By Liz Rhoades
Queens Chronicle
November 6, 2008
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20190597&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574902&rfi=6
A Floral Park priest named Elvis is “All Shook Up” after a Brooklyn woman filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit, claiming he seduced her while she was in a vulnerable mental state.
Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn, 50, filed the case against the wayward priest, the Brooklyn diocese and the church last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court, asking for $25 million. She claims that Father Elvis Elano, who was then assigned to the church, Our Lady of the Snows, encouraged the affair by claiming it was “ordained by God.”
He’ll be “Crying in the Chapel” if the lawsuit proceeds. The woman’s attorney, Andrew Laufer, said last Thursday that he expects the case to move quickly and take a year to conclude, “unless a settlement is worked out, which we would be agreeable to,” Laufer said.
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| Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn and Father Elvis Elano during a Montauk vacation in September. The inset shows the “Hound Dog” priest in a randy mood. |
Elano may not be “The Devil in Disguise,” but Rodrigues-Lytwyn is claiming that when she went to confession at Our Lady of the Snows, and told the priest about her allegedly abusive husband, he preyed on her vulnerability.
“He manipulated her. He’s 45. It’s egregious what went on and he should be kicked out [of the priesthood],” Laufer said.
The woman, who has been estranged from her husband for five years, is now going through divorce proceedings.
The lawsuit states that Elano professed his love, devotion and physical attraction to the woman, stating, “Your presence struck me like a thunderbolt.” He even ordered Viagra from a Web site and had it delivered to Rodrigues-Lytwyn. There was no “Return to Sender.”
In a prepared statement, the alleged victim said: “I was going through a very rough period in my life and I was looking for some spiritual guidance and finding some peace from a religious perspective. And he essentially took advantage of that. I was overwhelmed by his advances.”
She claims in the lawsuit that the liaison left her with “severe stress, anxiety, guilt, fear, humiliation and shame.”
The woman was not a member of the parish, but visiting a friend who was. She has a grown daughter.
The “Burning Love”affair began in March and ended in early October, following an e-mail to Rodrigues-Lytwyn in which the priest describes a rash in his genital area that he believes he got from having sex with other women.
Laufer said this was a wake-up call to his client, who realized her mistake and ended the relationship. It’s now “Heartbreak Hotel” time.
Father Kieran Harrington, spokesman for the diocese, said on Thursday that the court documents have been turned over to counsel for review and that no statement would be immediately forthcoming regarding the lawsuit.
According to diocesan records, Elano was ordained in the Philippines. He previously served at Immaculate Conception Church in Astoria for three years and a Brooklyn church for another three years before being sent to Our Lady of the Snows in June 2007, where he worked for a year.
Elano was sent to Kingston four months ago to serve as a chaplain at Benedictine Hospital. He was suspended from the position on Thursday.
As part of the lawsuit exhibits, Rodrigues-Lytwyn included several photographs of her with Elano and others of him alone. One of the shots shows him with his shirt off and another with a rose in his mouth.
Michael McGovern, a member of Our Lady of the Snows for over 50 years who organizes and runs its CYO sports program, has little sympathy for either party. “It’s a damn shame. She is a 50-year-old woman and he came on to her. She should know right from wrong and she went along with him. She’s just as guilty.”
McGovern is saddened that the case reflects poorly on the parish, which is a very active and growing congregation with 3,000 families. Earlier this year, it finished a $6 million expansion project with the completion of a new chapel.
McGovern knows Elano and said he wasn’t a flirt, but quiet and soft-spoken. He had no “Suspicion” the priest was such a “Hound Dog.” “I never would have thought in a million years he would do this,” the parishioner said.
While at Our Lady of the Snows, Elano conducted Bible studies on Monday evenings. “No one in the parish had a clue,” McGovern added.
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