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Sensational Lawsuit against Priest Is Ill-advised and Highly Suspicious (commentary)

By Daniel Leddy
Staten Island Advance
December 14, 2015

http://www.silive.com/opinion/danielleddy/index.ssf/2015/12/sensational_lawsuit_against_pr.html

Father Peter Miqueli

You'd think that people holding themselves out to be faithful Catholic parishioners would be wary of airing their grievances in the mainstream media, the foremost purveyor of political correctness in the United States.

After all, The Catholic Church, with its principled opposition to such things as same-sex marriage, abortion and contraceptives,

is the most politically incorrect institution in the country. The media's militant support of policies and practices that the Church conscientiously opposes is a major reason why anti-Catholicism remains an acceptable bigotry in today's increasingly secular society.

You'd figure that Catholics who claim to attend Mass regularly would be ever-mindful of how the media ravaged their Church with malevolent glee during the child sex-abuse scandal, and how it continues to seize every opportunity to stoke its dying embers.

You'd expect them to remember, in stunning contrast, how the same media essentially ignored a federally commissioned report documenting far greater sexual abuse of children in America's public schools.

You'd also suppose that they would have learned something from the media's penchant for taking Pope Francis' words out of context, seeking to cast him as the liberal revolutionary they want him to be, rather than the consistent supporter of traditional Church teachings that he actually is.

No lessons learned

In the case of some parishioners of St. Frances de Chantal Church in the Bronx, however, you'd be dead wrong on every score. Sadly, these individuals don't understand that when you enlist the aid of an incorrigible antagonist to further your agenda, you jeopardize everything you claim to care about. Either that, or what you claim to care about so passionately is something you don't really care about at all.

So it came to pass that last week 14 parishioners of St. Frances de Chantal Church initiated suit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that its pastor, Father Peter Miqueli, has misappropriated parish funds. They further claim that Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Archdiocese of New York, whom they also name as defendants, have known about the financial improprieties but have done nothing to remedy it.

The complaint would have been legally sufficient had it essentially said just that, leaving the specific details to be spelled out as the lawsuit proceeded. That, at least, is how plaintiffs sensitive to their Church and their faith would have gone about it, assuming there had been a need to file a lawsuit in the first place. And that assumption has zero validity here.

Seeking maximum damage

These plaintiffs, however, seeking to inflict maximum damage on Father Miqueli, Cardinal Dolan, and the Archdiocese, craved media attention. So, their complaint was drafted in the most sensational of terms to make sure they got it.

The Manhattan tabloids got the ball rolling: "Priest paid his male 'sex-master' from collection plate," screamed the New York Post, headlining a story which, among other lurid details, repeated the lawsuit's claim that Father Miqueli was forced to drink his "master's" urine.

True or false, it's a despicable assertion, aimed squarely at the media, that serves no legitimate legal purpose.

Not to be outdone, the New York Daily News countered with this headline: "Bronx priest stole more than $1 million from two NYC churches, used the cash on wild S&M romance with beefy boyfriend."

And so the explosive allegations of these "faithful parishioners" were similarly repeated in newspaper after newspaper, all around the world.

They're proud of themselves too. In fact, as soon as the sensational media coverage began, a website entitled "Free St. Frances de Chantal from Fr. Peter Miqueli" started listing links to the stories, and encouraging people to "enjoy" reading them. The same website also declared — and this is really off-the-wall crazy — that Father Miqueli, Cardinal Dolan, and the Archdiocese of New York "made this into the media circus that is (sic) has become."

Lack of evidence

What the plaintiffs have done here would be shameful enough if the allegations they've made were true. But there are several reasons to be highly suspicious of their lawsuit. For example, if, as they claim, Father Miqueli stole over $1 million from two parishes, why haven't they produced documentation establishing it?

More important, why, if such proof exists, haven't they turned it over to the Bronx District Attorney, something the Archdiocese has actually encouraged them to do?

Consider, too, that an audit of St. Frances de Chantal's finances, conducted for the Archdiocese by John Feerick, a full professor at Fordham Law School, has uncovered no irregularities whatsoever.

In response, these "faithful parishioners" can do no better than scream "cover-up," an allegation that makes no sense, is unsupported by a scintilla of proof and calls into question yet again why they haven't involved law enforcement.

Demand for big money

Most interesting of all, however, is the plaintiffs' claim that they've suffered permanent psychological injuries, including "confusion, humiliation, fright, anxiety, [and] mental anguish."

They also claim that the "very fabric of [their] faith" has been destroyed, an allegation that calls into question just how firm that faith was in the first place.

For this, their complaint seeks both compensatory and punitive damages. In other words, instead of merely seeking restitution of parish funds, they want tons of money for themselves.

Father Miqueli stepped aside as Pastor of St. Frances de Chantal over the weekend, something any conscientious priest would have done given the firestorm precipitated by this lawsuit. Although that's precisely what the "faithful parishioners" claim they've wanted all along, their website seized the occasion to criticize him again, asserting that "he took the coward's way out."

Can it get any wackier than that?

Whether there is any merit whatsoever to the plaintiffs' claims remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that they've supplied hard-core anti-Catholics with more ammunition to undermine the Church. And that is truly disgraceful.

 

 

 

 

 




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