the rix mix

Newark archbishop allows priest who admitted groping boy to continue working with children  

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 He [Fugee] has attended weekend youth retreats in Marlboro and on the shores of Lake Hopatcong in Mount Arlington, parishioners say. Fugee also has traveled with members of the St. Mary’s youth group on an annual pilgrimage to Canada. At all three locations, he has heard confessions from minors behind closed doors. 

What’s more, he has done so with the approval of New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic official, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers.

My attitude toward American RC Bishops ranges from indifference to contempt. Sometimes one of my Catholic friends mentions an  o.k. one.  Myers is not o.k.   Aloof, isolated, autocratic, inclined to speak to the hoi polloi through his cathedral office mouthpieces, this is not his first pedophile cover-up scandal. But it is showing some endurance in local media, & is slowly going national  The Star-Ledger called for his resignation in an editorial,  an unusual  act for a newspaper (although I'm sure it's happened elsewhere).  Parishioners at the church where Fugee was assigned are outraged, as are  the vast majority  of Jersey Catholics polled on this. Catholic politicians are calling for Myers to step down. Except our Governor, who says it's political "grandstanding." He will soon perceive the error of that statement.

I think Myers can be pushed or removed from office this time, if media stays on the story,  if pressure from New Jersey Catholics is relentless (following through on  threats of withholding tithes), & some of his fellow Bishops in Jersey continue refusing to support him. There's a new Pope. Eventually he'll hear about it, if he hasn't already.  Pope Francis can make an   example of Myers if he truly wants to  set himself apart from his two predecessors:  Esto termina ahora. This ends now.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, New Jersey, religion