The archdiocese characterized his departure as a resignation.

Archbishop Myers, while noting the failures in this case, defended how his office had handled allegations of sexual abuse over all. “We want our procedures to be among the strictest in the entire Catholic Church,” he said. “This has been one of my priorities since becoming archbishop in 2001 and that will not change. In fact, the archdiocese has an exemplary record of addressing allegations against our clergy. During my tenure I have personally removed 19 priests for substantiated allegations.”

The case of Father Fugee has stoked outrage among parishioners and politicians in New Jersey. It appeared to be a clear violation of the child protection policies the American bishops adopted in 2002, at the height of the sexual abuse scandal, which pledged that any priest faced with credible accusations of child sexual abuse may not continue working in ministry. This “zero tolerance” approach was approved by Pope John Paul II.

But few of the accused priests have been prosecuted in the criminal justice system because most of the cases are beyond the statutes of limitations, which require abuse to be reported within a few years after it occurred even though many abuse victims take years to come to grips with what happened to them or are afraid to report it. The prosecution of Father Fugee was an exception.

The Archdiocese of Newark has compounded the budding scandal with inconsistent explanations. The spokesman for the archdiocese, James Goodness, initially said that Father Fugee had been under supervision while working in a parish in the Trenton diocese, so it was not a violation of the agreement that Father Fugee and the archdiocese had with prosecutors. Soon after, the archdiocese changed its response, with Mr. Goodness saying that Father Fugee was ministering without the knowledge or permission of the archdiocese.

Father Fugee has stepped down from ministry. The archdiocese has not said whether it will seek to remove him from the priesthood, a process known as laicization, which requires Vatican approval.

Archbishop Myers said that he would be appointing a new special adviser to the Archdiocesan Review Board and would provide more resources to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct.