NEW YORK
Courthouse News Service
By NICK RUMMELL
MANHATTAN (CN) – Parishioners at two Roman Catholic Churches in New York claim in court that their pastor routinely dipped into donation baskets to fund an illicit lifestyle of sex, drugs and sadomasochistic rituals.
In a lawsuit filed in New York County Supreme Court on Dec. 10, the plaintiffs, parishioners at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church, on Roosevelt Island, and at St. Frances De Chantal Church, in the Bronx, say they became deeply concerned about how Father Peter Miqueli was handling donations after maintenance workers allegedly stumbled onto the stacks of cash in a church rectory.
In 2014, a group of parishioners set up a website to detail accusations of malfeasance by the pastor, and to share their concerns about an alleged cover-up.
The plaintiffs claim they shared these concerns with Bishop Gerald Walsh, but the archdiocese did nothing to investigation their allegations.
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