Emotions Run High in Colts Neck As Priest Resigns
By Kevin Penton
With hugs, tears and wistful smiles, hundreds of parishioners gathered at St. Mary’s Church on Friday to share their emotions and their concerns about the presence of the Rev. Michael Fugee amidst their congregation. As they spoke with each other outside the community meeting, held a day after Fugee submitted his letter of resignation, some parishioners questioned the actions of St. Mary’s leaders in allowing Fugee to be part of a youth group at the church. Several wiped tears. An agreement with prosecutors, reached after Fugee’s conviction on charges that he fondled a teenage boy were thrown out, had been unequivocal. Fugee could return to ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark, but was barred from having unsupervised contact with minors or a job that requires him to oversee or minister to children under the age of 18. But despite the legally binding agreement, Fugee was a presence at St. Mary’s, traveling with teenagers to Canada on a mission to help disabled Catholics, hearing confessions from teenagers and participating in retreat trips. Most parishioners leaving Friday’s gathering declined to speak. One man shook his head and said he felt “sad” about what occurred at his church. Rorie Coppola, a member of St. Mary’s since 1976, said she came to the meeting to get answers and to be together with those she has known for so long. “Mistakes were made,” Coppola said, “but we have to move forward from here.” After the meeting, Deacon Vincent Rinaldi declined to comment, referring questions to the archdiocese. In his resignation letter, Fugee said the archdiocese was unaware of his youth ministry work. “My failure to request the required permissions to engage in those ministry activities is my fault, my fault alone,” Fugee wrote. “I am sorry that my actions have caused pain to my Church and to her people.” But that hasn’t stopped victim advocates and politicians, including gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, from calling for the resignation of Archbishop John J. Myers, who oversaw Fugee. Archdiocese spokesman James Goodness called such comments “rash and reckless.” He said the archdiocese followed all rules set down by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in dealing with Fugee. But exactly how those rules square with the agreement that allowed Fugee to remain in the priesthood is unclear. The child protection policy, formally known as the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, states that a priest should be permanently removed from ministry “for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor—whenever it occurred—which is admitted or established.” Thomas Plante, a psychologist who has served on the bishops’ National Review Board and counsels sex offender priests, said only a reasonable accusation is needed for removal and most priests and bishops are “hyper-vigilant” about the issues. “It doesn’t matter if the person is convicted of a crime or not,” Plante said. “All you need is a reasonable accusation.” Criminal case The details of Fugee’s criminal case are clear. He confessed to police that, during a vacation to Virginia with a parishioner and her son from his Wykoff church in 2000, he wrestled with the boy and “grabbed his crotch” and became sexually “excited” by what he’d done. Although his lawyers argued at trial his confession was coerced, Fugee was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact. But Fugee’s conviction was thrown out after the courts revised jury instructions tied to a procedural aspect of the case. Prosecutors opted not to retry him. Instead, they reached an agreement with Fugee and the archdiocese in July 2007 that reinstated Fugee as a priest — the archdiocese said he was removed from ministry in 2000 — and prohibited him from working with children. Goodnesssaid the local archdiocesan review board concluded that “sexual abuse did not take place” and Fugee could serve as a priest. Fugee was longtime friends with Amy and Michael Lenehan, lay youth group ministers at St. Mary’s. He spent time at the church and participated in at least three youth retreats, two in New Jersey and one in Canada, said Margaret Franklin, whose children were on those retreats with Fugee. Photos show Fugee with children as well. Franklin said she has seen Fugee at the church for at least 18 years. Her daughter received confession from him in a room with no one else present last year, she said. “What we were told was that the boy had recanted his story, that he was just looking for his 15 minutes to persecute a priest and the whole thing had been recanted and dropped,” Franklin said. “And I have to say that personally I feel somewhat betrayed because it clearly was misrepresented to the parents.” The Lenehans did not return calls for comment or respond to a note left at their house. A lawyer for Fugee also did not return calls. Officials in the Diocese of Trenton insist they were not informed about Fugee — a requirement under church rules for a priest accused of abuse — and did not grant him permission to minister in the diocese. Goodness said the Archdiocese of Newark did not know Fugee was ministering in other dioceses until they were contacted by a reporter two weeks ago. Fugee did not seek permission for his work, Goodness said. Myers accepted Fugee’s resignation letter Thursday night. Fugee remains an archdiocesan priest, but cannot wear clerical clothing or publicly present himself as a priest. Goodness said the diocese does not know if it will petition to remove Fugee from the priesthood. Prosecutors said they have reopened Fugee’s case to see if the memorandum was violated.
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