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  Shock, Charges of Hypocrisy As Priest Accused of Affair

By Luis Perez, Jeff Kearns, Jennifer Kelleher and Carol Eisenberg
New York Newsday [New York]
August 11, 2005

He is a conservative stalwart -- a priest who could be counted upon to preach orthodoxy from the city's highest-profile Roman Catholic pulpit. He has condemned gay relationships as "truly sinful," railed against a "sex saturated" culture and defended priestly celibacy.

So the accusation that Msgr. Eugene V. Clark, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, has been having a longterm affair with his married secretary has exploded like a bomb on scandal-weary Catholics, who thought they were hardened against such revelations. The charge comes from the woman's husband as part of an ugly divorce.

"This is devastating not just because he's a power player in the Catholic community, but because he's such a well-known champion of orthodoxy," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York confirmed Wednesday that it is investigating the claim of a sexual relationship between Clark, 79, and his longterm secretary, Laura DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, made in court papers recently filed by DeFilippo's husband, Philip, in Westchester County Family Court.

The spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said Clark denied the allegations to senior archdiocesan officials in conversations over the past 24 hours. He declined to say whether Cardinal Edward Egan, who made Clark rector of St. Patrick's four years ago, had spoken directly with the priest.

"We're still looking into the matter," he said. "He's still the rector of the cathedral."

Philip DeFilippo was quoted in media reports as saying he had videotapes showing his wife and the priest going into the White Sands Motel in Amagansett and checking out several hours later. Photos showing Clark arriving at the hotel, then leaving wearing a different shirt, were published yesterday in the Daily News. He also said his wife and Clark have taken many vacations together and exposed the couple's 14-year-old daughter to their relationship.

Neither Philip DeFilippo nor his attorney, Nicholas Barone of White Plains, returned calls for comment.

Clark and Laura DeFilippo released statements through their attorneys denying having an affair. Clark's lawyer, Laura Brevetti, said the accusations of sexual impropriety "have been contrived."

Laura DeFilippo said her husband had "intentionally distorted and sensationalized an innocent event" in an attempt to force her to accept his divorce terms.

Clark's reputation for orthodoxy -- he appeared regularly, for instance, on the conservative Eternal World Television Network -- made the allegations all the more difficult for many to fathom yesterday.

"It's outrageous," said a man, who declined to give his name, as he entered St. Patrick's. "In view of what he said about our sex-saturated society and pounded on sex, it's hypocritical."

However, Edwin Pacheco, 42, of Richmond Hill, said he was not ready to believe the worst.

"Yes, there are pictures, but he could have been there for something else," said the high school science teacher.

Before becoming rector of St. Patrick's, Clark had been a spokesman for Cardinal Terence Cooke and a private secretary to Cardinal Francis Spellman. He is the former rector of St. Agnes in midtown, where he restored the Latin Mass, and the Church of the Annunciation in upstate Crestwood, where he officiated at the DeFilippos' wedding 20 years ago.

Clark became a focus of media attention in April 2002, after delivering a homily blaming the priest sex-abuse scandal on factors including gays in the priesthood, the constant assault on celibacy by liberals and a sex-suffused culture.