NEW JERSEY
Daily Record
Peggy Wright, @PeggyWrightDR Aug. 10, 2017
MORRISTOWN – The Diocese of Paterson on Thursday refuted a suggestion that a Polish priest who is charged with groping a 13-year-old girl in Boonton may have skipped some training and put on an ordination fast-track.
Before the accused priest, Rev. Marcin A. Nurek, 37, appeared Wednesday in Superior Court, Morristown, a former priest who co-founded a company to assist people sexually abused by clergymen led a protest in front of the courthouse. Besides saying he was there in support of the allegedly-groped teen, Robert Hoatson said he wondered whether Nurek truly completed all his training since he only arrived in the United States from Poland in 2015.
Nurek was ordained a Catholic priest on July 1. On Aug. 3, he allegedly followed a group of young girls down a Boonton street, grabbed the buttocks of one girl under her skirt but over her underwear and said she was “sexy.” He was apprehended shortly after the encounter and is charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Nurek spent six nights in the Morris County jail before a Superior Court judge Wednesday ordered his release pretrial under special conditions that include having no contact with children and reporting to the court twice a month. Nurek was released from the jail Wednesday night after supplying the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office with his passport.
Richard Sokerka, director of communications for the Diocese of Paterson, said that Nurek completed all educational and programmatic requirements before being ordained. Sokerka said that any suggestion that Nurek was fast-tracked is false.
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