Community pleads for Father Frank’s return

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More than 150 members of Our Lady of Lourdes Church last week attended what should have been a routine meeting. The Archdiocese of Rockville Centre arranged an open discussion at the church to solicit parishioners’ input on the attributes they would like in a new pastor.

The problem was, they wanted their old pastor back.

Last June, the Rev. Frank Parisi announced in the weekly church bulletin that he had recently been accused of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 20 years ago, and that he was stepping down “until such time that these allegations have been investigated and I have been cleared of them,” his bulletin letter read.

At the Jan. 25 meeting, some members of the parish said they had learned from members of the parish council that the Suffolk County district attorney’s office was no longer investigating Parisi, and that he had been exonerated. (At the time of the alleged misconduct, Parisi was the associate pastor of St. Patrick’s church in Smithtown.) Monsignor Peter Pflomm, director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of Rockville Centre, responded that the parishioners shouldn’t “listen to gossip.”

“It’s moving, and be patient,” Pflomm said of the case, adding, of Parisi, “He’s been very cooperative. The process just needs to take its course. It’s in the hands of the district attorney, and it’s in the hands of the review board.”

Sally Schutta, who created a petition requesting Parisi’s return to the parish, was surprised to hear that the talk was gossip. “That was not what several people on parish committees had heard,” Schutta said, “but I don’t want to be spreading false truths any more than I want someone else spreading false allegations.”

Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, said only, “This office does not confirm or deny the existence of a criminal investigation.” Last year, Clifford told Newsday that the D.A.’s office had received a complaint from the diocese relating to Parisi and was investigating the matter.

Malverne residents who know Parisi — who was popular at Our Lady of Lourdes since he was appointed there in 2005 — insist that he is incapable of such a crime, and those who spoke at last week’s meeting made it clear to Pflomm that many of parishioners felt that way.

Though Parisi is still listed as the church’s pastor, the Rev. John McCarthy has assumed all pastoral duties since his appointment as the parish’s administrator last September. McCarthy was previously a priest-in-residence at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Floral Park, and has been chaplain of Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville since 2013.

Some who attended the meeting expressed their disappointment that this was only the second time they were hearing from the archdiocese since Parisi’s departure. “The first time, the bishop came to talk to us, but it was a Monday, and we were all at work,” said a member of the audience, referring to Bishop Andrzej Zglejszewski, who spent part of the Monday after the church bulletin announcement at the parish. Zglejszewski, who was scheduled to accompany Pflomm to last week’s meeting, was not present.

When Pflomm asked parishioners to return to the focus of the meeting — to discuss attributes they’d like to see in a new pastor — he learned that almost all had brought comments written in advance that cited “Father Frank” as an example for the new pastor to follow.

Concern for Parisi was evident in one parishioner’s inquiry. “Have you spoken to him?” he asked Pflomm. “How is he?”