July 11, 2006--Father Fay Redux
You may recall Father Michael Fay. I wrote about him two months ago. He was the pastor of St. John’s Catholic Church in Darien, Connecticut and allegedly used his wealthy parishioners’ Sunday donations to support a lavish lifestyle that included trysts with a “friend,” Cliff Fantini aka Cliff Martell, in his Upper Eastside apartment and $449,000 condo in Fort Lauderdale.
His transgressions came to light when his assistant pastor, Father Madden, who was rebuffed and demoted by the bishop when he brought his suspicions to the diocese’s attention, hired a private investigator to look at the books. The PI discovered that at least $400,000 of church funds was redeployed to underwrite Father Fay’s lifestyle. The NY Times, which originally broke the story, recently returned to it in order to fill in some details (article linked below).
First we discover that the good Father liked to have blonde highlights applied to his hair—at $85 per treatment, billed to the church. He also threw a lavish party for himself to celebrate his 25th year in the priesthood—at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Also billed to the church. And he was such a good son, that he even used church money to paint his mother’s house.
He was very good at urging congregants to be generous to the poor and on average gathered $10,000 a week in the collection baskets. He would not deposit that money in the church’s bank account but rather stashed it in his desk drawer. To quote one parishioner, a deli owner, “He was the most high-class priest I’ve ever seen.”
Yet as with so many, having money changed him. When he was struggling along on just his $28,000 a year salary he reputedly was always available to his flock and was noteworthy in his compassion. But after he became high-class, as reported by his devoted secretary, whenever anyone called to discuss a problem he would “just roll up his eyes.”
Over time, a few of his parishioners began to grow suspicious—for some the affair at the Pierre was a “warning sign.” Indeed. So how did Father Fay respond? By claiming that he had prostate cancer and that in his condition he couldn’t tend to them as he would like. And of course, since everyone felt sorry for him they were reluctant to bring him more suffering by raising questions about where all the money was. One called this tactic on his part his “cancer card.”
In spite of all of this, many continue to think well of him. One thing frequently noted is the pleasure he brought to his congregation through the musical productions he staged. Many are still talking about his My Fair Lady and, especially, his ecumenical Fiddler on the Roof.
His transgressions came to light when his assistant pastor, Father Madden, who was rebuffed and demoted by the bishop when he brought his suspicions to the diocese’s attention, hired a private investigator to look at the books. The PI discovered that at least $400,000 of church funds was redeployed to underwrite Father Fay’s lifestyle. The NY Times, which originally broke the story, recently returned to it in order to fill in some details (article linked below).
First we discover that the good Father liked to have blonde highlights applied to his hair—at $85 per treatment, billed to the church. He also threw a lavish party for himself to celebrate his 25th year in the priesthood—at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Also billed to the church. And he was such a good son, that he even used church money to paint his mother’s house.
He was very good at urging congregants to be generous to the poor and on average gathered $10,000 a week in the collection baskets. He would not deposit that money in the church’s bank account but rather stashed it in his desk drawer. To quote one parishioner, a deli owner, “He was the most high-class priest I’ve ever seen.”
Yet as with so many, having money changed him. When he was struggling along on just his $28,000 a year salary he reputedly was always available to his flock and was noteworthy in his compassion. But after he became high-class, as reported by his devoted secretary, whenever anyone called to discuss a problem he would “just roll up his eyes.”
Over time, a few of his parishioners began to grow suspicious—for some the affair at the Pierre was a “warning sign.” Indeed. So how did Father Fay respond? By claiming that he had prostate cancer and that in his condition he couldn’t tend to them as he would like. And of course, since everyone felt sorry for him they were reluctant to bring him more suffering by raising questions about where all the money was. One called this tactic on his part his “cancer card.”
In spite of all of this, many continue to think well of him. One thing frequently noted is the pleasure he brought to his congregation through the musical productions he staged. Many are still talking about his My Fair Lady and, especially, his ecumenical Fiddler on the Roof.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:27 AM
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