NEW YORK
NorthJersey.com
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
A priest sued the Newark Archdiocese and other Catholic agencies Tuesday, accusing them of doing nothing to stop clergy abuse and retaliating against him for helping victims.
The suit, filed by the Rev. Robert Hoatson in U.S. District Court, Manhattan, also alleges that three of the region's top Catholic clerics, including Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, are active homosexuals. The other two named in the suit are Cardinal Edward Egan of the New York Archdiocese and Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Albany Diocese.
Hoatson also said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a former Newark archbishop who now runs the Archdiocese of Washington, is gay, although McCarrick is not named as a defendant.
The suit alleges that Hoatson has "personal knowledge" of the clerics' sexual behavior, but provides no evidence to back the claim. Hoatson's lawyer, John A. Aretakis, said the purpose wasn't to condemn homosexuality but to show that the bishops are morally compromised and can't discipline sexual offenders among their subordinates.