From The New York Daily News-
A bar-hopping Episcopal priest, who was once a big-spending mainstay of the Manhattan nightclub scene, has been defrocked, officials confirmed Monday.
Ex-Rev. Gregory Malia was ousted from the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, Pa., on grounds he "abandoned the communion of this church."
Church officials suspended Malia, 44, after he was arrested last July for pulling a gun when his daughter and a gal pal got into a fight at a bar.
"Gregory Malia has not made renunciation, retraction or denial" of charges he violated church canons, said the Rev. Paul Marshall, bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem.
"He is therefore deposed from the ordained ministry, released from his obligations and deprived of the right to exercise the gifts of spiritual authority as a minister of God's word and sacrament conferred on him at his ordination," Marshall wrote in a Feb. 15 notice of deposition.
The Jaguar-driving party priest's late-night carousing was first reported by the Daily News in December 2008 after his big tips and taste for Dom Perignon made him a popular club patron.
Malia, who also runs a specialty pharmacy dedicated to blood disorders, could not be reached for comment.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/04/06/2010-04-06_party_over_as_priests_defrocked.html#ixzz0kJUY6BPW
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