Pope Francis needs to go kick some New Jersey ass

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Consider:

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.

And it's not just the upscale living while so many struggle and suffer:

He is known to insist on being addressed as "Your Grace." And his self-regard is matched by his refusal to apologize for more or less anything.

It was revealed last year that a priest seemed to have broken his legally binding agreement with Bergen County prosecutors to never again work unsupervised with children or to minister to them so long as he remained a priest. When next found, he was involved with a youth ministry in the Newark Archdiocese.

Parishioners in Oradell, N.J., also discovered that the archdiocese had allowed a priest accused of sexual abuse to live in their parish's rectory. A furor arose, and last summer the archbishop sat down and wrote an open letter to his flock. He conceded not a stumble. Those who claim, he wrote, that he and the church had not protected children were "simply evil, wrong, immoral and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement."

Evil, wrong, immoral, focused on self-aggrandizement? Huh. It really does seem that Pope Francis should have a chat with this prick. And while he's in the beautiful Garden State, maybe he can also teach its bullying blowhard of a corrupt, power-hungry governor a thing or two about humility and true public service.