Father Fay
When I read about the Fr. Fay affair in the tabloids last week, I thought, “Oh, God, another jerk and his booze and boys.” It appears Fr. Fay used the parish checkbook as his own personal piggybank, to fund a Florida condo, cruises with his boyfriend, limos, steak dinners and more, running up a tab in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Regardless of whether or not he was entitled to spend as he saw fit, he stole the money. Where were the parishioners? Where was the bishop? Where was the accountability? How the hell was he able to loot the parish for years without anything happening?
Fed up, the parish bookkeeper and the assistant pastor hired a private investigator to dig up the details on Fr. Fay. They said they took this step because the diocese wasn’t responding quickly or aggressively enough to the situation. The private investigator they hired was also the treasurer of his own parish, so he had some experience on church financial matters. The investigator took on the job with the understanding if he found any wrongdoing he would turn the evidence over to the authorities. He did.
In the finest of Catholic traditions of wrong-doers and reformers, this is where things stand now:
– Fr. Fay doesn’t have to face his ex-parishioners. Like all other disgraced priests, he is hiding out in an “undisclosed location.”
– The assistant pastor, the guy who blew the whistle on Fr. Fay, has been demoted and made to publicly apologize for hiring a private investigator.
The case has been turned over to the FBI.
Now comes the time to reflect and repent. This is where I imagine things stand now:
– Fr. Fay is sorry the party is over.
– Bishop Lori regrets he let the matter slide.
– The parishioners are sorry they lost money, but importantly, a good man in the assistant pastor.
– Gay Catholics, especially gay priests, are sorry we ended up back in the news in the person of Fr. Fay, a priest who lost his moral compass and ended up a thief.
