NEWARK, N.J. - The second-highest official in the Archdiocese of Newark is stepping down in the wake of a sex scandal involving a former priest accused of violating an agreement with law enforcement barring him from working with children.
Church officials said Monsignor John Doran resigned Friday as vicar general and will no longer hold a leadership position with the archdiocese. Doran signed the agreement the former priest had reached with prosecutors in 2007.
The move is among several changes the archdiocese said it’s implementing to protect children. The changes are noted in a letter from Archbishop John Myers, which will be read in parishes across the archdiocese this weekend.
Myers wrote that an outside review found “operational failures” in the handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who resigned this month. But he didn’t place the blame for lax oversight on Doran, who had been vicar general for six years.
Doran couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.
The 52-year-old Fugee was convicted in 2003 of fondling a boy in Wyckoff. However, that verdict was vacated because of judicial error. Fugee entered a program to avoid retrial and agreed to never again work with children.
However, he attended youth retreats involving a church in Colts Neck and heard children’s confessions.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 05/26/2013