New Jersey Catholic dioceses may release lists of abusive priests on Wednesday

Hundreds of priests gathered at the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Newark on Tuesday afternoon amid anticipation that the Catholic Church in New Jersey was preparing to release lists of names of allegedly abusive priests this week.

Several priests said as they left the meeting that the lists are expected to come out on Wednesday. Others declined to comment, and one priest said the group had been told not to discuss the meeting, which started at 1:30 and lasted a little over 30 minutes.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Newark archbishop, announced last year that the state's five dioceses were reviewing clergy sex abuse cases. The church, he said, planned to publish the names of all priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children sometime this year.

The review followed an announcement by state law enforcement officials that they had launched a statewide investigation into alleged sexual abuse by priests.

The state's five dioceses — Newark, Paterson, Metuchen, Trenton and Camden — are expected to release their lists at the same time. The Diocese of Paterson plans to post its list on its website sometime Wednesday morning, the diocesan attorney, Ken Mullaney, said Tuesday.

Priests who work in the diocese will be notified shortly before the list is published, he said, adding that he didn't know what time it would be released to the public.

Mullaney declined to say how many priests are on the list but said none are presently in ministry. "No, absolutely not, zero," he said when asked whether any of them are working.

Most of the priests on the list have died, he said, and all but one living priest — "we have no knowledge of his whereabouts," he said — have been notified by mail that their names are going to be released.

A spokeswoman for the Newark Archdiocese declined to provide details of Tuesday's meeting but added that she would have more to say on Wednesday.

"It's an opportunity for the cardinal to meet with his brothers,” the spokeswoman, Maria Margiotta, said of the meeting.

Priests entering the Archdiocese Center — which is across the street from the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart — said before the meeting that they did not know why it had been called. Several, however, said they figured it had something to do with the release of the names.

Father Robert Hoatson, a victims' advocate who once worked as a priest in the Newark Archdiocese, stood across the street holding a sign in protest and that said, "There are more than 70" — a reference, he said, to the number of archdiocese clerics who have been accused of abuse.

Last week, the Diocese of Metuchen told its priests that the list of names would be released this week.

The vicar general of the Metuchen diocese, the Rev. Timothy Christy, wrote in a letter addressed to "all priests" that the Catholic dioceses of the state "will each release the names of priests who have been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors."

He told the priests that they would receive copies of the list before it is made public. The list, he wrote, was expected to be posted on the diocesan website. "Pastors may want to provide an opportunity for parishioners to gather and voice their questions, concerns, hurt and anger," he wrote.

Christy told the Metuchen priests that they would receive a pastoral letter from the head of the diocese, Bishop James Checchio, to be available to the parishioners attending services. He also wrote that the priests would be provided with "talking points and answers to expected questions."

Last year, Tobin announced the establishment of victims' compensation funds and counseling programs in each of the state's five Catholic dioceses. Details of the compensation programs were released Monday.

The release of names is part of a review by church officials that followed state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal's announcement last year that he was creating a task force to look into clergy abuse.

Grewal's investigation was spurred by a law enforcement review in Pennsylvania that resulted in the naming of 300 priests accused of abusing 1,000 victims over 70 years. Four of those priests had spent part of their ministries in New Jersey.

New Jersey's reviews began during a tumultuous time for the Catholic Church, as it faced renewed scrutiny after allegations against a cardinal who had been held in high esteem and had been the leader of two dioceses in New Jersey.

Last June, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick — the former head of the Metuchen diocese and the Newark and Washington, D.C., archdioceses.

McCarrick had been accused of sexually abusing a minor decades earlier when he was a priest in New York. Church leaders in New Jersey acknowledged that the cardinal also had been accused of sexual abuse by three adults in the state, with two of the cases resulting in confidential legal settlements.

Two New Jersey priests stepped down last year from positions in parishes in Jersey City and Westwood when the Newark Archdiocese opened reviews into allegations of sexual misconduct that had been made against them.

Also last year, new allegations against order priests in New Jersey came to light.

In July, a letter to alumni and others affiliated with the Delbarton School in Morris Township said 13 monks from St. Mary's Abbey, which runs the school, had been accused of sexually abusing 30 people over the past three decades.

That letter was sent after NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey published a story about St. Mary's settling five lawsuits involving its monks, with other suits pending.

One priest, Timothy Brennan, was at the center of at least eight of the lawsuits. He had been convicted 30 years ago of aggravated sexual contact with a 15-year-old Delbarton student. Brennan had been living at a Catholic center in Missouri that is known for offering mental health treatment to clerics.