More than 180 New Jersey Catholic clerics are named by dioceses as sexual abusers of children, to help ‘bring healing to the violated’
- The huge list stretches back decades and includes some priests who are now dead, and others who are behind bars
- But the list does not list the crimes of the named clerics
New Jersey’s five Roman Catholic dioceses listed more than 180 priests Wednesday who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over a span of several decades, joining more than two dozen other states that have named suspected abusers in the wake of a landmark grand jury report in Pennsylvania last year.
The lists released Wednesday identified priests and deacons who served in the dioceses of Camden, Trenton, Metuchen and Paterson and the archdiocese of Newark. Many priests on the lists are deceased, and others have been removed from ministry.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, which listed 63 former priests, said in a statement that he hoped the disclosure “will help bring healing to those whose lives have been so deeply violated.”
Camden’s diocese listed 56 priests and one deacon; Trenton’s diocese named 30 priests; the Paterson diocese listed 28; and Metuchen’s diocese named nine plus two others who are currently the subject of civil investigations.
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force in the fall to conduct a criminal investigation into sexual abuse by clergy in the state, shortly after a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified over 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 victims in that state.