Yet Another Scandal Confronts America's Bishop of Bling; Myers Operates a For-Profit Business Without Paying Any Taxes

Darkness and Light: Newark Archbishops John J. Myers and Bernard Hebda

The Star-Ledger, which should receive a Papal medal for all the filth and corruption they have revealed in the Newark Archdiocese and on the part of its scandal-prone Archbishop, John J. Myers, reports that the Archdiocese has been operating a for-profit headstone and mausoleum business for 8 years without ever paying any state taxes.  

Myers' foray into the tax-free, for profit business world has threatened family owned businesses that have operated for decades.

Apparently, Myers does the for-profit thing far more skillfully than the non-profit.  He has closed 82 of the Archdiocese's schools and scores of parishes due to lack of funding, while building himself a country manor house replete with hot tubs, indoor and outdoor pools, elevators and multiple fireplaces.  When his spokesman (Myers doesn't speak with the media or the little people) is asked about the massive shutdown of schools and parishes, one is told that it is necessitated by "changing demographics."  What that frequently repeated euphemism means is that hundreds of thousands of souls, who were baptized in the faith and raised in Catholic homes and schools, no longer practice their faith because they are repulsed by one of the state's most notorious crime bosses, John J. Myers.

Having lived in the Newark Archdiocese for 10 years, your editor can attest to the truth "that where sin abounded, grace did more abound."  The Archdiocese has many, very holy, Christ-like priests who labor tirelessly in evangelizing and building the Kingdom of God.  There are also many groups and saintly individuals who persevere in their faith despite the corruption and often persecution by the one who should be their teacher, shepherd and sanctifier.  

If our Holy Father means what he says, it is time the Church in Newark had a leader worthy of her people and her founder.  Co-adjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda is in place and ready to begin the rebuilding.

Cast Out Myers with Prayer and Fasting

Archbishops Bernard Hebda and John J. Myers: A stark contrast

Far better days are ahead for the scandal-plagued Newark Archdiocese and all that it has suffered under America's worst archbishop, John J. Myers.  Given the stark contrast between the arrogant, insensitive and corrupt Myers and the obvious goodness of his Coadjutor Archbishop and successor, Bernard Hebda, why would the Holy See subject the people of the Newark Archdiocese to the imperious Myers for one day more?  If prayer and fasting are necessary to casting out demons, Lent is the perfect time to pray for a swift change of leadership in Newark.

Yesterday, The Record looked at these two, very different clergymen.

Opposition Mounts to Half Million Dollar Expansion of Bishop of Bling's Retirement Home

The corrupt, aloof and arrogant Bishop of Bling, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, apparently didn't get the memo sent by numerous Popes, that his is a role of service to others, not to one's self, and that he is to build the Kingdom, not an empire.  

As we have noted many times, this corrupt thug deserves a prison cell, not a lordly manor.  If the Holy See wishes to restore the Church's moral authority and couple its words with action, they should remove this cancer on the Body of Christ.  If he can't find anything useful to do for anyone, he should return to his home diocese of Peoria and support himself -- in the splendid isolation he craves, and far from those he disdains.

A Church So Poor It Has to Close Schools, Yet So Rich It Can Build a Palace

The latest scandal from America's worst bishop

Abp. John J. Myers' retirement estate: a picture of rapacious greed, corruption and scandal

KEARNY, N.J. — Mater Dei Academy sits shuttered, blue drapes pulled across its windows, atop a hill in this working-class city. From its steps, you can peer across the mist-shrouded expanse of the Meadowlands to the distant spires of Manhattan.

For generations, this blond brick Catholic elementary school tossed a lifeline to the immigrants who, wave upon wave, washed ashore here. The Archdiocese of Newark closed it two years ago. Church officials offered deep regrets; the church’s wallet is thin to the touch these days.

“It was a loved place, that school,” said Dorothy Gawronski, a crossing guard holding a red “Stop” sign. “But the church, I don’t think it’s rich anymore.”

All of which brings me along a winding and narrow road that switches back and forth across the wooded Capoolong Creek to a splendid 8.5-acre spread in the hamlet of Pittstown. This is rural and rather affluent Hunterdon County, 49 miles from Mater Dei. 

