NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on March 17, 2014
Acting with uncustomary speed, the Vatican has expelled a New Jersey man from the priesthood for repeatedly defying a lifetime ban on ministry to children.
Michael Fugee, 53, who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors despite signing a court-sanctioned decree forbidding such activities, has been returned to the lay state, said Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark.
“Very recently all the procedures were completed,” Goodness said Monday night. “He is no longer a priest of the archdiocese.”
The Vatican typically takes a year or longer to expel priests, a process known as laicization. In some cases, the procedure drags on for several years.
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