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Brooklyn bishop disciplines pastor who allowed pop star to film music video in church

Bishop Robert Brennan blesses Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, with holy water on Nov. 4, 2023, in response to the filming of an indecent music video in the church. Assisting the bishop is Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn. | Credit: John Quaglione/DeSales Media

The Diocese of Brooklyn announced Saturday that a local pastor who allowed a pop star to shoot a lewd music video in the church no longer has administrative oversight over the parish.

Additionally, the diocese told CNA that Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated a Mass of reparation at the church on Saturday morning in response to the desecration.

“Through the offering of this Mass, Bishop Brennan has restored the sanctity of this church and repaired the harm,” the diocese said in a statement.

Bishop Robert Brennan blesses the altar at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, with holy water on Nov. 4, 2023, in response to the filming of an indecent music video in the church. Assisting the bishop is Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn. Credit: John Quaglione/DeSales Media
Bishop Robert Brennan blesses the altar at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, with holy water on Nov. 4, 2023, in response to the filming of an indecent music video in the church. Assisting the bishop is Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn. Credit: John Quaglione/DeSales Media

The music video, which has amassed over 3.6 million views, shows pop star Sabrina Carpenter dancing provocatively on the altar at the historic 19th-century Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn.

The release of the video “Feather” on Oct. 31 triggered an uproar on social media and calls for a re-consecration of the church and prayers of reparation.

“Who is the pastor? Why did he allow this?” one social media post asked. “How on earth did the diocese allow this to happen?” another post asked.

The pastor, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, did not respond to CNA’s request for comment on Nov. 2 and he was not immediately available for comment on Saturday. Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church merged with the nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church to form Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish in 2018.

Bishop Brennan said in a Nov. 2 statement that he was “appalled” to learn of the video and would investigate how it was allowed to take place.

In its statement Saturday, the diocese told CNA that “a review of the documents presented to the parish in advance of the production, while failing to depict the entirety of the scenes, clearly portray inappropriate behavior unsuitable for a church sanctuary.”

“In light of this,” the statement continued, “Bishop Brennan has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski as the temporary administrator of Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish.” Mroziewski will assume “all administrative oversight” of the parish pending an administrative review that “will immediately commence,” the statement said.

“Additionally, Monsignor Gigantiello’s tenure as Vicar for Development for the Diocese has concluded as of November 3, 2023,” the statement said. John Quaglione, a spokesman for the diocese, told CNA Saturday that Bishop Brennan decided to remove Gigantiello from that role “following the filming of the music video.”

Father Michele Vricella (center) and Deacon Michael Chirichella (left) assist Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn, in stripping and preparing the altar to be blessed at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 4, 2023. The blessing and a Mass of reparation took place on Nov. 4, 2023 in response to a desecration caused by an indecent music video released Oct. 31 that was filmed in the church. Credit: John Quaglione/DeSales Media
Father Michele Vricella (center) and Deacon Michael Chirichella (left) assist Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Brooklyn, in stripping and preparing the altar to be blessed at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 4, 2023. The blessing and a Mass of reparation took place on Nov. 4, 2023 in response to a desecration caused by an indecent music video released Oct. 31 that was filmed in the church. Credit: John Quaglione/DeSales Media

Bishop Brennan, assisted by the diocese’s vicar general, Monsignor Joseph Grimaldi, blessed the altar and the church with holy water Saturday, the diocese said. Father Michele Vricella, the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish, and one of the parish’s deacons, Deacon Michael Chirichella, assisted Grimaldi in stripping and preparing the altar for the blessing.

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish was established in 1863, according to the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

For more than 100 years the church has been a home to Lithuanian Catholics, according to the Tablet, the diocesan newspaper.

Annunciation is “the only church in the New York metropolitan area that offers a weekly Sunday Mass in Lithuanian,” according to the Tablet.


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19 Comments

  1. Thank you, Bishop Brennan.

    Especially in these troubled times in the Church, it is always a reassuring pleasure to see a bishop take his responsibilities seriously, and to act upon them publicly.

  2. this is strange, was this a lone wolf act by the pastor or did the parish council know about it ahead of time etc.. (was it announced in the bulletin?)

  3. Thank God for bishops who know how to respond to these sacrilegious actions. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The bishop must fully investigate this monsignor’s life for other atrocious goings on before the diocese has to deal with yet another case of serious malfeasance. God, help us.

    • Someone needs to check with this “star” and find out WHO and WHAT was her motivation for asking for such a diabolical thing and the chain of command who allowed it.

      • I’m guessing that her motive was “because everyone should be free to express themselves”, along with a motive to gain fans and make $$$. Sin sells, and many “artists” from all art forms get away with disgusting stuff. I hope I’m wrong and she was just doing what her manager told her to do. So few people attend church or know anything about God that it’s certainly possible she honestly didn’t know how offensive her actions were. “Entertainment professionals” are a mission field.

  4. God our Heavenly Father offered Jesus Christ as the provision for sins; Righteous Father!

    It is sealed in the consent of the Son of God Jesus Christ the Divine Word: Lamb of God!

  5. Thank God. Bishop Brennan is a reminder that the powers of Death shall not prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18 RSVCE).

    As for Ms. Carpenter, she is dire need of spiritual counseling if she is willing to do something like this on a Church Altar.

  6. I think this is the article where a blasphemous post is removed and my reply to it to make recompense is taken away along with it. Good redacted with the bad.

    What inspired me here was the picture at the top, holy water purification. Jesus met with many exigencies along the paths He chose to go and in the places He went to visit. This was purposeful on His part; and what He says about taking courage would apply to varied encounters of our own that need His strength, regulation and healing.

    These are contained in our sacraments and sacramentals and our rites like exorcism. I was trying to indicate: God is so good. He wants us to live by them as well as enjoy the contemplation of them.

    In God’s light what we can see is that the devils want is for us to be so scrupulous and mortified as to be frightened off and left whimpering and cowering.

    Sins of the flesh and sins of dishonour are everywhere and they need speaking on, we are not to retreat. Or as our Lord said, “But who is ashamed of My word ….. ”

    ‘ God our Heavenly Father offered Jesus Christ as propitiation and provision for our sins: Righteous Father!

    God the Son Jesus Christ the Second Person gave consent and sealed it in the Incarnate Divine Word: Lamb of God! ‘

    https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2014/01/19/the-lamb-of-god-and-the-salvation-of-the-world/

2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. Brooklyn bishop disciplines pastor who allowed pop star to film music video in church – Via Nova
  2. Un évêque sanctionne un pasteur ayant accepté un clip obscène dans son église

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