John J. Myers, the archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese, comes to this vacation home on many weekends. The 4,500-square-foot home has a handsome amoeba-shaped swimming pool out back. And as he’s 72, and retirement beckons in two years, he has renovations in mind. A small army of workers are framing a 3,000-square-foot addition. 

Read more at The New York Times >>

Finally, a Shepherd for Newark; Welcome, Archbishop Hebda!

Pope Francis greets Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda

"This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein."

After suffering for more than a decade under one of America's worst bishops, the Archdiocese of Newark has reason for hope with the installation today of Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda.  He will share leadership of the Archdiocese with John J. Myers, until the latter's retirement in no more than three years.

The pleas of many have been heard by Pope Francis with this appointment.  And it is the most important appointment yet made in the United States by this Holy Father.  Finally, an aloof, cold, arrogant and unapproachable monarch will be replaced by a true shepherd, an alter-Christus, who radiates Christ's love in carrying out the Church's salvific mission.

I came to recognize how utterly unsuited for pastoral leadership Archbishop Myers is shortly after he arrived in Newark.  In his knee-jerk defense of priests, against the legitimate complaints of laymen, he attempted to suppress the Archdiocese's rich diversity of ethnic parishes - particularly Polish parishes, which happen to be among the most vibrant, faithful and orthodox parishes to be found anywhere.  Perhaps because he came from the much more homogeneous Peoria, or more likely because he believes no layman should question any decision by clergy, Myers would not meet with the faithful or consider the viewpoints that were expressed in many letters, prayer vigils, demonstrations and boycotts of Archdiocesan charities.  I wrote the op-ed below at the height of Myers' anti-Polish pogrom.

Myers has closed approximately 75 parochial schools and many churches, but his arrogant indifference to legitimate grievances became his undoing when the general public, the media and state political leaders became aware of his scandalous coddling of priests guilty of the sexual molestation of children.  Myers should be in prison, but we are grateful that Pope Francis has replaced him with a man who appears to be his polar opposite.

Ironically, after all of Myers' contempt for the faithful Polish parishes of the Archdiocese, he will be replaced by a Polish-speaking, Polish-American.  

We wish Archbishop Bernard Hebda God's grace, peace and joy.  May he be strengthened for the enormous task ahead of him in rebuilding the Lord's Church in Newark.

A Patron for Polonia

By Daniel J. Cassidy

(Published in The Post Eagle, 12/27/06

Plans are well underway by the Archdiocese of Newark to close or convey to another rite or ethnic group one of Polonia’s most important and magnificent churches, St. Casimir’s Church, the Polish “Basilica of the Ironbound,” and a National Historic Site.  This jewel-like church reflects in every tile, fresco and stained glass window, the heroic story of a people who have been at the vortex of the conflict between good and evil because as a nation and a people their very identity is found in Christ Himself and His Blessed Mother.  The walls of St. Casimir’s Church remind all that enter of the price to be paid by those who unite themselves with Christ’s suffering and follow Him closely.  Those walls tell the story of the Polish people and the terror, torture, execution and death of holy nuns, priests, noble soldiers and the humble faithful.  We sense also, in the splendor of that holy temple, that where the cross is, there also is the resurrection.  When it is dark enough, one can see stars!

Once again the Archdiocese of Newark has declared war on its own people.  The battle to save St. Casimir’s, and all the parishes targeted for destruction, is a spiritual conflict, but this spiritual battle is one the Polish people are particularly graced to win.

The life of St. Casimir, Patron of both Poland and this Newark church, shines through the centuries as a rebuke to those who would destroy it.  An earthly king’s son, born to wealth and power, St. Casimir would kneel through the night, in snow and rain, before the locked doors of churches, uniting himself to Christ within.  He rejected the offer of foreign thrones; he wore the plainest of clothes and hair shirts; saw riches as temptations that warred against his soul; he slept on the bare floor; was known for charitable works and for fiercely defending the right despite ridicule and humiliation.  He was a Prince who defied his father out of love for an even greater King.  After his death at the age of 23, whole volumes were written about his powerful and miraculous intercession, and his body was found incorrupt 120 years after his death.

