Sex abuse victims blast NJ archbishop about two priests

For 2nd time recently, accused Newark cleric changed his name

He was sent to Florida where he allegedly attacked an adult woman

Now, priest faces a civil assault lawsuit and a trial date in six months

Just 2 weeks ago, a different child molesting cleric was put back in ministry

He was quietly re-assigned him despite his admission & criminal conviction

Then, priest was suddenly ousted when newspaper disclosed Myers' "reckless" move

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will blast Newark Catholic officials for
-- failing to warn others about a accused predatory Polish priest who changed his name and was sent out of state, and
-- putting a convicted pedophile priest back in ministry two weeks ago at a local hospital.

They group will also
-- publicly prod local Catholic officials to 'come clean' with information about the predators,
-- disclose how many other current and former accused Newark clerics have been allowed to change their names.

Finally, they will beg anyone with information about the two offenders to call police, come forward, and get help.

WHEN
Monday, Oct. 26, 1:30 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the Newark archdiocese headquarters, 171 Clifton Ave. in Newark NJ

WHO
Three child sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Woodbridge man who is the organization's New Jersey state director

WHY
SNAP is upset at how Newark Archbishop John Myers is "mishandling" two cases of accused predator priests. The first is Fr. Michael Fugee, who Myers quietly assigned recently to a hospital chaplaincy, even though Fugee admitted to and was found guilty of molesting a child. (Fugee later recanted and his 2003 conviction was overturned on a technicality. But as part of a deal with prosecutors, he was forbidden to be around kids.)

The second is Fr. Wladyslaw Gorak. Church records show that one of his colleagues complained in 1998 that Gorak was kissing his coworkers. In 2004, a New Jersey Catholic woman moved to Florida and Newark church officials then sent Gorak to Florida too. She repeatedly complained to Gorak's Florida pastor that Gorak kept bothering her. In Nov. 2004, Gorak broke into her house and sexually assaulted her. He was removed from ministry in Orlando in Dec. 2004. In 2005, Gorak legally changed his name to Fr. Walter Fisher and church officials made no announcement of it.

Now Gorak/Fisher faces a civil lawsuit for similarly assaulting the woman. A judge recently set a March 2010 civil trial date for Gorak/Fisher.

In each case, SNAP believes, Myers is acting irresponsibly and endangering innocent children and vulnerable adults. SNAP strongly suspects that Myers and his predecessors have let other alleged child molesting clergymen hide their identities and transferred them elsewhere.

Gorak/Fischer isn't the first accused Newark archdiocesan priest to have changed his name. Three months ago, SNAP revealed that Fr. Carmine Sita was convicted in the 1980s of molesting a Jersey City boy, sent to treatment, allowed to change his name to Gerald Howard, and sent to an unsuspecting Missouri parish where he repeatedly molested several boys. In August, one of his victims (Dr. Mark McAllister) held news conferences in New Jersey disclosing his recent $600,000 settlement with the Newark Archdiocese and others church institutions that shielded Sita/Howard.

SNAP feels Myers should also aggressively use his considerable resources (archdiocesan website, church newspaper, parish bulletins, etc.) to seek out and offer help to anyone with information about crimes by Sita/Howard, Gorak/Fischer and Fugee. Myers' spokesman has indicated that Fugee will be assigned somewhere. SNAP opposes putting him back into any form of ministry.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050518/NEWS/505180333/1004

CONTACT
Mark Crawford 732 632 7687 cell, David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003 cell