NEW YORK
National Catholic Register
But its chief spokesman insists it has responded appropriately to the allegations of financial and sexual misconduct leveled against the parish priest.
by BRIAN FRAGA 02/12/2016
NEW YORK — Shortly after he was assigned to a parish on Roosevelt Island in New York City, Father Peter Miqueli told a local newspaper that he hoped his parishioners would help him become a good priest.
“I am a regular person from the community who has been called upon to serve the community,” Father Miqueli told The Wire in February 2002.
Today, Father Miqueli, while still a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, has no parish or any assignment. He has been sued by parishioners from two churches who accuse him of embezzling $1 million and of alienating the faithful with an aloof and abrasive demeanor. The embezzling allegations — extensively detailed in a lawsuit filed in December 2015 — are being investigated by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
The lawsuit also details, in lurid fashion, an alleged long-running paid homosexual relationship that Father Miqueli is said to have had with Keith Crist, an alleged male escort whom parishioners say they often saw around their churches, and who Father Miqueli allegedly assigned to run a parish-operated thrift shop on Roosevelt Island.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.