New Jersey Archbishop Calls Critics ‘Evil, Wrong, Immoral’

A leading Roman Catholic cleric in New Jersey has some tough words for his critics.

Newark Archbishop John Myers calls them immoral and wrong in a letter to clergy.  He says he's defending his reputation in response to media accounts of a settlement with a man who claimed he was abused by a priest in the Diocese of Peoria, which Myers ran in the 1990s.

In a 2010 deposition released last week, Myers said he didn't know about the allegations against the priest.

He says in his letter that children should never be at risk and blasts his critics, the media and others who claim he didn't protect children. Myers says making those claims is "simply evil, wrong, immoral.''

He says God will address the critics "in due time.''