NEW YORK
New York Newsday
August 11, 2005
LUIS PEREZ, JEFF KEARNS, JENNIFER KELLEHER and CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITERS
He is a conservative stalwart -- a priest who could be counted upon to preach orthodoxy from the city's highest-profile Roman Catholic pulpit. He has condemned gay relationships as "truly sinful," railed against a "sex saturated" culture and defended priestly celibacy.
So the accusation that Msgr. Eugene V. Clark, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, has been having a longterm affair with his married secretary has exploded like a bomb on scandal-weary Catholics, who thought they were hardened against such revelations. The charge comes from the woman's husband as part of an ugly divorce.
"This is devastating not just because he's a power player in the Catholic community, but because he's such a well-known champion of orthodoxy," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York confirmed Wednesday that it is investigating the claim of a sexual relationship between Clark, 79, and his longterm secretary, Laura DeFilippo, 46, of Eastchester, made in court papers recently filed by DeFilippo's husband, Philip, in Westchester County Family Court.
The spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said Clark denied the allegations to senior archdiocesan officials in conversations over the past 24 hours. He declined to say whether Cardinal Edward Egan, who made Clark rector of St. Patrick's four years ago, had spoken directly with the priest.