NEW YORK
Washington Post
NEW YORK -- A Roman Catholic monsignor resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral after being accused of having an affair with a married woman.
Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark's resignation Thursday despite the 79-year-old Clark's denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the New York archdiocese said.
"He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick's and the Archdiocese," the church said in a statement. "He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved."
Clark has been rector of St. Patrick's in midtown Manhattan since 2001 and has often celebrated Mass there when the cardinal was away. A strong proponent of traditional morality, he blamed the church's sex-abuse scandal in 2002 on "the campaign of liberal America against celibacy."