Believe It: Atheists Sue Catholic Church Over Its Crimes

By Aaron Short

Charging that the Catholic Church should lose its tax-exempt status, a consortium of atheists and Catholic activists filed two lawsuits against Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Assemblymember Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg) and the Catholic Diocese over their role in producing a recorded message sent to Williamsburg’s registered voters less than a week before they went to the polls.


Led by NYC Atheists President Kenneth Bronstein and New Jersey-based priest abuse activist Reverend Robert Hoatson, the suits allege that DiMarzio violated Internal Revenue Service laws by recording a political message sent to voters in a hotly contested City Council election, which could cost the Church privileges enjoyed by its nonprofit status.

“This is the first step to accomplish what we want to accomplish: get the Church out of politics,” said John Aretakis, a spokesperson for the group.

The lawsuit arises from reaction to a series of pre-recorded messages that Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio made on October 28, to voters in the city’s 34th Council District, thanking Lopez for his work advocating for the Catholic Church during the past year and urging voters to support his choices in the election.

“The automated calls that Bishop DiMarzio made to thank Assemblyman Vito Lopez must be taken at face value, an expression of gratitude in this last legislative session,” said Father Kieran Harrington, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Diocese, in an earlier interview addressing the origin of the robocalls. Harrington declined to comment on the lawsuits. “The fact is that neither the bishop nor the Diocese worked for the election or defeat of any candidate.”

Lopez has been a key ally to the Brooklyn Diocese, advancing a sex abuse bill that many legislative observers have seen as competing with Assemblymember Marge Markey’s (D-Maspeth) bill that would eliminate the statue of limitations for abuse victims for one year. A spokesperson for Markey said that her bill was “live” and would likely be introduced in the Senate in January after it did not come up for a vote in the Assembly this session.

At a press conference shortly after filing his lawsuit, Reverend Hoatson lambasted DiMarzio for participating in the robocalls and criticized the Diocese for not being more active in protecting the rights of clergy abuse victims.

“Bishop DiMarzio has chosen to politically fight us to the death. The only way we have been able to hold the Church accountable is through the courts,” said Hoatson.

Unlike the Atheists’ lawsuit, Hoatson and Aretakis’ suit did not name Lopez as a party, focusing instead on the actions of DiMarzio and the Diocese.However, Aretakis believes that a “quid pro quo” arrangement existed between Lopez and Bishop DiMarzio to create the robocall appearing to endorsing Lopez’s candidate, Maritza Davila, in exchange for support in the state legislature on priest abuse issues. Davila lost to Council member Diana Reyna (D-34th District), who has publicly sparred with Lopez for much of the year.

“Vito is pretty shook up by this. He’s trying to act like he had nothing to with this. He’s a liar. I think he’s more concerned about this than the Church,” said Aretakis. “We are going after Vito Lopez as part of a public relations campaign.”

In an interview with The Brooklyn Paper, Lopez said that DiMarzio thanked him in the robocalls for supporting him over the past term. When reached, a staff member from Lopez’s office declined to comment about the lawsuits.

“But it doesn’t matter,” said Lopez “I’m a third party in this. How can I control what the bishop releases?”

One legal expert, Jo Anne Simon, a former Council candidate and an attorney who represents nonprofit organizations, said she would have advised the Catholic Church not to participate in the robocalls and avoid the legal mess that awaits them.

“One of the key elements of nonprofit status is that one must not electioneer,” said Simon. “It’s the context. Vito was supporting a candidate in a particular area where these calls went. The question in discovery is were those calls made to Vito’s Assembly District or to the 34th Council District.”

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