In an agreement with county prosecutors, the priest at the center of a
clergy sex abuse scandal in the Newark, N.J., archdiocese has agreed to
leave the priesthood to avoid criminal prosecution related to his
violation of a court order forbidding contact with children.
In a press release, first reported by the New Jersey Star Ledger,
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced Friday that Fr.
Michael Fugee had admitted to violating restrictions placed upon him in
2007 that barred him from contact with minors.
From April 2010 through
December 2012, Fugee attended several youth retreats and heard, on at
least seven different occasions, confessions from children.
Rather than pursue the five, fourth-degree criminal contempt charges
it brought against the priest, the prosecutor's office and Fugee agreed
that he would "seek and obtain" laicization from the priesthood.
The
fourth-degree charges carried a punishment of a fine and maximum 18
months in prison. Molinelli indicated that had his office sought Fugee's
conviction, the soon-to-be former priest likely would have received a
probation sentence, since he had no prior convictions.
Molinelli said the agreement prohibits Fugee from presenting himself
as a spiritual advisor or "working with children in any capacity."
"This is a requirement that will eliminate the threat of Michael
Fugee, ever again, obtaining the trust of people through his clerical
position nor using his ordained position as a Priest to exert improper
contact with children," he said in the release.
In late May, several weeks after resigning from public ministry, Fugee was arrested
for violating a memorandum of understanding he signed in July 2007. The
court order represented an alternative to a second trial after a 2006
appeals court ruling overturned a 2003 conviction of sexual assault of a
14-year-old boy.
As part of the memorandum -- signed by Fugee, his attorney, Molinelli and former Newark Vicar General Msgr. John Doran, who himself resigned in
May in the wake of the Fugee scandal -- the archdiocese agreed to
restrict Fugee from "any unsupervised contact with or to supervise or
minister to any child/minor under the age of 18 or work in any position
in which children are involved."
In a four-page statement, Newark spokesman James Goodness reiterated
Friday that throughout Fugee's investigation -- ignited in late April
when the Star Ledger first reported that Fugee been seen
attending youth retreats -- the archdiocese's position has held steady
that it "did not violate the terms of the Fugee Memorandum of
Understanding … and never authorized or condoned Fugee's unauthorized
actions that led to the Prosecutor's investigation."
Goodness said that the archdiocese has cooperated with the
investigation and provided "hundreds of documents," as well as answered
questions posed to Archbishop John Myers and his staff by the
prosecutor's staff and a Grand Jury.
But the Bergen County prosecutor reserved sharp, critical remarks for
the Newark archdiocese, characterizing Fugee's removal from the
priesthood as a requirement it "did not nor would ever obtain."
"By way of this agreement, the State of New Jersey need no longer
rely upon cooperation by the [the archdiocese] in supervising Michael
Fugee. It has appeared, based on many public comments by Archbishop
Myers, that the Church had no intention of monitoring Fugee any
further," Molinelli said.
After a review of the archdiocese's compliance with the terms of the
memorandum of understanding, the prosecutor's office came to the
conclusion that it did not appear "that the Archdiocese made any
significant effort to adhere to the terms of the [memorandum of
understanding]."
"At this juncture, we no longer have confidence in its ability as a
signatory to honor the clear intent of the 2007 Memorandum of
Understanding, which had placed direct oversight responsibility of
Michael Fugee upon the RCAN," Molinelli said.
Goodness labeled the criticism as "unfairly excessive," saying the
archdiocese "has publicly acknowledged operational failures in the Fugee
matter.
"However, it is hypocritical to single out the Archdiocese as being
solely responsible," he said, including the prosecutor's office among
other culpable parties.
He went on to say the archdiocese was "frankly stunned" at
Molinelli's suggestion it would not seek Fugee's removal from the
priesthood. He pointed to evidence and Grand Jury testimony that Myers
had begun the process in 2003 at the conclusion of Fugee's first trial.
Goodness added that when the prosecutor's office presented the
archdiocese with the 2007 court order that Myers requested clarification
regarding Fugee's supervision but never received it.
It was only after a
state-appointed psychologist and the Archdiocesan Review Board both
concluded Fugee could return to a limited ministerial role, Goodness
said, that Myers reassigned him.
"The Archdiocese never assigned Fugee to any type of ministry upon
which the Prosecutor's investigation centered. … Had Fugee followed the
required protocols and sought permission to engage in a ministry that
could even potentially violate the [memorandum], the request would have
been summarily denied," he said.
While appreciative of the prosecutor's criticisms, the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests raised skepticism that Fugee would
obey "an unprecedented agreement," and called for further investigation
into the archdiocese.
"The crisis in Newark's Catholic archdiocese is not a Fugee or even a
Myers crisis," said SNAP director David Clohessy in a statement.
"It's a
deeply-rooted crisis that involves dozens of current and former
Catholic clerics who have committed and are concealing heinous child sex
crimes. Only a grand jury will uncover the full truth and truly protect
kids and deter future cover ups and recklessness."