BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Affair? Yes, I Do Care New York Daily News [New York] August 21, 2005 Who cares? That was my first reaction to "The Beauty and the Priest" sex scandal between Msgr. Eugene Clark, the rector of St. Patrick's, and Laura DeFilippo, his "leggy," "shapely," "attractive" - take your pick, dudes - secretary. Whatever happened between DeFilippo and Clark, at least it was between consenting adults, and not another 11-year-old altar boy rape story. Still, I was curious about how Clark came to own a $2 million home in Amagansett while I'm still taking my kid down Coney. But the church has taken a vow of silence on this one. But, hey, Clark isn't the first clergyman to get rich. God works in mysterious ways. Cardinal Law of Boston, who covered up for child rapists, was punished for his sins with a life sentence in a luxury condo on St. Peter's Square, where he was allowed to say Mass at the Pope's funeral. Bishop Thomas Daily, who also had a veiny hand in the Boston coverup, was given a fine stone house in Brooklyn, where he smugly presided over the collapse of the Catholic school system. Talk about ash and sackcloth. I agree with my colleague, Michael Daly, that one of the more offensive elements of the Msgr. Clark expose was not the affair itself but the hypocrisy of this dirty old priest, who condemned Hollywood for the moral decline of modern society. But, c'mon, who really cares? Well, the church hierarchy should care. This particular case once again screams for a reexamination of the archaic celibacy laws, which didn't even exist in the early church. After all, St. Peter, the first Pope, was a married man, as were most Popes after him for hundreds of years. Celibacy laws weren't established until the 11th century, and many historians believe they were created as a way of preventing priests from leaving property to wives or children. Like that $2 million house in Amagansett. All that said, for me, the Msgr. Clark scandal really got ugly when the jilted husband, Philip DeFilippo, went public with story and photos. Where his teenage daughter and all her friends could see the pictures of her mother, father and some decrepit priest who looks like he just shot a remake of "The Mummy's Hand" splashed across the newspapers and TV. That's what elevated this affair from venial to mortal sin. But perhaps all the dough Philip DeFilippo saves in alimony might be best spent on shrinks for his emotionally short-circuited daughter. But except for that, who cares? Well, the people who raise money for the wonderful charities associated with the Catholic Church care. They care because whenever a new sex scandal explodes in the press, the money to help the elderly, the poor, the sick, the orphaned, the mentally challenged and the forgotten of the city stops coming in. That's who Msgr. Clark, who misses no meals, hurts. I know how important these charities are. When my mother grew old, she was blessed with a fine apartment in the Bishop Boardman senior citizens apartments in Brooklyn, run by Catholic Charities, where she lived with security and dignity. When she developed Parkinson's dementia, she received magnificent care at the Carmel Richmond Nursing Home in Staten Island, an immaculate waiting room for Heaven. Vital places like these depend on donations from generous Catholics and benevolent foundations. But when these sex scandals detonate on Page 1, the foundations, already looking to cut costs, have an excuse to terminate funds. Outraged wealthy Catholics slap close the checkbook. Thousands more stop attending church. One Catholic Church fund-raiser told me, "People jokingly ask, 'How the church can ban birth control and pay for Viagra?' It would be funny, except those same people aren't sending money anymore." Who cares? The parents, teachers, and students of 26 Catholic schools shuttered this year in Brooklyn and Queens care. They care that this happened while some randy old priest lives in a $2 million Amagansett beach house and still has the disposable income to pay for a cheaters' motel 2 miles away at Hamptons' summer rates? Who cares? I care, because one of those 26 schools was St. Thomas Aquinas school in Brooklyn, where I played Little League as a boy. I care because my grammar school, Holy Family, was long ago shuttered. As was St. Stanislaus, the church where I was an altar boy. I care, because my entire Catholic childhood has vanished. When you grow up Catholic, you always believe the church will remain. Instead, it's being chipped away by pedophiles, their enablers, bottom-line corporate hit men and hierarchical hypocrites. Who cares? Go to the churches across the city this Sunday and count the empty pews. Go to the charitable Catholic institutions that have to say no to people in need. That's who cares.