Priest admits violating ban on ministry to children, says actions are ‘my fault alone’
By NJ.com
Saturday, May 4, 2013 13:50 EDT
Asserting his actions were "my fault alone," the Roman Catholic priest who violated a court-sanctioned agreement to stay away from children wrote in his resignation letter that he attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors without the knowledge of his superiors in the Archdiocese of Newark.
The Rev. Michael Fugee — who was removed from ministry Thursday, four days after The Star-Ledger disclosed his association with a Monmouth County youth group — specifically noted in the letter that Archbishop John J. Myers did not grant him permission to minister to children.
"In conscience, I feel it necessary to make clear to all that my actions described in recent news stories were outside of my assigned ministry within the archdiocese," Fugee wrote. "... My failure to request the required permissions to engage in those ministry activities is my fault, my fault alone."
The archdiocese released the full text of Fugee’s letter yesterday in an apparent effort to quell a public uproar over Myers’ handling of the priest, who signed the agreement with law enforcement in 2007 to avoid retrial on charges he fondled a teenage boy.
For days after The Star-Ledger’s report, a spokesman for the archbishop insisted Fugee’s interactions with children were within the scope of the agreement, arguing he was under the supervision of lay ministers and other priests.
full article
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/04/priest-admits-violating-ban-on-ministry-to-children-says-actions-are-my-fault-alone/