A longtime Queens pastor has been booted for secretly marrying his secretary and continuing to perform priestly duties, officials and parishioners said yesterday.
Rev. Timothy Pesak, 53 – who ran St. Adalbert R.C. Church in Elmhurst for the past 10 years – was suspended last month and then dismissed July 13 after it was revealed he wed divorcée Darlene Smith after dating her for three years.
Catholic clergy are prohibited from marrying and they serve under a vow of celibacy.
“Father Pesak was dismissed from his Conventual Franciscans order after it was learned that he had married his secretary,” said Brooklyn and Queens Diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa.
“After he married, he continued to perform his priest functions, including celebrating Mass and presiding over a funeral Mass. We’re all just in shock and terribly disappointed.”
The duo married on April 24, but parishioners said they long suspected a romance between the bespectacled, silver-haired pastor and Smith. The couple vacationed together in Hawaii last December, Smith accompanied Pesak on several out-of-town seminars and they were often spotted arm-in-arm shopping at a local supermarket.
They were also seen “dirty dancing” at the church’s New Year’s Eve party last year while Pesak was wearing his collar. Parishioners also said the pastor’s car was regularly seen parked outside Smith’s Elmhurst home at all hours of the night.
“Father Pesak’s behavior was despicable and outrageous,” said one disgusted church member.
The couple, who have moved to Arizona with Smith’s 14-year-old son, Ray, could not be reached yesterday for comment.
Smith’s daughter, Kelly, who works in the church’s rectory, said her mother and Pesak “are absolutely not married,” but are living together in Arizona.