US parishioners protest over Archbishop's lavish home improvements

Archbishop Myers

Parishioners in the Archdiocese of Newark have expressed their concern over the lavish home improvements planned by their retiring Archbishop.

The Star Ledger newspaper revealed that Archbishop John J Myers is building a 3,000-square-foot addition on the expansive home where he will spend his retirement, saying the work will cost the archdiocese far more than the $500,000 allotted for construction.

At a time of high unemployment, when Catholic schools and services in the archdiocese are being reduced because of a shortage of funds, many feel the building plans are excessive. A major fundraising appeal has been heavily promoted in churches over the past month across the archdiocese, home to 1.3 million Catholics in the New Jersey counties of Essex, Hudson, Union and Bergen.

Press reports say the appeal usually brings in more than $10million which goes to schools, youth ministries, retired priests and the nonprofit Catholic agency that runs homeless shelters and provides a wide array of services for the poorest residents. This year thousands of parishioners say they are cutting off contributions entirely or sharply curtailing them.

“The only language the church understands is money,” said Maria Bozza, 69, who has urged fellow parishioners at Holy Family Church in Nutley to withhold contributions to the archdiocese. “We need to start an ‘empty envelope month’ to replace the archbishop’s annual appeal. If parishioners in every church in the Newark Archdiocese sent in an empty envelope, then they will get the message.”

Father John Bambrick, pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Trenton, and an occasional critic of Myers’ leadership, said he understands parishioners’ frustration. Many priests share it, he said, but are unwilling to speak out publicly.

“The average priest lives in two rooms with a bathroom, and the Pope lives in a hotel room. I don’t understand why a 75-year-old man needs a 7,500-square-foot mansion with two swimming pools.”

The Archdiocese was unavailable for comment.

Source: UCAN/Star Ledger/ICN