WESTWOOD, N.J.—The Rev. Jim Weiner of St. Andrew’s Church has stepped aside from his post after the Archdiocese of Newark said it had reopened an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct based on new information from a past accuser.
Jim Goodness, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, said reports that Weiner and another priest—Gerard Sudol, reverend in residence at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City—had been forced from their posts were inaccurate.
“The two priests have not been removed; both stepped aside temporarily in voluntary actions on their part while the archdiocese conducts a review of their particular [unrelated] cases,” Goodness told Pascack Press Aug. 29.
Goodness said Weiner had planned to address his parish on the allegations this past weekend but now will not be able to.
“They’ve actually got some very sound reasons for stepping aside. There’s a lot of conversation. There’s a lot of angst going on,” Goodness said.
According to St. Andrew’s bulletin, Weiner’s installation as pastor of the church, set for Sept. 15 and to be conducted by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, has been canceled, with a new date to be determined.
Goodness said a stand-in for Weiner was being worked out.
“It’s a good parish, so many things run themselves, but there needs to be a priestly presence. That has not been finalized yet,” he said.
Cardinal’s resignation prompted investigations
The investigations stem from an Archdiocese of Newark external audit of personnel files ordered by Tobin following the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, Goodness said.
McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was recently described in the press as a towering figure in the U.S. church before his resignation from the College of Cardinals.
He faces allegations of sexually abusing a minor 47 years ago when he was a priest in New York, and of sexual abuse of boys and sexual misconduct with priests and seminarians.
USA Today reported that “while no additional allegations were found regarding abuse with minors, the review process did find allegations that the retired cardinal had engaged in sexual misconduct with adults while he served in New Jersey.”
In a statement, McCarrick denied recollection of these alleged incidents, maintained his innocence, and lamented “scandal such charges cause our people.”
The Roman Catholic Church also is coming to terms with a devastating Pennsylvania grand jury report released Aug. 14 that found more than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused children over seven decades and hid behind a church cover-up.
The grand jury’s 18-month investigation identified 1,000 child victims and reported that there probably are “thousands more,” with many lacking recourse following the expiration of the statute of limitations.
A strong Pennsylvania-New Jersey connection revealed in the report prompted Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, on Aug 30 to urge Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to set a grand jury to determine whether “generations of hidden sexual abuse” also occurred in the Garden State.
From the Vatican to Westwood
The scandal has ensnared Pope Francis, who has been asked to resign for allegedly ignoring reports of abuse, including by McCarrick—who, it happens, in 2000 dedicated St. Andrew’s present Parish and Education Center, which was rebuilt following a fire in 1998. It houses classrooms for religious education, administrative offices, a gymnasium, and a chapel.
McCarrick also ordained Weiner and another man, now deceased, who are accused of assaulting Desmond Rossi, now a priest of the Diocese of Albany, New York, in incidents alleged to have taken place at St. Benedict’s Parish in Newark in 1988.
Rossi told a magazine that he brought his allegations against the transitional deacons to an archdiocesan review board.
“He said that his story was ‘found credible, but nothing happened.’ Instead, he claims the archdiocese turned against him for bringing the allegation forward,” Catholic News Agency reported Aug. 17.
“They tried to turn it on me,” Rossi, who says he was traumatized, alleged in the report.
In 2004, the Archdiocese of Newark, which includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in Bergen, Union, Hudson, and Essex counties, settled with Rossi out of court for $35,000.
Weiner, whom Tobin identified in his letter, faces “new information” from Rossi alleged to be incriminating, Goodness said.
On Aug. 20, Catholic News Agency (CNA) said that Tobin sent a letter to the priests of Newark in which he confirmed that Weiner’s case was examined by a review board in 2003 “even though it did not involve an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.”
CNA said that in Tobin’s letter addressing reports of “harassment and active sexual behavior by some priests, both in the seminary and in the archdiocesan presbyterate,” which surfaced online over the past weekend, Tobin denied having been told by priests about a “gay subculture” in the Archdiocese of Newark.
CNA’s Aug. 17 reporting was backed by plenty of specifics of out-and-out sexual predation, citing “six priests of the Archdiocese of Newark and one priest member of a religious order who was a seminarian in New York in the early 1970s while McCarrick was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.”
CNA explained its due diligence: “Citing archdiocesan policy and concerns about ecclesiastical repercussions for their candor, the priests agreed to speak to CNA only under the condition of anonymity. The priests spoke individually to CNA, and their accounts were compared for confirmation.”
Tobin said he had ordered Weiner’s matter reopened earlier this month “because of new information and out of an abundance of caution in these most difficult times,”
His letter named Weiner and Rev. Mark O’Malley, also of the Archdiocese of Newark, who in 2004 reportedly was removed from his post as rector of the archdiocesan college seminary “and put on medical leave” following an incident in which he was accused of hiding a camera in a young priest’s bedroom.
Asked if he knew the nature of any new information pending against Weiner, Goodness told Pascack Press, “Not that I can speak of.”
He said the case was being taken up by the Archdiocese of Newark’s Canonical Affairs Office and the police.
“We provide all new accusations to law enforcement the second they come in to us,” Goodness said.
Attempts to reach Weiner for this story were not successful.
Sudol was accused of sexually abusing an altar boy while he was assigned to a church in Ridgefield Park in the 1980s and 1990s. He was cleared to return to parish work, Goodness said.
Accuser leads demonstration in Newark
In Newark on Aug. 29, Rossi led a demonstration against church sexual abuses in front of Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. He said the aim of the “National Day for Reform” is to gather the Catholic community for prayer and to plan for the future.
One speaker at the event was Rev. Robert Hoatson, founder of Road to Recovery, a nonprofit that offers compassionate counseling and referral services to survivors of sexual abuse.
An informed observer of the matter who asked not to be named told Pascack Press there is increasing outrage among many in the church who want allegations of assaults against all people—not just minors—transparently prevented, investigated, and, where possible, prosecuted.
Local voices
Local reaction on social media ranges from sadness at the blow to St. Andrew’s to anger to impatience, with one person predicting church-related sex abuse was poised to be the next #MeToo-level awareness and accountability movement.
Asked his views on St. Andrew’s moving forward, Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr. said Aug. 29 that he was saddened by “this very dark cloud that continues to linger over the Catholic Church.”
He said “The parish and local faith community are strong and the fine people of St. Andrew’s will come together to pick up the pieces of a very broken order. I really have been left speechless since it hits so close to home although given history I should not be shocked or surprised.”
