New York Times columnist Michael Powell writes today about John J. Myers, archbishop of Newark, New Jersey:
A Church So Poor It Has to Close Schools, Yet So Rich It Can Build a PalaceA half-mil for renovations on the archbishop's retirement home, even as archdiocesan schools are being closed? Well, really, why not? Why not do those lavish renovations rather than dedicate the money to charitable works, or keeping the schools open? Isn't that in keeping with the dominant right-wing values of our era? Isn't the archbishop just being Tom Perkins -- a guy who worked hard enough to rise to a position of prominence in his chosen profession and now says that entitles him to whatever he can get? Don't Republicans and captains of industry agree that this is a perfectly just and appropriate way for questions of wealth distribution to be resolved? So why shouldn't Archbishop Myers think that as well?
KEARNY, N.J. -- Mater Dei Academy sits shuttered, blue drapes pulled across its windows, atop a hill in this working-class city....
For generations, this blond brick Catholic elementary school tossed a lifeline to the immigrants who, wave upon wave, washed ashore here. The Archdiocese of Newark closed it two years ago. Church officials offered deep regrets; the church's wallet is thin to the touch these days....
All of which brings me along a winding and narrow road that switches back and forth across the wooded Capoolong Creek to a splendid 8.5-acre spread in the hamlet of Pittstown. This is rural and rather affluent Hunterdon County, 49 miles from Mater Dei.
John J. Myers, the archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese, comes to this vacation home on many weekends. The 4,500-square-foot home has a handsome amoeba-shaped swimming pool out back. And as he’s 72, and retirement beckons in two years, he has renovations in mind. A small army of workers are framing a 3,000-square-foot addition.
This new wing will have an indoor exercise pool, three fireplaces and an elevator. The Star-Ledger of Newark has noted that the half-million-dollar tab for this wing does not include architects' fees or furnishings.
There's no need to fear for the archbishop's bank account. The Newark Archdiocese is picking up the bill....
The archbishop, as we learn from this 2004 New York Times article, is, after all, a conservative:
... Archbishop Myers is one of a handful of outspoken bishops whose conservatism has become controversial....As a young man, Myers was the kind of employee his CEO liked, so he made a rapid ascent up the corporate ladder. He achieved a position of prominence. Doesn't conservative doctrine tell us that he deserves whatever perks he can get?
During the past month, Archbishop Myers made national headlines by publishing a pastoral letter declaring that Catholic elected officials who support abortion rights should not receive holy communion. In New Jersey, where polls consistently find that voters have liberal views about abortion, his letter caused an uproar....
The archbishop's unflinching traditionalism has led many Roman Catholics to view him as a conservative caricature, Rush Limbaugh with a collar....
After John Paul II became pope in 1978, the Vatican sought to rein in the liberal activism of some American bishops, rewarding traditionalists like Father Myers by moving them rapidly up the ranks. In 1990, Father Myers was named bishop of Peoria....
He began issuing pastoral letters emphasizing his strict interpretations of traditional Catholic doctrine and arguing that any Catholic who voted for politicians because of their support for abortion was not worthy of receiving communion....
When a teacher at a diocesan high school invited a speaker who favored the ordination of women, she was fired.... He also forbade Catholic hospitals to give rape victims a "morning-after" pill that would prevent a pregnancy (a restriction he later eased)....