And who is it that would destroy a church built in honor of Saint Casimir and loved for a century by his spiritual heirs?  A farmer’s son who fancies $300 custom-made shirts, who uses the donations of hard working, faithful Catholics to purchase a Hunterdon County estate, and there builds a swimming pool for his personal enjoyment while closing churches and schools; an ambitious prelate who is reported by associates to speculate on choice appointments that might facilitate his entering the College of Cardinals; a shepherd of souls who takes public relations tours of Poland, paid for by his fellow travelers, but refuses to meet with Polish-Americans entrusted to his care when they oppose their eviction from and the closing of their historic churches; a successor to the Apostles who excuses the buggery of children and even attempted to reinstate a priest suspended for the sexual abuse of children.  According to the Dallas Morning News, when the priest’s victims could not obtain a meeting with their bishop, and instead expressed their outrage through the media, Myers commented that he “didn’t realize they would be so upset.”

The consultants from Seattle who assist Archbishop Myers in managing the collapse of Catholic life in the Archdiocese of Newark have asked if St. Casimir’s can support itself.  The question Polonia should ask is whether or not the Archbishop of Newark can support himself.  Certainly, with a vast network of closed schools and churches to rent, redevelop and sell, investment properties, and a massive stock portfolio, the Archbishop of Newark should not need the contributions of poor and working people to support his luxurious lifestyle.

It may be hard to appeal to the heart and conscience of such a man, but the people of St. Casimir’s, and all of Polonia, cannot lose the spiritual battle before them.  Their opponents usually fail to grasp how tenacious the Polish people are in defending their freedom, faith and heritage.  A valiant defender of the right himself, Sir Winston Churchill observed that despite its long bondage, occupying powers had been unable to extinguish the spirit of the Polish nation.  He prophesied: “the heroic defense of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible and that she will rise again like a rock which may, for a time, be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock.”

An ambitious prelate with a taste for the high life will not endure in a spiritual battle against the determined efforts of faithful Poles fighting in solidarity for their faith and culture with support from the hierarchy in Poland and Rome.  Surely they will have the intercession of the holy and powerful Saint Casimir.  The saint who prayed outside the locked doors of churches is a particularly apt patron not only for Polish-Americans, but also for all the faithful in the Newark Archdiocese.  And when the battle is long ended and the Church in America is cleansed of the current scandals and restored to holiness, perhaps a Polish artisan will add a new fresco to the walls of Saint Casimir’s commemorating yet another chapter in the strife of truth with falsehood, the battle to save that holy place.

Newark To Get Coadjutor Archbishop

"A coadjutor bishop is usually appointed when a current bishop needs significant help in his ministry." 

Archbishop John Myers of Newark speaks at the U.S. bishops annual fall meeting in Baltimore last year. (CNS/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)

Pope Francis will appoint a coadjutor archbishop to the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., tomorrow to assist Archbishop John J. Myers in his ministry, NCR has learned.

Bernard A. Hebda, 54, currently bishop of Gaylord, Mich., will be named coadjutor archbishop of Newark on Tuesday, sources close to the process have told NCR.

Myers is 72 years old, putting him about three years away from mandatory retirement. He has been a bishop for 26 years and archbishop of Newark since 2001.

Newark has four auxiliary bishops, two in their 50s and two in their 70s.

It is common for bishops of large dioceses to be assisted by one or more auxiliary bishops, who generally exercise authority in the name of the local bishop over a defined territory or administrative responsibility. A coadjutor bishop is usually appointed when a current bishop needs significant help in his ministry.

Read more at National Catholic Reporter >>

Standing up to Newark Archbishop John Myers: Opinion

Guest Editorial from the Star-Ledger

By Robert M. Hoatson

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers celebrates Memorial Day Mass earlier this year at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, NJ    .Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger

It was sometime in the late 1980s and I was working on my doctoral dissertation in my fifth-floor bedroom in a Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, walk-up occupied by the Irish Christian Brothers. I picked up a copy of the National Catholic Reporter and read a piece about a bishop from Peoria, Ill., John J. Myers, who was making a name for himself by stressing orthodoxy and recruiting large numbers of vocations to the priesthood for the Peoria diocese.

What struck me most glaringly, however, was how mean Myers was toward people who may not have lived up to his standard of Catholic teaching. It was clear from the article that Myers was on the fast track among the church hierarchy, but the faithful — some of whom were excoriated by Myers for this or that offense against supposed church teachings — did not quite know how to judge the new bishop of Peoria and found his methods less than pastoral. 

