Blackmail? Cover-Up?
Did the New York archdiocese buy Fr. Miqueli's silence?
December 16, 2015 219 Comments
TRANSCRIPT
The case involves what we have been reporting on the past few days: that a lawsuit has been filed against Cdl. Timothy Dolan, the archdiocese, and a homosexual priest and his gay-for-pay male prostitute. The priest and prostitute are accused of ripping off over a million dollars from two New Yotk parishes and using it on their homosexual fantasy sex life. The archdiocese and Cdl. Dolan are accused of being negligent and non-responsive in addressing the continued concerns of parishioners. And ChurchMilitant.com has learned of one possible reason for the lack of concern and desire to keep the story under wraps by the archdiocese.Keep in mind that the archdiocese has known about this for a very long while, but it was only after massive press coverage, including a series of reports from ChurchMilitant.com, that the archdiocese finally sprung into public action. Father Miqueli is no longer the pastor. A resignation statement purported to have been written by him was read before every Mass over the weekend, with archdiocesan spokesman Joe Zwilling lurking around at the back of the church.
So the question: What would be the case now had the lawsuit by parishioners and subsequent media reports these past few days not happened? Answer: likely nothing. How can we say that? Because prior to the suit and coverage, the archdiocese and Cdl. Dolan already knew all of this. No new information to them has been revealed in the past few days. Without that lawsuit and coverage by ChurchMilitant.com and local New York media, parishioners would still be screaming and their cries ignored. Amazing what happens when the spotlight gets shined on corruption.
What ChurchMiltant.com has also learned is that Fr. Miqueli felt a sense of invincibility in his life of larceny and lust, because, according to people close to the story, he witnessed a child molestation by a priest on Staten Island back around 2002 and went to the archdiocese. They told him to keep silent about it, and, according to reports, arranged for him to become pastor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini parish on Roosevelt Island in exchange for his cooperation.
If this is true — and sources are standing by their story — it would fit a certain pattern here on the part of the archdiocese and Cdl. Dolan to fully investigate faithful Catholics' claims against Miqueli.
First, very little has been done about this by archdiocesan officials despite knowing about it for at least two years. Second, when one of the auxiliary bishops was told about the story by a church worker, the whistleblower was fired. Third, communications between the parishioners and the archdiocese reveal a cavalier attitude on the part of the archdiocese, so much so that parishioners thought they had no other option other than to go to court.
And then there is the reality that without the current media coverage and lawsuit, there isn't one thing to suggest that Fr. Miqueli would not still be pastor and supposedly thieving from the collection basket to fund his drug-fueled sex romps with a live-in gay prostitute.
So the larger question begins to be asked: Did Fr. Miqueli witness a child molestation and report it to the archdiocese? He has told that story to more than one person. If he did, is it true that officials back in 2002 — just at the exact time the whole homosexual priest sex abuse scandal was breaking open — bought his silence?
This scenario would explain his cavalier comments that he has powerful friends in the archdiocese who "protect him." This would all lead to a very plausible reason that the archdiocese would seek to ignore this whole story in the face of various complaints and meetings with parishioners over the course of years.
It was only after the girlfriend of the gay-for-pay prostitute stepped forward recently and told everything about the nearly 10-year-long sadomasochistic sexual relationship between Miqueli and Keith Crist that a motive for the million-dollar embezzlement came into focus.
But with that now clearly on the table, so is the prospect of criminal charges — which would almost certainly swamp the archdiocese as well — with the Bronx district attorney now waiting in the wings. The problem is the D.A. is waiting for the archdiocese of New York to finish its internal audit before making a decision whether to pursue a criminal investigation. That is a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house because the archdiocese has every reason for this not to go criminal.
However, there is still the question of a civil lawsuit hanging out there — and if that ends up unfavorably for the cardinal, the D.A. may have to pursue the case, regardless of any lackluster search for the truth on the part of Church officials.
Above story is from: http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/blackmail-cover-up
The New York Post also supplies coverage:
The Rev. Peter Miqueli was intensely jealous of his S&M boy toy — and it was that jealousy that led to his ouster from the pulpit, The Post has learned.
Miqueli flew into a rage after discovering that his bought-and-paid-for “master,” Keith Crist, had a longtime girlfriend he secretly shacked up with in the Harlem apartment for which the priest was paying rent.
The randy rev eventually forced Crist to pick between him and the woman earlier this year, spurned girlfriend and whistle-blower Tatyana Gudin told The Post.
When Crist picked Miqueli, kicking her out of the apartment, it helped set off a chain of events that has led to the priest’s downfall at St. Frances de Chantal Church in The Bronx.
