WHITE PLAINS (NY)
The Journal News
By JONATHAN BANDLER
jbandler@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 11, 2005)
WHITE PLAINS — The rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral is embroiled in a Westchester divorce case, as an Eastchester man alleges that his wife had an affair with the 79-year-old Roman Catholic priest while working as his secretary.
Philip DeFilippo filed for divorce from his wife, Laura, in Westchester Family Court, and claimed in court papers that she was romantically involved with Monsignor Eugene Clark, a longtime family friend who married the couple two decades ago, when he was rector at the Church of the Annunciation in Yonkers. Both DeFilippos are 46, and they have two children.
DeFilippo alleges that a private investigator captured his wife and the priest on videotape entering and leaving a hotel on Long Island and that his wife frequently vacationed with Clark.
The allegations have stunned parishioners from some of the many stops of Clark's career.
"Not the Monsignor Clark that I know. I would never expect that from him. I would never expect for him to do something like that," said Diane Vezza, a longtime Annunciation parishioner who recalled Clark as a "spectacular" rector. "The priest I know is an upstanding man."