Archbishop Myers Responds to Star-Ledger Editorial

Archbishop John J. Myers has responded to an insightful and damning editorial published by the Star-Ledger yesterday, in response to an earlier letter Myers sent to priests.

As the Star-Ledger put it, every response from Myers and his spokesman "boggles the mind."  Desperately clinging to his perquisites and power, he fails to show any remorse, responsibility for victims or compassion for those wounded.  We aren't inclined to offer this Church wrecker helpful advice, but if he were to spend any money on a competent public relations firm, the first thing they would say is "stop talking."

His most recent statement once again highlights all the procedures to ensure that priests of the diocese, the blue-haired ladies in the school lunch room, the Knights of Columbus serving up pancakes and the dedicated mother teaching CCD undergo criminal background checks and training.  Unfortunately, the problems don't concern procedure and protocols or those being vetted as much as they do an irresponsible, cold, aloof and indifferent Archbishop.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that 10,667 individuals had made allegations of child sexual abuse against 4,392 Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002, and that most such acts took place between 1960 and 1984. The 4,392 priests made up 4% of all Catholic priests.  Of these, fewer than 2% had credible allegations lodged against them, and many of those had died and could not defend themselves.  The scandal, which Myers alone among the American bishops continues to fuel, concerns not the one percent of priests who were guilty of moral turpitude, and it certainly didn't involve to any significant degree teachers, lunch-room workers, janitorial staff and lay volunteers to whom Myers continually seeks to divert attention.  The scandal centers on the more than half of all American bishops who sought to cover up criminal activity, who failed to notify parishes of the predator in their midst, and who bent over backwards protecting priests they should never have ordained, while lives were ruined and families were left devastated.

So read the Archbishop's latest defense of himself linked here.  It is yet another example of this very embarrassing Church leader's total lack of Christian compassion and humanity.  His own words condemn him.  He is obviously going to cling to power regardless of how much damage is done to the Church in Newark and beyond. For the sake of some very good and holy priests in the Archdiocese and for the long-suffering lay faithful, we pray that God will remove him and that healing may begin.

Newark Needs A Spiritual Father, Not Another Crime Boss

The disgraced and discredited Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, has lashed out like a cornered rat at his critics, the media, politicians, members of the clergy and even the families of victims whose safety he utterly disregarded.  In response, today's Star-Ledger rightly states that "it boggles the mind that in 2013 an archbishop would dare speak of families like this." 

It boggles the mind, indeed, that any Christian leader would be allowed to wreak the destruction this man has caused in the Archdiocese of Newark.  His haughty contempt and refusal to meet with anyone disagreeing with him is well known, but the irreparable damage he has caused to peoples lives, to the salvation of souls driven out of the Church, to the Church's institutions like the approximately 70 schools closed by Myers, and the scores of once vibrant parishes now boarded up are testament to a pompous ass who seeks not to serve, but to be served.

His only apparent defender appears to be Bill Donohue of the Catholic League.  Since it is well known that Donohue speaks for the Catholic hierarchy and certainly for his own Archbishop, Cardinal Dolan, who also presides over the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, one must ask, how much damage will this unstable narcissist  be allowed to wreak before any bishop here or abroad speaks out?  What price will they pay?  Bishops like Myers have already cost the Church more than $2 billion.  Have they no moral responsibility beyond loyalty to a brother bishop?  They may wish to ponder the words of Saint Ambrose:  "Not only for every idle word, but for every idle silence must man render an account."

Thanks be to God for the Star-Ledger for exposing the corruption.  That newspaper's editorial board published today a succinct and excellent summary of this ongoing tragedy in Newark; but it is in the comments to the editorial, linked here, where one can grasp the pain, alienation and justified anger felt by those who expect their bishop to mirror Christ and the Apostles, not a crime boss. 

 

Archbishop's letter offers abundant falsehoods, no apologies: Editorial

Last weekend’s letter from Newark Archbishop John J. Myers regarding his handling of sexual abuse cases is so crowded with falsehoods and insults that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

What’s most revealing is what is missing: There’s not a single word of sympathy for the victims and their families. Myers instead insults them by suggesting they are blaming the church for problems in their own families. “One can understand when family difficulties lead parents, even by conjecture, to blame someone outside the family,” he wrote. “But conjecture is no reason to undermine the Ministry of individual Priests (or Bishops for that matter.)”

