Arsenault Boyfriend's Expenses Billed to Diocese
By Mark Hayward
Luke Parkin, the man involved in an "inappropriate adult relationship" with the Rev. Msgr. Ed Arsenault III, is a gay recording artist/composor with 70 albums to his credit, according to Internet websites. In interviews with music sites and gay-oriented sites, Parkin talks about his music, growing up gay and his dating habits. He never mentions romantic interests by name. "Dating is fun when it's not called 'dating,'" he tells Chicago.GoPride.com in an interview. He said he'd favor a man who looks like Tom Brady, writes like Proust and can preach self-reliance like Ralph Waldo Emerson. Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Jane Young on Wednesday said the investigation into Arsenault's thefts of funds from the Manchester Catholic diocese and Catholic Medical Center found that the priest spent much of the stolen funds on Parkin. Young called the relationship between the two consensual. The diocese put Arsenault on administrative leave last year, citing financial improprieties and "an inappropriate adult relationship." The Diocese of Manchester on Wednesday released a timeline that details investigations into Arsenault. The Diocese said that in January 2013 it was informed that Arsenault was in an inappropriate relationship. While that tip involved allegations of blackmail, no evidence surfaced of blackmail, the Diocese said. Young said Parkin is facing no criminal charges. The Diocese said the attorney general's investigation found that between 2007 and early 2009, Arsenault billed the Diocese for numerous expenses related to the relationship: • $2,500 for a cell phone. • $3,200 for a trip to Santa Fe, New York and San Francisco, which included a $159 breakfast at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. • Forty-eight nights at an extended stay hotel in Amesbury, Mass. Arsenault initially told Diocesan investigators the hotel was for a "homeless international priest," the Diocese said. The New Hampshire Union Leader could not reach Parkin Wednesday through email or a former publicist. Investigators said Parkin lives in Florida. Parkin's Est MMIX albumn is his 70th album, according to the website WeirdMusic. It appears to have been released in 2012. Some Luke Parkin music videos are on You Tube, and albums can be purchased through iTunes. His work is instrumental, slow-moving, somewhat hypnotic, with a heavy emphasis on rhythm and synthesizers. "I move between the classical (art traditions) and commercial worlds; I suppose that's weird as well albeit in the best possible way," he told WeirdMusic. A 2008 work, Lustre, features a cross, dove and serpent on the cover. Musical renditions include a cut for each Station of the Cross, a Catholic prayer said during Lent. Parkin told WeirdMusic he is religious, but did not elaborate. Contact: mhayward@unionleader.com
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