Public school rips name of alleged pedophile priest off its building

By Kelly Heyboer
Star Ledger
February 20, 2019

https://bit.ly/2BKajSp

Duct tape was used to hastily cover up the name of Charles J. Hudson School No. 25 in Elizabeth after district officials learned the elementary school was named after a priest accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Photo by Kelly Heyboer

District officials removed the name from Charles J. Hudson School No. 25 in Elizabeth after learning the school was named after a Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse of children. Photo by Kelly Heyboer

The holes and shadows of the letters are still visible on the bricks where district officials removed the name from Charles J. Hudson School No. 25 in Elizabeth after learning the school was named after a Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse of children. Photo by Kelly Heyboer

The old name of School No. 25 in Elizabeth has been ripped off the front of the building, but you can still make out the shadow of the letters on the red bricks.

Around the back of the building, the name of the school has been hastily covered with duct tape on its dedication plaque. But the letters are still visible beneath the silver tape.

District officials said they tried to erase the name of the school -- Charles J. Hudson School No. 25 in Elizabeth -- after learning the elementary school was named after one of the 188 priests “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse on a list released by New Jersey’s Catholic dioceses last week.

Hudson, who died 22 year ago, worked in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Elizabeth and was the founder of the Center for Hope Hospice in Union County, according to the list released by the Archdiocese of Newark. He was credibly accused of the sexual abuse by one minor, though no details were released by church officials.

Elizabeth School District officials said they had no idea Hudson’s name would be on the list.

“The Elizabeth School District began the process of renaming School No. 25 immediately upon learning the individual for whom it was named had been identified by the Newark Archdiocese as someone ‘credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors,’” said Pat Politano, a spokesman for the school district.

The district scrambled to get the priest’s name off the school.

“The name was removed or covered from all places where it was visible last week. The name was removed from the district website, social media and similar sources,” Politano said. “The Elizabeth Board of Education and Administration are taking steps this week to begin the process for renaming the school.”

Hudson had a long history in Union County, according to news reports from throughout his life. Born to an Irish Catholic family in Jersey City in 1935, he played basketball at Seton Hall University and entered the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University, where he was ordained a priest in 1962. After working as the director of pastoral care at St. Elizabeth Hospital, he helped found the Center for Hope Hospice, which still has a Father Hudson House named after him in Elizabeth.

He was also assigned to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck and Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge, according to the Archdiocese of Newark. He also preached regularly at St. Helen’s Church in Westfield, which ran a popular Super Bowl ticket raffle fundraiser named after him, according to his bio.

Hudson died in 1997, the morning after he received Drew University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian of the Year Award, according to his obituary. He had also been asked to be the Grand Marshal of first ever Union County’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade that year, but died before the event.

Elizabeth’s School No. 25 was named after him a month after his death, according to a bio of Hudson on the Center for Hope Hospice website. He was also inducted into the Elizabeth Hall of Fame after his death.

The Archdiocese of Newark’s list of credibly accused priests gave no details about who accused Hudson of sexual abuse, when the allegations was made or where the alleged abuse took place. In Hudson’s case, he was accused of abusing one minor.

It is unclear if Hudson ever knew about the allegation.

The Archdiocese of Newark defined credibly accused as cases where “the allegation is true; the accused clergy is convicted by civil authorities in court; an independent review team concludes that the allegation is more likely true than not, based on evidence.”