TOP CATHOLIC OFFICIALS SUED  (Newark priest says he was terminated after he spoke out against cover-ups of sex abuses)

The Rev. Robert Hoatson, a Newark priest, has sued New York Cardinal Edward Egan and several other top church officials for $5 million, contending that he was terminated as a school director in 2003 for speaking out against bishops' cover-ups of clergy sex abuse.  The lawsuit, filed Tuesday also alleges that Egan, along with Newark Archbishop John J. Myers and Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard, are active homosexuals who protected predatory priests out of fear those men might reveal their own secrets.