This story has been floating around for a while, but Deal Hudson over at Inside Catholic has decided to shine a spotlight on it: Rudy Giuliani’s close friendship with an accused pedophile who just happens to be a Catholic priest, Msgr. Alan Placa:

Placa has been suspended from his priestly duties for the past five years. He is “priest in residence” at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, NY. The pastor, Msgr. Brendan Riordan, is a close friend. In fact, Placa and Riordan co-own a penthouse apartment in Manhattan. The $555,000 apartment is one of six properties the two priests have owned together since the late 1980s. They also co-authored a book in 1977 called Desert Silence: A Way of Prayer for an Unquiet Age.

Monsignor Riordan himself was named in a sex abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Worcester, MA; it was settled in the 1990s.

Placa and Giuliani have known each other since they attended Loughlin High School in Brooklyn. They became close friends and occasionally double-dated. After high school, they attended Manhattan College and joined the same fraternity, Phi Rho Pi.

Placa was ordained a Catholic priest in 1970. He served in various parishes and a preparatory seminary on Long Island before working for Catholic Charities and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. At Giuliani’s first wedding, Placa was the best man. Placa helped him get his annulment in 1982 before he officiated at Giuliani’s wedding to Donna Hanover in 1984. Placa also officiated at funeral services for Giuliani’s mother and father and baptized both of his children.

Because Placa has a law degree from Hofstra University, he became a legal consultant to the diocese and was part of a three-person team reviewing charges of sexual abuse by priests. According to Newsday, Placa was the “chief architect” of the Rockville Diocese sexual abuse policy.

In addition to containing accusations against Placa, the Suffolk County grand jury claimed that the evidence “clearly demonstrates that diocesan officials agreed to engage in conduct that resulted in the prevention, hindrance, and delay in the discovery of criminal conduct by priests.”

The grand jury report includes excerpts from a letter in which Placa brags about his ability to settle multi-million dollar clergy abuse claims for “$20,000 to $100,000.”

During the 1980s, Placa was the legal advisor to the House of Affirmation in Worchester, MA, which offered counseling services to priests accused of sexual abuse. One person who worked at this facility called it a “pedophile boot camp.” An abuse victim referred to it as a “breeding ground for sexual predators.”

In June 2002, Giuliani called Placa “one of the finest people I know.”

There’s more on this at the Inside Catholic link. Expect to see this get more attention in the weeks to come. It won’t be pretty.