It was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Gudin said of getting tossed into the street by both Miqueli and Crist, prompting her to reach out to a lawyer, church parishioners and even Cardinal Timothy Dolan to tell them the priest was leading a secret life of lust and larceny.
“When [Miqueli] found out — it was late March — he got really mad and really jealous,” Gudin said. “He [Miqueli] conspired with my boyfriend to illegally lock me out.”
Gudin, 45, claimed Crist, 41, and a pal of the priest changed the locks at their East Harlem pad on April 16, knowing she would be out for several hours having oral surgery.
The New York Archdiocese and Bronx prosecutors are investigating whether Miqueli stole church funds to pay for his sinful relationship with Crist.
Parishioners have filed a lawsuit against Miqueli — largely informed by Gudin’s statements — for allegedly stealing up to $1 million in church funds.
The disgraced priest was nowhere to be found on Sunday — not at his New Jersey home nor at St. Frances de Chantal Church, which announced that Miqueli was stepping down.
“What can I say? I’m embarrassed,” the priest’s brother, Joseph Miqueli of Pasadena, Md., told The Post.
The brother declined to get into any specifics, but hinted that he and other loved ones knew something was wrong after meeting Rev. Miqueli’s musclebound pal.
“It was kind of obvious,” said Joseph Miqueli. “I know that’s terrible. He’s got to ask for forgiveness. He’s in a mess. He’s in a pretty big mess. This thing is huge.”
Meanwhile, Dolan said after Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday that he “admired’’ Miqueli’s decision to step down.
“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” he said. “It’s dark, it’s somber, it’s dreary. I’m sad for the good people at that parish.
“I’m sad for my priests who once again are tarnished,’’ added Dolan, who took heat while in Missouri over accusations he didn’t do enough to address priest sex scandals.
Upon his promotion from auxiliary bishop in St. Louis to succeed the archbishop in Milwaukee, Dolan said that he had learned his lesson about slow response.
“I’ve learned some very hard-won lessons. We can’t do business as usual . . . We’ve got to be more open, more transparent,” he said in 2002.
A rep for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said Sunday that prosecutors are waiting for the archdiocese to complete its internal audit of Miqueli before pursuing any criminal charges.
Meanwhile, worshippers at St. Frances de Chantal broke into applause Sunday when a letter from their disgraced priest was read before each Mass announcing he was stepping aside.
Additional reporting by C.J. Sullivan, Khristina Narizhnaya and David K. Li
New York Post: http://nypost.com/2015/12/14/jealous-priest-forced-boy-toy-to-choose-its-me-or-your-girlfriend/
The above tabloids are making much of the problem, but it does indeed to appear to be a scandal.
Update:
New York City priest at the center of a sordid sex scandal resigned Saturday after outraged parishioners accused him of embezzling at least a million dollars in donations to, among other things, pay a male hustler for $1,000-a-session sadomasochistic encounters.
Among Father Peter Miqueli’s kinky fantasies, according to The New York Post, was being humiliated in front of a “nice Jewish girl” in the Orthodox Borough Park, Brooklyn enclave.
Tatyana Gudin, the ex-girlfriend of the male hustler, dished about a lot more of the priest’s alleged peccadillos in a letter to the New York Archdiocese.
Angry parishioners are suing the church, the priest, the alleged hustler (identified as Keith Crist), and Cardinal Timothy Dolan in a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court.
“Since 2003 the defendant Father Peter Miqueli used his position of trust and confidence as a pastor, as a man of God, to misappropriate and divert hundreds of thousands of dollars of donation funds from parishioners at the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church on Roosevelt Island and the St. Frances De Chantal Church in the Bronx,” the suit says.
“Rather than use parishioner donations for religious and charitable purposes, Father Miqueli used the donations to grow his personal wealth, purchase a house in New Jersey, take dozens of international vacations, purchase and use illegal drugs, and pay for the weekly services of his homosexual prostitute and “sex master” Keith Crist.”
The suit also accuses the church of knowing about the activities. A spokesman for Dolan said an investigation is underway and Dolan has reportedly admitted seeing Gudin’s allegations, which have been turned over to prosecutors.
Miqueli announced Saturday night he was stepping down from the Bronx parish as the story spread like wildfire online.
“I have made the decision to step aside from my position as pastor of this parish while this unfortunate and regrettable situation is investigated,” he said. “It is in the best interests of the parish that this matter be resolved without me serving as your pastor.”
Miqueli denies any wrongdoing.
Read more: http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/326826/the-priest-the-hustler-and-the-nice-jewish-girl/#ixzz3uZsSysTe
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