It boggles the mind that in 2013 an archbishop would dare speak of families like this. But it is vintage Myers. While many bishops are working hard to rehabilitate the church, he offers only haughty disdain for those who question his judgment.

This time, he calls his critics “evil, wrong, and immoral” and suggests that they may burn in hell: “God will surely address them in due time.”

The latest damning information comes from a lawsuit the church recently settled for $1.35 million. It accuses Myers of ignoring a credible accusation against a priest on his watch. The lawsuit claimed that the Rev. Thomas Maloney went on to repeatedly abuse an 8-year-old boy.

In his deposition, Myers says he never saw written warnings that went to the diocese, perhaps because of his “slipshod” filing system. If that were true, if it was an innocent mistake, you would expect Myers to offer a heartfelt apology to the victim and his family for his failure to red-flag these cases. Instead, he has refused for years to meet with them.

In his letter to the diocese last weekend, Myers concedes that Maloney gave him gifts, but mentions only one: “I recall that he once gave me a coin of minimal value, of which he had several examples.”

The court records tell a different story. Thank-you notes from Myers describe a steady stream of valuable gifts, including gold coins, silver, a “much-loved” camera and undisclosed amounts of cash, which Myers said he would use to gamble at the racetrack.

Put aside these small falsehoods and insults. Because they mean nothing when measured against Myers’ failure to safeguard children.

Maloney is just one case. While in Newark, Myers allowed the Rev. Michael Fugee access to children even after Fugee confessed to repeatedly groping a boy’s genitals and signed a legal agreement to stay away from children. Last year, he placed an accused priest in a parish in Oradell without telling parishioners.

In 2004, Myers wrote a letter of recommendation for a priest one week after learning the priest had been accused of breaking into a woman’s house and assaulting her. The same year, he banned another priest from public ministry after investigating an abuse allegation, but did not notify lay people or other priests. In 2007, he did not tell lay people about a credible finding of molestation against a priest working in Elizabeth and Jersey City.

Myers just doesn’t get it. His complete lack of repentance underscores the need for him to resign for the sake of children’s safety.

Archbishop John J. Myers, For God's Sake, GO!

"If Myers is incapable of guaranteeing the safety of children in Catholic-run facilities, he should no longer be the head of the Newark archdiocese."

For God's Sake, GO! 

The images from Rio de Janeiro of wholesome, zealous youths in love with Jesus Christ, His Vicar and His Church give great hope for a renewal of faith and a Church worthy of its founder, but what responsible parent of New Jersey teens would let their children go off to Rio in the company of any priest under the authority of John J. Myers?  He has never shown any regard for them or the safety of their children, only his priests.  It is time to demand his removal so that the Church in New Jersey can join the rest of the universal Church in a New Springtime of growth and holiness.  

If concerned parents and Catholic laymen stop feeding the corruption, withhold contributions and demand new leadership, the Holy See will remove this bad shepherd as they did in Boston and elsewhere. We have every right to demand and expect Church leadership that is better than a crime syndicate. 

Here's an editorial from today's Herald News with which we heartily agree. 

 

Fr. Thomas Iwanowski thought inviting a child molester to live in the rectory next to a parochial school would be a good idea; his boss agreed

.A PASTOR in Oradell allowed a priest to stay in his rectory who had been accused of sexually molesting a teenage boy. The Rev. Thomas Iwanowski and a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark said allowing Monsignor Robert Chabak to stay at St. Joseph's rectory was "an act of compassion." We ask: "To whom?"

Certainly not to the boy who was allegedly molested in the 1970s. The archdiocese removed Chabak from ministry in 2004 after it determined there was credible evidence to support the allegations. The statute of limitations had passed and no criminal charges were filed. This May, the archdiocese was made aware of a second allegation regarding Chabak.

Iwanowski has known Chabak for more than 40 years; they met in seminary. When Chabak's home in Toms River was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, the archdiocese gave him permission to stay at the rectory in Oradell. St. Joseph School is a block away.

The church's pastor has resigned effective July 31, saying it was a mutual decision between him and the archdiocese and had nothing to do with the Chabak incident. Some disagree that the resignation had nothing to do with Chabak. It is a small point either way.

