Buono Calls for Newark Archbishop's Resignation over Defense of Molester Priest
By Jeff Green And Michael Linhorst
In a clash of politics and religion, state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, set off a verbal battle with Governor Christie by questioning Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ ability to lead amid revelations that a former assistant pastor was hearing one-to-one confessions during youth retreats in spite of restrictions barring him from working around children. Although Christie said he was “disturbed” by the allegations, he called Buono’s intervention “irresponsible” and said he will talk to Myers “to find out his side of the story” before judging the archbishop’s actions. During a press conference in Camden, he accused Buono of poor leadership and for issuing her statement “purely based upon media accounts.” In response, Buono said “leadership is protecting our children from sexual predators, no matter who they are.” Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokes¬man, said Buono’s remarks “represent a reckless rush to judgment without having a competent or thorough understanding of all of the facts.” He declined to respond to the governor’s comments, but said he and the archbishop have maintained a “very good relationship” going back to when Christie was a U.S. attorney and they met on occasion. They had not yet scheduled a meeting as of Wednesday night. The war of words came amid heightening outrage among parishioners, victims’ advocates and politicians over whether the archbishop should resign because of the controversy. The New Jersey chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a victims’ advocacy group, called for Myers to step down in a press conference outside the archdiocese headquarters Wednesday. Mark Crawford, the group’s director, demanded an investigation by the National Review Board, an advisory group set up by Roman Catholic bishops in 2002 to oversee the church’s child sex abuse crisis. “The archbishop repeatedly put kids in harm’s way, and such actions demand remedies,” he said. An investigation continued Wednesday to determine whether Fugee violated an agreement with Bergen County prosecutors to never again be unsupervised with children, minister to children or work with children so long as he remained a priest. Nonetheless, he attended weekend retreats and extended pilgrimages with the youth ministry of St. Mary’s parish in Colts Neck, in Monmouth County. Goodness, Myers’ spokesman, continued to defend Fugee on Wednesday, saying Fugee did nothing wrong because youth ministry staff members were supervising him. Goodness said archdiocesan officers have talked with prosecutors and are cooperating with their investigation. He declined to say whether investigators have talked to Fugee, who lives within the archdiocese. Goodness said Fugee did not want to “make himself available [for comment] right now.” Margaret Franklin, a St. Mary’s parishioner who attended a 2010 retreat with Fugee to Lake Hopatcong in Morris County, said she realized she had been deceived after reading media reports about his past earlier this week. She said one of the St. Mary’s youth ministers told her and other parents that the victim in Fugee’s 2001 case had recanted his story and he was cleared. Neither of those statements is true. “For me, I felt a great deal of betrayal in the sense we were blatantly lied to,” said Franklin, whose four children have been involved with the youth ministry for more than a decade. Michael Lenehan and his wife, Amy, longtime friends of Fugee, invited the priest on the 2010 retreat, another in Marlboro last fall and on pilgrimages to Canada when other priests were unavailable for confessions, the archdiocese has confirmed. Fugee was neither assigned to St. Mary’s parish nor assigned to work with youth, and the archdiocese did not give him permission or know about the activities until recent press inquiries, the archdiocese says. Officials with the Diocese of Trenton, which includes Monmouth County, and the Diocese of Paterson, whose territory includes Morris County, also have said they did not permit Fugee’s involvement with the youth ministry. On Monday, Trenton Bishop David M. O’Connell announced that Fugee was barred from any future activities with the diocese. It remained unclear Wednesday whether Fugee had cleared a background check or participated in sex abuse awareness training required of all Trenton diocese staff. Franklin said the Lenehans apparently acted on their own authority, and the Rev. Thomas Triggs never checked that they followed the proper procedures with Fugee. “For me, it is totally unbelievable – Mike, Amy and Fugee did this cowboy style, all Lone Ranger, all alone,” Franklin said. “They didn’t go to Paterson to get permission, didn’t go to Newark to get permission. Our priest should have asked if his paperwork is in order, should have been overseeing. That seems to be amiss.” Neither the Lenehans nor Triggs has responded to requests for comment. Franklin and some other parishioners have called on all three to step down from the church. But during a tense meeting Monday, which originally was intended for youth group members and parents to plan a event, the pastor defended the Lenehans, insisting that Fugee was supervised at all times and the church was “moving forward,” she said. The Lenehans defended Fugee at the meeting, saying that he recanted his confession to the alleged molestation, but under questioning from an irate parent acknowledged they knew about his agreement with prosecutors. Some children also praised Fugee, saying he had been “very helpful to their faith in their religion and beliefs,” one mother recalled. “The kids were all very shellshocked at the moment because this is somebody they liked and trusted,” the parishioner said. But the mother, who said “anger was flying around the room” during the meeting, said she found the situation “ambiguous” because Fugee had been supervised. “I believe these people,” she said. “I trust them with my child – they would never put her at risk intentionally.” Franklin pointedly disagreed. “[He] did confessions in a private room, which how do you supervise when you’re in a private room?” she said. Franklin’s 18-year-old daughter, Samara, who attended several trips with Fugee but never saw anything unusual, left the Monday meeting only a half-hour in after a girl shunned her for saying she felt betrayed by him. “She got verbally attacked by other girls and was told to leave,” Franklin said. “I doubt if she’ll go back. She was told she had no place there.” Fugee was accused of grabbing a 13-year-old boy’s crotch while play wrestling with him on several occasions in his family’s living room during 1999 and 2000. Fugee initially confessed but then recanted at trial, saying he felt coerced by police investigators. The boy involved, who declined to comment on the new investigation when reached by prosecutors Tuesday, had testified at trial in 2003 that Fugee “used” him and violated his trust. A jury found Fugee guilty of aggravated criminal sexual contact, but the conviction was overturned by an appellate panel that found that the trial judge should not have let the jury to hear a part of his confession in which he questioned his sexual identity. To avoid a new trial, Fugee entered a special probation program for first-time offenders in 2007. The terms of the program required him to serve a two-year probationary term, undergo sex-offender-specific counseling and have no contact with the victim. He also signed the agreement with prosecutors. When he finished serving probation in 2009, Archbishop Myers returned Fugee to the ministry after a review board examined his case and found that no sexual abuse occurred. A Vatican office confirmed the findings, which are confidential. Victims' advocates have criticized Myers for relying on an opaque process that supersedes law enforcement. They say the decision to restore Fugee’s status enabled him to participate with the youth ministry, even though he was not assigned to work with children. Goodness, Myers’ spokesman, said the review board looked over all of the court records in Fugee’s case and made a “very thorough” decision. He said the board, whose identities also are confidential, is comprised of “extremely capable and forthright people who are genuinely interested in finding out the facts of the situation.” In the fall of 2010, a judge declined to expunge Fugee’s criminal record. Email: greenj@northjersey.com
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