Posted on 06/21/2002 7:15:35 AM PDT by Liz
Queens parochial school principal who angered Catholic Church leaders by accusing a priest of looting school coffers to pay for a gay lover has won the backing of a prominent local Catholic educator.
"Your courage in stopping this outrage, even at the risk to your own employment, has taught all of your pupils a lesson they will long remember," the Rev. Richard Van Houten, president of Archbishop Molloy High School in Jamaica, wrote to Barbara Samide.
Van Houten went so far as to hint in the letter that he would come to Samide's rescue if she is ousted as principal of St. Elizabeth School in Ozone Park.
"If we have an opening in your field, we would be honored to have a person of your integrity on our faculty," he wrote.
"Your actions — and the tragic inaction of the clergy — underscore the need to end the culture of secrecy and the lack of accountability in the church," he added.
Samide, 39, blew the lid off a simmering tale of alleged sin and theft of school funds in a lawsuit filed in Queens Supreme Court on Wednesday against Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily and the Diocese of Brooklyn, which also runs Catholic parishes in Queens.
The suit charges that the vicar for southern Queens, Msgr. James Spengler, repeatedly ignored Samide's complaints that the Rev. John Thompson stole thousands from St. Elizabeth School coffers and spent much of it on a 19-year-old male go-go dancer he met at a Greenwich Village nightclub.
In addition, the suit charges that Thompson used his church-issued American Express card to pay for trips to a Florida nudist resort and a weekly visit to a Village massage parlor.
Samide states in the suit that Thompson, 50, spoke openly about being a "sugar daddy" to a teenage "houseboy," and moved his lover into the St. Elizabeth rectory in January 2001.
Samide, who joined the school in September 2000, also charges that Thompson stole $14,000 in profits from a school candy drive.
Frank DeRosa, a spokesman for the Brooklyn Diocese, insisted yesterday that Samide's job is not in jeopardy, adding, "She is the principal of the school."
The Queens district attorney's office has empaneled a grand jury to investigate the charges of missing funds. Samide is expected to be the star witness before that panel.
DeRosa said the church will "fully comply" with prosecutors' request for the school's financial records.
Thompson resigned from the parish March 23 and is living with his family.
We just had a similar situation this summer but it wasn't a principal or teacher... It took the Philly DA to get action and get a "rotten egg" tossed out whereas all attempts by organized parishioners were thwarted up through the vicar and chancery since '99.
There is a righteous anger that doesn't seem to mellow with time.
This thread was posted in June 2002----things haven't changed much, eh?
That's because most perverted freaks and pedophiles using the cover of Catholicism found a way to get close to boys. That's different than saying most Catholic priests are perverted freaks. They weren't priests in the first place, but used the priesthood to mask their homosexual tendencies.
People like that take all sorts of jobs to be close to kids. They get involved in scouting, or teaching younger kids – nothing Catholic about that.
Also, this is something a lot of single moms deal with. They are often desperate because good mean are rare to find, and they entrust their children to what they considered a mentor or a guidance to their children. These pedophiles look for jobs which give them that opportunity, and priesthood isn't the only job that allows them to do that.
Thanks for the ping. Post #123 is for you, too.
You're very right that pedophiles often take jobs or do volunteer work that brings them close to children. It's incumbent on administrators who oversee these types of roles to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Great observations!
Indeed!
Who wants to bet this "father" gave many a sermon on "tolerance" and "judge not least ye be judged"...
This Brother "gets it"...
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