What is not so small is that the archdiocese thought it was appropriate to allow someone it had removed from active ministry because of a credible sexual-abuse allegation to live in a parish rectory near a school and not tell parishioners or be concerned that the priest could venture out. Chabak was not under house arrest; he was free to go wherever he chose and the archdiocese continues to minimize the potential risks this raised for children and, of lesser consequence, the damage these kinds of decisions have on the Catholic Church's reputation.

We can understand that Iwanowski felt compassion for someone he knew for more than 40 years, but the St. Joseph rectory was not Iwanowski's private home. A pastor is a temporary steward of a parish; his first responsibility is to his parishioners. There is no shortage of suitable housing for a temporarily displaced priest with Chabak's history. The archdiocese could have found appropriate lodging that was not in a parish setting.

This incident, coupled with recent revelations that the Rev. Michael Fugee allegedly violated a court agreement to not have unsupervised contact with children, paints a picture of either an archdiocese out of control, incapable of monitoring priests who may pose a danger to children, or an archdiocese that continues to put the welfare of its clergy before the welfare of everyone else. Either scenario is unacceptable.

The Vatican should investigate these repeated lapses of judgment. In the wake of the Fugee scandal, some top diocesan officials resigned; not Archbishop John J. Myers. We do not accept the excuse made by the archdiocese in the Fugee case that it is not capable of closely monitoring its own clergy. If Myers is incapable of guaranteeing the safety of children in Catholic-run facilities, he should no longer be the head of the Newark archdiocese. This is not a gray area, this is a black-and-white decision.

It is imperative that the Vatican investigate and decide what needs to be done in Newark. There is no more precious treasure in our society than our children. Apparently, officials in the Archdiocese of Newark still don't understand that.

Another Scandal Rocks Newark Archdiocese, Child Molester Invited to Live In Rectory Next to Parish School

Father Thomas Iwanowski Invites Child Molester Friend to Live in Rectory

Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

For over five years, I was involved in opposing Father Thomas Iwanowski's efforts to strip an historically Polish parish of its Polish identity.  For that matter, I was first motivated because of his efforts to strip Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Jersey City of its Catholic identity.  

From his arrival in the mid nineties, until his blessed departure in 2010, Iwanowski bitterly divided the parish, stripped it of ornamental detail and beauty, eliminated Polish language ministry and liturgies, eliminated devotions and encouraged those who did not like his "my way or the highway" administrative style, to leave.  At the height of controversy over Iwanowski's wreckovation of the parish, no less than The New York Times characterized his liturgies as "Unitarian."

During his tenure at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, Iwanowski spent 4 days of every week at the beach home of child molester Monsignor Robert Chabak.  Chabak was also a frequent "house guest" of his longtime friend and companion, Father Thomas Iwanowski.  Now, that long-time relationship has become only the latest scandal to rock the Archdiocese of Newark.

All of these many scandals have a common "ringleader" and source.  Archbishop John J. Myers has acted as would a Capo di tutti capi, who is only concerned with protecting the priests of his crime syndicate.  He has shown no concern, compassion or responsibility toward the families of the Newark Archdiocese and their children.  

It is long-past time for the corrupt and arrogant tenure of Archbishop John J. Myers to end.  We appeal, as so many leaders throughout the state of New Jersey already have, for the Papal Nuncio and the Holy See to intervene, remove the criminal head of this archdiocese, and send in his place a caring, holy and loving Archbishop.  The faithful have suffered far too long under a string of Archbishops only concerned with their careers, power and perquisites.  If the Church is to have any credibility in New Jersey, bold, swift and decisive action is needed to replace systemic corruption with true representatives of Jesus Christ.

Priest who allowed accused molester to live in parish says he may have made a mistake

From the The Star-Ledger

ORADELL — A Catholic priest conceded today that he may have made a mistake by arranging for a former priest once accused of molesting a teenage boy to stay in the rectory of his Bergen County parish.

"Hindsight is 20-20," the Rev. Thomas Iwanowski of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Oradell said after services on his next-to-last Sunday there.

Iwanowski is being removed from St. Joseph by the Archdiocese of Newark as of July 31 in the wake of a scandal over the arrangement that allowed the accused priest to live at the rectory. The situation was the subject of a report in The Sunday Star-Ledger.

It was with the permission of the archdiocese that Iwanowski, 64, allowed the Rev. Robert Chabak to stay in the rectory after his mother’s home in Toms River, where he had been living, was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. The church’s elementary school is across the street from the rectory, while the middle school building is right next door.

