NEW JERSEY
Sunlit Uplands
“This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.”
After suffering for more than a decade under one of America’s worst bishops, the Archdiocese of Newark has reason for hope with the installation today of Coadjutor Archbishop Bernard Hebda. He will share leadership of the Archdiocese with John J. Myers, until the latter’s retirement in no more than three years.
The pleas of many have been heard by Pope Francis with this appointment. And it is the most important appointment yet made in the United States by this Holy Father. Finally, an aloof, cold, arrogant and unapproachable monarch will be replaced by a true shepherd, an alter-Christus, who radiates Christ’s love in carrying out the Church’s salvific mission.
I came to recognize how utterly unsuited for pastoral leadership Archbishop Myers is shortly after he arrived in Newark. In his knee-jerk defense of priests, against the legitimate complaints of laymen, he attempted to suppress the Archdiocese’s rich diversity of ethnic parishes – particularly Polish parishes, which happen to be among the most vibrant, faithful and orthodox parishes to be found anywhere. Perhaps because he came from the much more homogeneous Peoria, or more likely because he believes no layman should question any decision by clergy, Myers would not meet with the faithful or consider the viewpoints that were expressed in many letters, prayer vigils, demonstrations and boycotts of Archdiocesan charities. I wrote the op-ed below at the height of Myers’ anti-Polish pogrom.
Myers has closed approximately 75 parochial schools and many churches, but his arrogant indifference to legitimate grievances became his undoing when the general public, the media and state political leaders became aware of his scandalous coddling of priests guilty of the sexual molestation of children. He should be in prison, but we are grateful that Pope Francis has replaced him with a man who gives every indication of being the polar opposite kind of churchman.
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