Worshipers Rally outside Newark Church to Protest Monsignor's Dismissal

By Eric Sagara
The Star-Ledger
January 6, 2013

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/01/catholics_rally_outside_newark.html

More than 100 Catholics converged on the Basilica Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark today, calling it their modern day Jericho.

NEWARK — More than 100 Catholics converged on the Basilica Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark today, calling it their modern day Jericho.

Their plan was to circle the towering church near the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark seven times, hoping to bring down what they say is a wall of silence around the decision to dismiss a monsignor and three priests from their parish in Elizabeth.

Instead of a horn, they carried signs declaring their support of the priests at St. Mary of Assumption Church and a list of questions they want Archbishop John Myers to answer.

“That’s the one thing that makes us upset,” said Maritsa Jaramillo, a St. Mary’s parishioner from Rahway. “He has to have time to talk to his people.

“He’s thinking as a corporation,” she said. “He’s not thinking as a human being.”

Jaramillo and other parishioners were told late last month that Msgr. Robert Harrington and Revs. Jack Martin, Pat Donohue and Esterminio Chica had been asked to leave.

Diocese officials pointed to Harrington's health and ongoing financial difficulties — the church owes the diocese about $1.4 million — as reasons behind the decision.

Jim Goodness, director of communications for the diocese, declined to comment and said parishioners could address their concerns to Rev. Charles Kelly, the priest assigned to oversee administrative operations of the church in Elizabeth.

Parishioners want a public acknowledgement that the four men ousted from St. Mary’s did nothing wrong and guarantees that the church’s social services and outreach programs will continue, among other things.

“When you want to eliminate a religious institution the first thing you do is get rid of the priests,” said Marilyn Iorio, also from Rahway. “The Archdiocese has said that the church and school would not be closed.

“We're concerned that he is lying.”

But her husband, Dominick Iorio, does not believe the group will get the answers they are seeking.

“I don’t think these walls are coming down,” he said.