Pope Leo XIV has appointed bishop of Metuchen, in New Jersey (United States), Monsignor Michael A. Saporito, until now auxiliary of Newark. The appointment, announced this Tuesday, September 15 by the Holy See, places at the head of the diocese a 64-year-old prelate with a long parish trajectory who in recent years has participated in initiatives related to LGBT pastoral care.
Among them is one of the private meetings organized by New Ways Ministry to bring together American bishops with LGBT activists, theologians, doctors, and pastoral agents in favor of greater ecclesial welcome for homosexual and transgender people. But Saporito’s connection to this area is earlier: during his time as pastor of Saint Joseph, in Maplewood, the parish developed a ministry directed at homosexual Catholics and their families.
Saporito succeeds in Metuchen James F. Checchio, previously appointed coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans. The diocese had been under administration since November 2025. After his appointment was announced, the new bishop declared himself «deeply grateful» for Leo XIV’s trust and assured that he faces his new mission trusting in the Holy Spirit.
His participation in New Ways Ministry meetings
Saporito’s name gained special relevance last April, when New Ways Ministry made public some details of a series of two-day meetings it has organized since 2023 with members of the American episcopate.
According to the organization itself, 17 bishops had participated until then in three meetings held at Georgetown University, Saint Louis University, and the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin. Some prelates attended on more than one occasion.
The sessions brought together bishops with theologians, healthcare professionals, academics, pastoral leaders, and homosexual and transgender people. Among the topics addressed were moral theology, LGBT pastoral care, psychological interpretations of gender, school policies, labor issues, and the situation of homosexual priests and lesbian religious.
Saporito was one of the prelates who allowed his participation to be publicly identified. Alongside him appeared, among others, the archbishop of Milwaukee, Jeffrey Grob; the bishop of Lexington, John Stowe; the bishop of Jackson, Joseph Kopacz; and the archbishop of Santa Fe, John Wester.
The then auxiliary of Newark positively assessed the experience:
«Certainly I felt enriched by the exchange of personal stories and information that was offered. Many of my questions were answered and I still need time to learn more.»
Among the participants was endocrinologist Cynthia Herrick, former co-director of an academic center for transgender adults, who presented to the prelates her views on the development of gender identity. Also participating were people who identify as transgender and LGBT pastoral leaders.
New Ways Ministry expressly presented these meetings as a way to promote pastoral care for LGBT people and to advance «synodality.» Information about the bishops’ participation subsequently received international coverage; the German Catholic agency KNA, for example, reported on Saporito’s statements and those of other prelates.
An LGBT pastoral ministry prior to his episcopate
Saporito’s relationship with this type of initiative did not begin with the New Ways Ministry meetings.
Between 2004 and 2011 he was pastor of Saint Joseph, in Maplewood, a community in which during those years a welcome group for homosexual Catholics and their families was developed that later adopted the name Open Arms Ministry.
Information about his parish trajectory indicates that during his time at the head of Saint Joseph, the parish also hired as music and liturgy director a man who was openly homosexual, who had disclosed his situation before being hired.
The LGBT ministry continued to function after Saporito’s departure from Saint Joseph. Under subsequent parish administrations, the community came to organize celebrations linked to Pride and other initiatives specifically directed at LGBT faithful.
Ordained priest by Theodore McCarrick
The ecclesiastical trajectory of the new bishop of Metuchen also developed during the years when Theodore McCarrick governed the archdiocese of Newark.
Saporito, born in Newark on May 3, 1962, studied Accounting at Rutgers University and worked for several years before entering the seminary in 1987. He completed his ecclesiastical studies at the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in South Orange.
He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1992, when McCarrick was archbishop of Newark. In 1999 he began serving as associate director of vocations for the archdiocese.
The connection is relevant from an institutional point of view due to the position McCarrick held at the time, although there is no element in the consulted sources that would allow attributing to Saporito participation in the abuses committed by the former cardinal.
After his first years as a parochial vicar, Saporito was pastor of Saint Joseph, in Maplewood, from 2004 to 2011, and subsequently led Saint Helen, in Westfield, until 2020.
The background of New Ways Ministry
Saporito’s participation in the meetings is especially significant due to the history of New Ways Ministry, an organization that for decades has maintained controversial positions regarding Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.
It was founded in 1977 by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent.
In 1999, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, published a notification—approved by Saint John Paul II—after a prolonged investigation into the activity of both religious.
The document concluded that their positions on homosexuality contained «errors and ambiguities» and determined that Gramick and Nugent could not exercise pastoral work with homosexual people.
In 2010, Cardinal Francis George, then president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, again warned that New Ways Ministry «does not authentically present Catholic teaching» and that its positions could not be considered representative of the Church’s doctrine.
During the pontificate of Francis, however, an approach occurred between Rome and some members of the organization. Francis maintained correspondence with Gramick and subsequently received representatives of New Ways Ministry.
The organization has continued to publicly support initiatives aimed at expanding ecclesial welcome for homosexual relationships. Last July, New Ways Ministry celebrated the Mass and blessing offered in London on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of cohabitation of two well-known homosexual activists.
From parish evangelization to Metuchen
Apart from these controversies, Saporito has a trajectory of nearly three decades of parish work.
A significant part of his activity has focused on evangelization programs and initiatives aimed at recovering the sacramental practice of lapsed Catholics. After the pandemic, he also participated in projects in Newark aimed at reconnecting the faithful with their parishes.
Pope Francis appointed him titular bishop of Luperciana and auxiliary of Newark on February 27, 2020. He received episcopal ordination on June 30 of that year at the hands of Cardinal Joseph Tobin.
Six years later, Leo XIV transfers him to Metuchen as residential bishop. The appointment thus places at the head of the New Jersey diocese a prelate with extensive parish and evangelizing experience, but also with a documented trajectory of participation in LGBT pastoral initiatives and, more recently, in the meetings promoted by New Ways Ministry for members of the American episcopate.