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	Marking Milestones, He Keeps the Faith Newark's Former Archbishop Gerety, Retired 20 Years, Still Active in the Church By Jeff Diamant Star-Ledger [Newark NJ] June 5, 2006 http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1149482211242790.xml? starledger?nnj&coll=1&thispage=1 In this chapel, every head of hair is gray, white or silver, every torso draped in a white priestly robe. And on this day, like most here, every man seated inside the priests' retirement home in Rutherford is watching the oldest among them -- age 93 -- celebrate Mass. Peter Leo Gerety, the former archbishop of Newark, whose smooth voice, clear blue eyes and vigorous shock of white hair make him seem at least 20 years younger, is giving a homily from the Gospel According to John. Our worldly problems, the aging priest says, are seldom as bad as they seem. "We can look back in history to ... put our own problems into perspective," he says, sitting next to an unmanned lectern, his stately walking stick resting against his chair. "And we see we have difficulties, but they're nothing like those faced historically by our predecessors in the faith." Gerety built a national reputation as a staunch church progressive during turbulent times for both the church and archdiocese. Since retiring in 1986 after 12 years as Newark archbishop, he has lived at the retirement home, the St. John Vianney Residence, and still presides at confirmations, funerals and other church events. His successor as Newark archbishop, Theodore McCarrick, has received much more spotlight, moving to Washington, D.C., being made cardinal in 2001 and helping elect the pope last year. Yet while headlines trumpeted McCarrick's own retirement this month, Gerety last week quietly celebrated two milestone anniversaries of his own. As of June 1, Gerety had been a bishop exactly 40 years. (He was Maine's bishop before Newark's.) And Saturday marked his 20th anniversary of retirement. Turning 94 on July 19, he still takes weekly trips to Connecticut and annual ones to the Virgin Islands with his 87-year-old brother Edward, and to the Marian shrine in Lourdes, France. "We marvel at his energy," said the Rev. Joe Rice, one of the priests living at St. John Vianney. "He's an inspiration. He's a wonder. He travels extensively." Most of Gerety's days go like this: He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and prays in his spacious, modestly furnished four-room apartment, before presiding at Mass for the 22 other retired priests at St. John Vianney and having breakfast. He then returns to his fourth-floor apartment and reads two daily newspapers, Catholic magazines and books on history, religion or spirituality. He answers mail, does a few minutes on his treadmill and attends to afternoon chores and appointments. Evenings sometimes include church dinners or receptions. John J. Myers, the current Newark archbishop, sometimes asks Gerety to preside at priests' funerals when Myers is unavailable or at a confirmation. This year, Gerety has presided at 14 confirmations. He also presided a week ago at a funeral of the Rev. James McKenna, a Bergen County priest who was popular with recovering alcoholics. Enormous emotional outpourings at his funeral led Gerety to marvel at how a good priest can touch many people. "He was one of these fellas that took an interest in alcoholics because he himself had a problem -- he made no secret about it -- but he was dry for years and years and years," Gerety said. "And he touched all sorts of people. "So here was a great man ... that had a great influence on all sorts of people, very quietly. And yet when he died they came out in droves." 'SHARP AS A TACK' Reared in Connecticut and the oldest of nine boys -- three of whom are alive -- Gerety regularly speaks to his brothers Edward and Bob, who live in New Mexico and Vermont, respectively, and are in their 80s. Gerety's active schedule doesn't surprise his brother Edward because "he's always been extremely active and he's stayed sharp to his age. Sharp as a tack." A retired heart surgeon, Edward Gerety says his older brother has stayed in good health. Archbishop Gerety has artificial hips and has been hospitalized for eye and back problems, but has steered clear of heart disease and cancer. He spends at least one night a week in New Canaan, Conn., at a retreat house bought by the archdiocese in the mid-1970s after Gerety ordered the sale of a more luxurious West Orange house a previous archbishop had used. The archdiocese needed the money to pay off debt. Gerety spends most of his days at St. John Vianney, one of two retirement homes for archdiocesan priests. Old pictures -- of his parents, of himself with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II, of himself when he made bishop in 1966 -- and favorite New Yorker cartoons decorate his apartment's walls. When a visitor noted most of the Catholic magazines scattered across his desk -- National Catholic Reporter, America, Tablet of London -- are considered liberal or progressive in nature, he responded, with a smile, "I also read First Things," the conservative-minded Catholic periodical. Gerety's liberal reputation comes largely from his work with civil rights and poverty, his whole-hearted embrace of church reform after the Second Vatican Council, and his help in the 1970s founding the group RENEW, a parish movement that has spread internationally and which conservatives say spreads liberal church dissent. Cardinal McCarrick, who headed the Newark Archdiocese from 1986 to 2000, was considered a moderate on the church's political spectrum. John J. Myers, the current archbishop, is considered very conservative. Gerety was asked, what is it like seeing someone so different than he leading his old archdiocese? "You know what they say in French?" Gerety asks, pausing to prepare his voice for an accent honed at seminary in France in the 1930s: "'Autre temps, autre moeurs' ('Other times, other customs') ... So, naturally another man has a different style. But it's the same faith. We gotta remember that." Myers, in a congratulatory letter to Gerety for the 40th anniversary of his ordination as bishop, joked that "I am conscious that you were ordained a bishop before I was ordained a priest!" and thanking him for his help in recent years. The hardest news for Gerety to follow in recent years has been the clergy sex abuse scandal. Asked how surprised he has been to hear some of his old priests have been accused of abusing children decades ago, maybe while he was bishop, he said, "I'm not in the loop with regard to any of those cases. I just don't know a thing about them. "All I know is that if it's true, it's just sad and abominable. ... It's a pretty painful time in the history of the church." Jeff Diamant covers religion. He may be reached at jdiamant@starledger.com or (973) 392-1547.
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