Federal investigators have investigated Brooklyn Mongisgnor Jamie Gigantiello after he transferred a whopping $1.9 million to a firm run by a former aide of Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. Now fired from the church, he formerly worked at Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish, where he had allowed filming for a sensual, sexualized music video.
Gigantiello is accused of having sent $1 million of parish funds to that firm, Abrams Fensterman LLC, in January 2019. Then, two years later in 2021, he allegedly transferred another large sum, $900,000, to the Democrat-run firm without the knowledge or approval of his diocese.
Bishop Robert Brennan, commenting on the investigation into Gigantiello over the alleged mishandling of funds, said, the New York Post reported, “I am saddened to share that investigations conducted by Alvarez & Marsal and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP have uncovered evidence of serious violations of Diocesan policies and protocols at Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Annunciation Parish.”
In the same statement, Brennan said, that a replacement has been chosen who will ensure that the church’s funds are protected and properly administered, saying, “In order to safeguard the public trust and to protect church funds, I have appointed Bishop Witold Mroziewski as administrator of the parish.”
Arthur Aidala, Gigantiello’s lawyer defended his client by saying that he had been removed for misunderstood financial moves, not because he failed in his spiritual duties, saying, “The bishop relieved him of his financial duties, not his pastoral duties.” The lawyer claimed that the transfer had been part of an “investments” plan for the church, and so not improper.
The lawyer also commented on a side issue of which Gigantiello is accused: the alleged misuse of his church credit card. According to his lawyer, Gigantiello’s seemingly excessive and inappropriate use of his credit card doesn’t qualify as abuse of it because “The credit card is part of his compensation package.”
Gigantiello is the same priest who allowed pop star Sabrina Carpenter to film a racy video at his church, a scandal that rocked the diocese and made it a mockery amongst many Christians who saw the obvious imprudence in allowing that. Apologizing for that in a statement released at the time, he said “Understandably many are upset over what has transpired, no more than myself. On October 31st 2023 recording artist Sabrina Carpenter released a provocative music video which was filmed inside Immaculata Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church.”
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The priest said, “I offer my sincere apologies to the Bishop, the Diocese, any faithful parishioners, and all of you for this forgiveness.” He continued, “The parish was approached in September by a locally based film crew, scouting a location for the very example of Christ’s message and teachings. Sabrina Carpenter, “an effort to further strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community and the parish.”
He went on to explain, “Please know that I was not present for the filming. I had approved the filming with the understanding that the filming would be respectful of our sacred space and not contain anything contrary to our Catholic faith. While some of the scenes were respectful of our faith, other scenes were not.” He also claimed that he “was unaware that the filming would include scenes that would be contrary to our Catholic faith.”
He concluded the statement by saying, “I take full responsibility for the erroneous decision to allow the filming. I want to assure you that I had no knowledge that such a scene would be filmed in our church, which we worked so hard to restore to its present sacred beauty.” The document ended by assuring the parishioners that the “$5,000 of the parish received for the filming of the video will be donated to Bridge to Life, so that from this negative event can come the promotion of life.”
Watch the Video Here:
Featured image: Screenshot from the embedded video.