Proverbs 14:30

Plus City of Yes, a change in migrant shelters coming, and a new cat! #103

The Bible says many things about jealousy. There’s the whole thing about not coveting your neighbor’s wife (Exodus 20:17); and there’s James 3:16, which states: “Wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and everything that is evil.”

I thought of all that this week as I wrote about the latest in a story that started with Sabrina Carpenter given permission to film a music video in an empty church in Brooklyn. That video ended up causing quite a stir; her team apparently didn’t mention the scenes with blood. The permission was given by Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, who oversees Our Lady of Mt. Carmel-Annunciation parish in Williamsburg, and the Diocese of Brooklyn launched an investigation soon after the video was released.

He was in the news again earlier this fall after he received a subpoena to appear as a witness to discuss his financial investments with the mayor’s former chief of staff, Frank Carone.

Details of those financial investments were released this week by the diocese, apparently at the end of their investigation, which found he gave $1.9 million to companies and a law firm affiliated with Carone in three transactions. The money was paid back, with returns, but he didn’t get it authorized by Bishop Robert Brennan — a diocesan requirement.

When I spoke with Gigantiello, he said the whole thing was rooted in one of the seven deadly sins — envy. He’s a popular priest who had been in charge of raising millions for Catholic schools across Brooklyn and Queens before he was removed from the role. He has a cooking show, sells jarred marinara sauce with his photo on the label. When he’s placed in a parish he improves their finances, makes necessary repairs on older buildings, and fosters community within a flock that’s been shrinking over the decades, he said.

He told me he was “without a question” being targeted by the current bishop.

“A lot of it has to do with jealousy … the popularity of certain priests and success with the things that they do,” he said. 

One other thing that came out of the investigation started when the diocese placed a deacon at the parish to, Gigantiello said, spy on him. That deacon was then caught on parish building security cameras making racist remarks about new neighbors.

I reviewed a nearly 2-minute clip as he railed against neighbors he said were living in his building on a Section 8 voucher. He first used a slur I spent an hour trying to figure out, then later recognized from the episode of “The Sopranos” where Meadow brings home her boyfriend from Columbia. The deacon noted in the audio clip that he’s not prejudiced, but then called the neighbors “animals” and finally, the “n-word.”

NBC 4 New York has the clip, which you can listen to here.

Gigantiello says he’ll still tend to his parish and say mass. The diocese said they’re still investigating other things, like his use of a church credit card for personal expenses, so it’s unclear what else could happen.

It makes me think of that proverb in the title of this issue: “A peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.”

Other interesting stories
Plans for a celestial observatory in the Bronx have come crashing down [THE CITY]
Happy 60th to this beautiful bridge [THE CITY]
City Hall is really beginning to pare down asylum seeker facilities [THE CITY]
Hate to read something like this but The More You KNow [GRUB STREET]
Surprise! New police commissioner snuck in during a budget briefing [THE CITY]

And here’s a bit of extended coverage on the City of Yes from THE CITY, Crain’s, amNY, POLITICO, Gothamist, and City & State.

🎧LISTEN🎧

Someone on Bluesky said I made a good point on the podcast this week, forget which point [FAQ]
I also spoke to Roberto Perez on The Perez Notes and we talked about politics and basketball.

WATCH

Happy early Thanksgiving. I hope you all have an amazing day with family and friends, eating great food and relaxing. Here’s a video of the Barney balloon getting deflated in Times Square on Thanksgiving Day, 1997.

Thanks for reading!