Archbishop Myers" Luxury Addition Must Be the Last Straw: Moran

By Tom Moran
The Star-Ledger
March 3, 2014

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/03/archbishop_myers_luxury_addition_must_be_the_last_straw_moran.html

Archbihop John Myers, celebrating Mass on Memorial Day last year in North Arlington, has a taste for the finer things in life. (Economopoulos, Aristide)

It is tragic to hear Catholics say they will boycott Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ annual appeal this year as a protest against his decision to build a luxurious addition to his retirement home in Hunterdon County.

That will do concrete harm to people in need. It will deny money to the soup kitchens and homeless shelters run by Catholic Charities. And it will worsen the financial pinch at Catholic schools, many of which have already shut down for lack of funds.

It has also drained away any surviving scrap of credibility Myers clung to in the wake of his shameful failure to protect children from abusive priests. This bleeding is likely to continue until Myers finally resigns, or is shoved into retirement by Pope Francis.

Some Catholics, taking a cue from Myers’ playbook, blame all this on the press. “For the love of God, the media is our devil,” one priest in Garfield wrote in his weekly bulletin.

But the press is not in the business of hiding secrets like this. And the facts of this case are unchallenged.

Myers’ retirement home in Hunterdon was a luxurious spread to begin with. It has five bedrooms, a three-car garage, an elevator and a large swimming pool, on eight acres of land.

But for Myers, a single man, that wasn’t enough. The three-story addition he is building is larger than most homes. It includes an indoor exercise pool and hot tub, another elevator, three fireplaces, a large study with an attached library, and a gallery so large it takes up the entire third floor.

We can guess what Jesus would say about all this. But we don’t have to guess what Pope Francis says. He has condemned this kind of indulgence and said that church leaders should live a simple life in solidarity with the poor.

Myers must go. And the archdiocese should sell that house, rent Myers a modest home for his retirement, and deposit the remaining cash into the collection plate.