BETHPAGE (NY)
Newsday
By Rita Ciolli
Staff Writer
October 10, 2003, 9:04 PM EDT
The pastor of the St. Martin of Tours parish stood on the church altar Friday and asked for prayers for the priest who told police he systematically stole from the Sunday collection basket every week for more than two decades.
“Pray for John Johnston, a very troubled man,” the Rev. Tom Siconolfi said in a heavy voice, his glum expression matching those of the more than 80 people in the pews for the 9 a.m. Mass. Siconolfi also asked the congregation to pray “for the elderly father the 64-year-old priest cared for” and for those “who had a genuine affection for him and who are shocked and sickened about what happened.”
After Mass, sad parishioners gathered in knots around the vestibule and parking lot of the neat stucco and wood church on Central Avenue in Bethpage to share their disbelief about the unfolding events.
“I pray for him, I pray for the church — that is all we can do,” said Christine O’Dwyer. The parishioners, many of them retirees who attend Mass daily, said they knew Johnston, who helped out at weekend Masses for about 25 years. They described him as a quiet, humble man, a pleasant gentleman whose homilies tended to be a bit conservative.
“Pray for John Johnston, a very troubled man,” the Rev. Tom Siconolfi said in a heavy voice, his glum expression matching those of the more than 80 people in the pews for the 9 a.m. Mass. Siconolfi also asked the congregation to pray “for the elderly father the 64-year-old priest cared for” and for those “who had a genuine affection for him and who are shocked and sickened about what happened.”
After Mass, sad parishioners gathered in knots around the vestibule and parking lot of the neat stucco and wood church on Central Avenue in Bethpage to share their disbelief about the unfolding events.
“I pray for him, I pray for the church — that is all we can do,” said Christine O’Dwyer. The parishioners, many of them retirees who attend Mass daily, said they knew Johnston, who helped out at weekend Masses for about 25 years. They described him as a quiet, humble man, a pleasant gentleman whose homilies tended to be a bit conservative.
