NEW YORK
New York Post
By JEANE MacINTOSH, HEIDI SINGER and DAN MANGAN
August 12, 2005 -- The monsignor at the center of a steamy sex scandal stood by his woman yesterday — resigning his high-ranking post at St. Patrick's Cathedral after the church told him to fire his leggy longtime assistant, The Post has learned.
Clark, 79, thumbed his nose at Edward Cardinal Egan's request Wednesday to relieve Laura DeFilippo, the $100,000-a-year secretary with whom he was videotaped checking into a secluded and romantic Hamptons motel, an insider said.
Sources said the Catholic cleric then abruptly quit after realizing the scandal made it impossible to continue running St. Pat's, a source familiar with the situation said.
The source said, "He wouldn't fire her because he claimed he didn't do anything" with her at the motel in Amagansett, where the two were videotaped July 21 at the behest of DeFilippo's husband.
In a statement issued by his lawyer, Laura Brevetti, Clark said, "It appears to me that events and circumstances have been portrayed in such a false and sensational manner that I will no longer be able to effectively serve the archdiocese."