A passerby who noticed lights on later than usual in the Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River witnessed the priest half naked having sex with two women dressed in corsets and high-heeled boots, according to a local paper.
The incident caused the “enraged” Archbishop Gregory Aymond to release a video statement, where he described the priest’s actions as "demonic" and said he had the altar burned.
"It is a very tough time right now to be a Catholic in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to say the least," he said.
"Many people feel anger, betrayal and disappointment, and I feel the same way, as do my brother priests,” he said. “It’s sinful, and it cannot be tolerated.”
The Archbishop said the priest, Reverend Travis Clark, had been removed from the ministry immediately and would “never serve again.”
Demonic
“His obscene behavior was deplorable. His desecration of the altar in the church was demonic, and I am infuriated by his actions,” he said.
The incident was filmed by the passerby who witnessed the act in order to show the video to police, who arrested the pastor and two women on an obscenity charge after determining everything that took place was consensual.
Court documents describe a scene with role play, sex toys and stage lighting, atop the church altar on September 30th.
There was also a mobile phone and a separate camera mounted on tripods in order to film the incident.
One of the women involved in the incident is reported to be an adult film actor who also works for hire as a dominatrix.
She posted on a social media account on September 29th, the day before the incident, saying she was on her way to the New Orleans area to meet another dominatrix "and defile a house of God."
In Roman Catholic tradition, the altar is among the most sacred of church spaces. According to church or canon law, when sacred places are violated they must be “repaired by penitential rite” before they can be used again in Mass.
Days after the priest’s arrest, the Archbishop went to the church and performed a ritual to restore the altar’s sanctity.
Rev Clark was released from jail on a bond along with the two women, though each could face six months to three years in prison if convicted of obscenity.
