"SUGAR DADDY" PRIEST CHARGED W/ LOOTING CHURCH FUNDS FOR GAY LOVER: Rev. Backs Principal In Lawsuit

NY DAILY NEWS ^ | 6/21/02 | MIKE CLAFFEY

[american colleen]

Done. Thank you for the address.

[Siobhan]

That's the ticket! Well done. We need to e-mail our support to Fr. Van Houten and any other priest who stands up against institutionalized evil.

[ThomasMore]

Hey, all I can say is that their blinks are nothing short of Howlingly Mind-Bending Absurdities. ;^)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

What AmChurch is dealing with then are "blink-and-wink" liberals?

[ThomasMore]

If we continue to freep the good one's, if we pray for them

Ain't it the truth, ventana!

TM

[Travis McGee]

Millstone.

Neck.

Lake.

[ThomasMore]

Oh yeh, "Blink and wink and definitely Pink" liberals.

I'll bet that Rev. John Thompson has his choir open the Sunday mass with...

"Let us greet our celebrant, Rev. Thompson, with our opening hymn, 'Hail Holy Queen'! (No irreverance to the BVM intended) LOL!

[ThomasMore]

You forgot Sosthenize first! Acts 18:17

[ThomasMore]

I can understand how upset you must be over this. And yes, longtime and loyal families in the neighborhood will be the grassroots voice that will eventually straighten out the mess at the school and parish.

I think most of us grieve with you and your family and friends who attend that parish and that school. What the priest did is evil. Plain and simple. It only reflects on him.

I for one will pray for the parish's perseverance in faith and apologize if any of this hurt you, for you and the good people of the parish are not the target of our anger. It's the bishops and priests, along with their complicity or apathy, that we are REALLY upset with.

[Domestic Church]

"I guess we need another St. Francis to inaugurate a second counter-Reformation."

And another St.Dominic to clean up the Universities would be nice as well.

Meanwhile we stick to prayer power.

[Liz]

This scandal with Fr Thompson is not at all representative of Saint Elizabeth Parish.

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.

[Antoninus]

Sent Brother Van Houten a "Thank you" email and encourage others to do likewise. Encouraging the good and virtuous priests and religious to stand up and fight on the inside will go a long way toward ousting the evil ones.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Wiping up after homosexuals is getting...tedious.

[Liz]

Thank you both for your kind words and sentiments. I'm sorry if I seemed oversensitive.

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.

[Atlantian]

I can understand your feelings. I grew up in a neighborhood similar to St. Elizabeth's in Cicero, IL near Chicago.

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.

[Plutarch]

This is shocking! Who did this Priest think he was? A U.S. Congressman (D-MA)?

[katnip]

Hi Neighbor,

I grew up in Howard Beach, right next door.
I'm a Our Lady of Grace/Stella Maris High girl.
My husband grew up in Ozone Park, but he went to Nativity.

I'm sorry for the pain this is causing you and the good
people of the parish.

St. Elizabeths will survive this and you can bet the
parishioners won't let something like this get by them
again.

You have a good friend in the Brother there.

[Solon]

I'm sorry if I seemed oversensitive.

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?