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.
Ain't it the truth, ventana!
TM
Neck.
Lake.
Of course it isn't. No one is suggesting it is. No one is trying to castigate the good people of St Elizabeth.
(And I do not appreciate the sensationalistic title of this thread. People are hurting over this, there’s no need to make a circus out of it.)
The language used is excerpted directly from the news article (see below). Please try to see this from outside the parish level. This story elucidates a problem. Having knowledge about the serious situation in your parish may help to gain solutions. It's truly sad that it happened in your parish and that church members are hurting over it. Most readers would conclude the dedicated school principal is representative of parish members.
EXCERPT 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.
Your feelings are completely understandable. To have placed one's faith in someone unworthy of it, who utterly betrayed your trust, who co-opted so many good, trusting parishoners, is devastating.
Yesterday, on a thread about this situation someone posted a Google search on "Gay Friendly Parishes".
I looked up the Illinois parishes mentioned on the list, and what a shock I had. One gay, friendly chursh was in Berwyn, the town next to Cicero. When I grew up there, fifty years ago, these towns were full of working-class families who filled the Catholic churches every Sunday. We all loved and respected our pastors. And we received wonderful educations at the Catholic schools.
Berwyn is still working-class and Hispanics have moved in over the last ten years.
How could there be a gay, friendly church in this neighborhood? The pastor has to be gay, and word has spread through the gay church network.
No oversensitivity detected. Just sadness & shock.
We were married in St. Elizabeth's. I always had a special feeling for that particular church. We're just shocked. Don't know why really.
Do these scandals ever end?
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