NEW JERSEY
Talking Points Memo
TOM KLUDT – FEBRUARY 20, 2014
A spokesman for the Newark Archdiocese said on Thursday he had no interest in comparing the lavish house being built by his archbishop to the modest one lived in by the pope.
But he gets the criticism some have lodged at the archbishop’s house.
“Yes, I understand what people are saying,” Jim Goodness, the director of communications for the Newark Archdiocese, told TPM by phone on Thursday.
But Goodness refused to say if he thought a planned $500,000 expansion to a retirement home for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers contradicts the message of Pope Francis, who lives in a modest residence and has urged priests to steer clear of luxurious lifestyles.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” Goodness said. “I’m not taking any side on that at all.”
The renovations to the home, which Myers currently uses as a weekend residence, have come under a bit of scrutiny. The 3,000-square-foot expansion will include an indoor exercise pool, three fireplaces and an elevator to be enjoyed by Myers in his future retirement.
Goodness went to great pains to make clear that much of the funding for the addition will come from the sale of other properties owned by the archdiocese. Any leftover money from the sale of those properties “will be returned to the diocese for use in ministry,” he said.
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