By Mike Jaccarino and Corky Siemaszko
New York Daily News
October 30, 2008
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/10/30/2008-10-30_priest_suspended_from_job_at_hospital_af.html
Father Hound Dog has another reason to cry all the time.
Romancing Rev. Elvis Elano was booted Thursday from his new gig as chaplain at an upstate hospital, a day after a Queens woman accused him of using his collar to coerce her into an affair "ordained by God" - and sued him for $25 million.
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| Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn (r) claims in a $25M lawsuit that Rev. Elvis Eldan seduced her. |
"Father Elano has been suspended from his duties at Benedictine Hospital, where he provided pastoral care to our patients since August," hospital spokesman Sean Casey said.
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Until Monday, Elano was at St. Joseph's Parish in Kingston while working at the hospital. He split after Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn filed suit in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
"He clearly manipulated her," her lawyer, Andrew Laufer, said. "He saw a very emotionally vulnerable woman, given that she was going through a messy divorce, and he looked at her as an easy mark. It's egregious."
The suit says Elano romanced Rodrigues-Lytwyn when he was pastor at Our Lady of Snows Church in Floral Park.
The Rev. Kieran Harrington, a spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn, said RodriguesLytwyn told them two months ago a priest had seduced her, but wouldn't give his name.
"The first time we heard about Father Elano was [Wednesday]," Harrington said.
Harrington insisted Elano's departure from the Queens church had nothing to do with the sex scandal.
Members of Elano's former flock said they were shocked.
"He came across as a pretty good person to me," said parishioner Manuela Costa, 36. "I want to say I don't believe it."
Elano, who was ordained in the Philippines in 1992, also worked at the Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria from August 2001 to June 2004 and at Our Lady of Grace in Gravesend, from June 2004 to June 2007.
Rodrigues-Lytwyn said the 44-year-old priest seduced her in March after she made a painful confession. The 50-year-old divorcée said she left her husband because he was abusive.
"Elano professed his love, devotion and physical attraction to [her], stating, 'Your presence struck me like a thunderbolt,'" the suit charged.
For seven months, they rendezvoused at her Brooklyn apartment, which is where the vicar had his Viagra mailed, the suit said.
Rodrigues-Lytwyn also included in the suit a cringe-worthy e-mail she said she got from Elano on Oct. 6, in which he described a rash on his groin and legs that she claims he got from having sex with other women.
Her suit included photos of Elano shirtless and mugging with a rose in his teeth.
The suit also names the diocese and the Floral Park church as defendants, charging them with negligence for failing to properly supervise the priest.
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