Priest Sues Top Church Officials

A New Jersey priest has sued the Roman Catholic prelate of New York, Cardinal Edward M. Egan, and several other top church officials for $5 million, contending that he was terminated as a school director in 2003 for speaking out against coverups of sexual abuse involving members of the clergy.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Father Robert Hoatson in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, also alleged that Egan, along with Newark, N.J., Archbishop John J. Myers and Albany, N.Y., Bishop Howard Hubbard, were “active homosexuals” who protected fellow priests out of fear that those men might reveal their secrets.

Although the suit claims Hoatson “has personal knowledge” of the prelates’ sexual activity, it provides no evidence. Hoatson’s lawyer, John A. Aretakis, said that several priests had agreed to provide “first-hand evidence of the sexual proclivities of the men we have mentioned when they are subpoenaed and put under oath.”

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for Egan, dismissed the allegations as “not only false but libelous and malicious. There’s not a word of truth to this.”

James Goodness, a spokesman for the Newark Archdiocese, called Hoatson “a troubled individual” who had asked for a change of assignment as director of schools at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in Newark in November 2002, and then, four months later, changed his mind.

“Unfortunately,” Goodness said, “a new director had already been selected and was preparing to assume the post, so it was too late to put him back.”

But Hoatson said that after his request, he was asked to stay on until June 2003, and he agreed to do that. He said it was only after he testified before the New York Senate in May 2003, excoriating church leaders and supporting a bill to extend the statutes of limitation for victims of sex abuse, that he was given a letter of termination.

Zwilling denied that Egan played any role, saying, “The cardinal had no idea who this individual was prior to this lawsuit and never spoke to anyone, anywhere, about him.”

Ken Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Albany Diocese, also denied the allegations.