NEW JERSEY
The Record
APRIL 13, 2014
BY JEFF GREEN, MINJAE PARK AND JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
In what seems to be shaping up as a tale of two churches, Roman Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers found himself increasingly isolated from congregants who attended an Easter season Mass at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Palm Sunday.
Although Myers greeted parishioners on the steps of the imposing twin-towered stone cathedral, he declined to meet with protesters carrying a stack of petitions signed by 22,000 people objecting to lavish renovations being made to his weekend residence and future retirement home in rural Hunterdon County.
Neither Myers nor his personal secretary, Monsignor Michael Andreano, who delivered the homily, made specific reference to the expansion of the residence, which includes a fifth bedroom, fireplaces and an indoor therapy pool, at a cost of more than $500,000.
But in his homily, Andreano focused on how Jesus was ostracized before his death.
“Perhaps we, too, are disappointed by crowds turning away from us, by being abandoned by friends and supporters, by experiencing our own little persecutions and beatings and horrors and tragedies and even death,” he said.
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