A Roman Catholic monsignor, who had a long and prestigious career serving four different Hudson County parishes in his 35-year career, has officially retired after being accused by at least two men of sexual misconduct during his tenure as a priest.
Monsignor Peter Cheplic, who served the parishes of St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York and St. Lawrence of Weehawken during his career, officially “retired with no faculties,” according to a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark.
It means that the 60-year-old Cheplic can never work as a priest again.
“He cannot represent himself as a priest any longer,” spokesman Jim Goodness said.
Cheplic cannot be levied with any criminal charges in the incidents, because the statute of limitations has long since expired.
An announcement about his retirement was printed last Sunday in the bulletins of the churches where Cheplic once worked. He had been on a leave of absence from St. Henry’s in Bayonne, his last parish, since the allegations were made public last August.
According to the published announcement, Cheplic “still maintains his innocence” regarding the incidents, but he “felt that by removing himself from the ministry, he could encourage everyone to begin to heal from this ordeal.”
Still gets support
As terms of his retirement, Cheplic will continue to receive his salary, although spokesman Jim Goodness would not reveal how much Cheplic would receive and for how long.
“He’s still a priest,” Goodness said. “He’s just no longer in ministry. He’s not receiving a pension, but the Archdiocese has an obligation to provide some sort of financial support to him for the time being. He has to have some sort of a livelihood.”
Goodness would also not comment on whether Archbishop John Myers or Vicar General and Chancellor Rev. Robert Emery (who also was once pastor in Weehawken) asked Cheplic to step down.
“This is the same result as if we went through the entire process and Monsignor Cheplic went to trial under canon law and all the allegations were proven to be true,” Goodness said. “This way, it happens much more quickly with a lot less effort. Monsignor Cheplic realized that it was a long process and there was some healing that needed to take place. He wanted to call a halt to the entire process and simply step away.”
Ends investigation
Cheplic’s decision to retire ends the lengthy investigation and a referral of the matter to authorities in the Vatican. An Archdiocesan review board recently recommended that the case be referred to the Vatican, after interviewing three men who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Cheplic while he worked in parishes in Ridgefield, as well as St. Joseph in West New York and St. Aloysius in Jersey City, where he served as the pastor from 1988 through 1995.
However, since Cheplic decided to step down, the investigation will end.
“We’re hopeful that this brings this case to a conclusion,” Goodness said.
Some of Cheplic’s accusers had mixed emotions about the retirement.
“I’m happy that he will no longer be able to wear the collar,” said 36-year-old Joseph Capozzi of Manhattan. “He used that collar to abuse the power he had. Now, you take away his collar, you take away his power.”
Capozzi had claimed that Cheplic had sexually molested him on several occasions when he was a teenager in the 1980s, including in a hotel room during a trip to Australia, where Cheplic took Capozzi as a high school graduation present.
Ray Capone of South Plainfield claimed that Cheplic fondled him in a rectory in East Orange in 1985. While the Archdiocese never apologized to the men for what happened, Goodness said that counseling was provided if needed.
“The men who brought the allegations against Monsignor Cheplic expressed their thanks that the matter had been handled,” Goodness said. “The church has made an offer of counseling and will maintain an ongoing relationship if they choose to accept it.”
The allegations are all from 20 years ago or more. One accuser, Martin Kransky of Ridgefield, said that his incidents with Cheplic took place in 1978.
Capozzi did believe that Cheplic’s retirement was an admission of guilt.
“If someone accused me of these things and I knew I was innocent, I would fight to the end to clear my name,” Capozzi said.
New policy
Making Cheplic’s retirement known is part of a new policy from the Archdiocese of Newark to alert parishioners whenever a priest has been permanently barred from his ministry because of sex abuse allegations.
That policy was put into place for the first time to handle the Cheplic incident.
The archdiocese did not previously reveal news if a priest or a former priest had been removed from the ministry because of sexual allegations.
The announcement of Cheplic’s retirement ran in the church bulletins at St. Aloysius in Jersey City; St. Matthew in Ridgefield; St. Henry in Bayonne; St. Lawrence in Weehawken, and St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York.
The bulletin notice is expected to run this Sunday at Holy Spirit/Our Lady Help of Christians in East Orange, another parish where Cheplic had once worked.
Goodness said that the retirement brings a “sad situation” to an end.
“If you listen to people who were parishioners where Monsignor Cheplic served, they would all say that he was well respected and well liked,” Goodness said. “They had a lot of affection towards him. Any time a priest loses his ministry, it’s a sad situation, but this is even a sadder situation all around, because he was a priest for so long.”
Efforts to contact Cheplic were unsuccessful by press time.