Parishioners were not told that Chabak, 66, a friend of Iwanowski’s since the two attended seminary together four decades ago, would be staying at the rectory and only learned of his past after he was transferred to a retirement home in February. But even after that, parishioners said, Chabak would return to St. Joseph’s to spend the night. Some grew angry and demanded he be kept away.

"Obviously, looking back, Monsignor Chabak and I, if we knew this was going to be such a difficult decision, maybe we would have moved in a different direction," Iwanowski told reporters after the 12:30 mass. "But we tried to make a compassionate decision."

Iwanowski said he will be reassigned to another parish, though he did not know where.

Chabak was removed from the ministry in 2004 after church officials said there was credible evidence that he molested a teenage boy during a three-year period in the 1970s. The statute of limitation had expired on criminal prosecution of the crime, and he was never charged. Chabak, now back in the Toms River house, declined to comment last week.

Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Newark Archbishop John Myers, said the arrangement had been permitted, "out of a sense of compassion."

Criminal ringleader John J. Myers

 But some parishioners called it reckless. One of them, Daniel O’Toole, who led the effort to remove Chabak, said Iwanowski and Myers were "spectacularly tone deaf" considering other sexual abuse scandals. Most recently, Myers faced calls for his own resignation following revelations that the Rev. Michael Fugee had extensive interaction with teenagers despite being banned for life from ministering to children. Fugee has since been charged with violating a judicial order.

Iwanowski said O’Toole was using the Chabak matter to force him out after the two disagreed over measures the pastor had taken to balance the budget of the parish school. Iwanowski said he had decided to raise tuition 10 percent, lay off teachers who provided religious education only, and have homeroom teachers handle religion, which would also allow them to weave religious teachings into standard academic subjects.

He said O’Toole had publicly opposed the measures during a parish school meeting two or three months ago.

The Rev. Thomas Iwanowski resigned as pastor of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church after the Rev. Robert Chabak continued to sleep at the parish.St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church 

O’Toole, a 46-year-old attorney with three children at St. Joseph, dismissed the assertion as "subterfuge."

"I don’t at all dispute that I’ve had problems with Tom’s leadership over the past two or three years," O’Toole, who is boycotting St. Joseph until Iwanowski is gone, said in a telephone interview. But he added, "I’m not using people who are sexual victims as excuses. I’m bringing something to the attention to the archdiocese, and I was disappointed to learn that they knew about it, and they not only knew, they gave him permission."

Robert Hoatson, a former priest now with Road to Recovery, a group that supports victims of clergy sexual abuse, was outside the church on Sunday urging parishioners to withhold monetary contributions until reforms are in place to insure transparency. Hoatson said the responses by Iwanowski and the archdiocese to the Chabak affair exemplified the church’s arrogance.

"How do you explain after Fugee — during Fugee — that they do this with Chabak?" Hoatson said. "It’s arrogance to the hilt."

Several St. Joseph parishioners declined to comment after mass in the church’s airy, brightly lit sanctuary, where a live band of drums and, variously, guitar, piano and organ accompanied a female vocalist. Iwanowski did not discuss the Chabak matter during the service, whose themes included compassion and giving God one’s full attention.

One parishioner who did speak afterward, Phil Follety, 62 of New Milford, said it was too soon to judge Iwanowski or anyone else.

"It’s something that’s been tried in the press and we don’t have much information," said Follety, who was in church with his wife and teenaged son. "As religion is under fire in this country today, I think we have to unify."

Editor's Note:

You've wreaked ruin and destruction, Archbishop.  For God's sake, GO!

Call the Archdiocese of Newark and let Myers know what you think:  973-497-4000.

His spokesman, James Goodness, can be E-mailed at: goodneja@rcan.org

Write to the Pope's representative to the United States:

His Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
Papal Nuncio to the United States
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20008

Phone: (202) 333-7121

Faithful Continue Calls for Resignation of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers

He's hired a top-notch criminal lawyer, but when it comes to public relations and media savvy, the Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, is about as tone-deaf and ill-advised as anyone on the planet. 

He had an admitted pedophile among his priests and contrary to agreements with local prosecutors, he not only allowed Father Michael Fugee to provide ministry to local youth groups, hear their confessions and participate in over-night outings, he put Father Fugee in charge of an office that oversees priestly formation --  just what the Church needs, more priests like Father Michael Fugee!

