
MARCH 17, 2014
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
A priest whose indiscretions embroiled the Archdiocese of Newark and its top bishop in scandal last year has been defrocked.
An archdiocese spokesman confirmed on Monday that the Vatican has returned Michael Fugee to the lay state, meaning that after 20 years he is no longer a Roman Catholic priest.
Fugee confessed to sexually abusing a Wyckoff teenager in 2001 but later wound up working with children at youth groups across the state. Last May he was charged with violating a court-ordered ban on ministering to minors.
To dismiss the charges, Fugee signed a sweeping agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in November. Part of the agreement was to submit a request to the Vatican that he be defrocked. The process of removing a man from the priesthood, known as laicization, sometimes takes years. The Vatican likely accelerated Fugee’s defrocking because it was voluntary and part of a court order, victims’ advocates said.
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