After a media and grassroots firestorm had somewhat subsided, Archbishop Myers decided to stir the pot and open raw wounds with an extended interview granted to the National Catholic Register.  In the course of the interview, and in characteristic fashion, Myers blamed everyone but himself for the scandal, insisting that he acted in a "professional" manner. 

First of all, when everyone has finally stopped talking about an embarrassing story involving you, you don't give an interview and bring it all back to public attention.

Secondly, like the woman insisting she is "a lady," if you have to tell people how "professional" you are, you're NOT.

Finally, to say that civil authorities should have "supervisory" responsibilities over wayward priests, not the Archbishop, is a statement he is bound to regret.  Is that a principle he will be applying to under-performing parochial schools?  Will he yield to civil authorities when they want to bug a confessional?  Should state and federal governments be overseeing Archdiocesan finances since the Archbishop didn't notice a mere $40 million in Medicare and Medicaid over-payments to the Archdiocese?

We don't like Archbishop Myers.  He is a cold, proud and pompous windbag, more concerned with assigning blame than winning souls.  He came to Newark to be served, not to serve; but even we recognize that he is not this stupid.  There's something clearly wrong with him and we hope the Papal Nuncio and the Holy See will soon usher him into early retirement.  The Archdiocese of Newark needs powerful proclamation of the Good News and the fruits of the New Evangelization under a faithful, holy and loving shepherd.

Archdiocese of Newark: One Resignation Submitted, One Still Needed

A Bad Shepherd: Archbishop John J. Myers

Archbishop John J. Myers probably thinks he's off the hook with the (forced?) resignation of Father Michael Fugee.  But as with another arrogant, corrupt American churchman, Cardinal Law, Myers is going to find it impossible to appear in public or say Mass in his own cathedral.  He's also going to find that Catholic school enrollments will drop and Sunday collections will dry up.  If he has any shred of decency, he will submit the resignation that the overwhelming number of Catholics in New Jersey and throughout the United States are demanding.  

You've wreaked ruin and destruction, Archbishop.  For God's sake, GO!

Call the Archdiocese of Newark and let Myers know what you think:  973-497-4000.

His spokesman, James Goodness, can be E-mailed at: goodneja@rcan.org

The Pope's representative to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, can be reached at 202-333-7121.

Priest at center of Newark Archdiocese scandal quits ministry

The Roman Catholic priest at the center of a public furor enveloping Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has resigned from ministry, a spokesman for the archdiocese said tonight.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on such behavior, submitted his request to leave ministry this afternoon, said the spokesman, Jim Goodness. Myers promptly accepted the resignation, Goodness said.

Fugee, 52, remains a priest but no longer has authority to say Mass, perform sacramental work or represent himself as an active priest, Goodness said. It was not immediately clear if Fugee or Myers would petition the Vatican to remove him from the priesthood altogether, a process known as laicization.

Asked if Myers had requested that Fugee step aside, Goodness said, “I only know that he offered to leave ministry and the archbishop accepted.”

Under terms of a 2007 agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Fugee is not permitted to have unsupervised contact with children, minister to children or hold any position in which children are involved.

Read more at the Star-Ledger >>

 

New Jersey Legislators Demand Archbishop's Resignation; Call Myers' Behavior "Sickening"

"And see if there are any vacant basilicas in Rome where I can hideout like Cardinal Law"

Greeting the deepest crisis of his 12-year tenure with silence, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers faced new calls for his resignation yesterday from two New Jersey lawmakers, who blasted him for allowing a priest to minister to children despite a lifetime ban on such interaction.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said the archbishop has displayed "arrogance" and a lack of common sense over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, who admitted fondling a 14-year-boy in 2001.

Under the terms of a binding agreement with authorities six years later, Fugee and the archdiocese vowed the priest would not work in any position involving children.

Yet for the past several years, Fugee has attended youth retreats, heard confessions from minors in private rooms and traveled to Canada with children from a Monmouth County parish, The Star-Ledger reported earlier this week.

"Enough is enough," said Vitale, who has pushed for laws that aid victims of sexual abuse. "Based on everything that’s happened, not just in New Jersey but around the country and the world, you have to follow the spirit of the law, and they have not done that in this case. Zero tolerance is zero tolerance."

Read more at the Star-Ledger >>