Episcopal Press and News
Penthouse Magazine Issues Retraction
Episcopal News Service. June 23, 1998 [98-2192]
(Episcopal Life) Penthouse magazine has admitted it published unsubstantiated claims in a 1996 article "The Boys from Brazil," that resulted in the deposition of one Long Island priest and the firing of a second at the Episcopal Church Center.
"Penthouse has now had the opportunity to obtain information...that was not previously available and to read the diocesan report of the Episcopal Church of its investigation," says a statement from publication's editor. "Had this information been available to Penthouse, we would not have published the article that appeared in the December 1996 issue."
The statement was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by the Rev. William Lloyd Andries, the central figure in an expose that included false claims of shocking sexual activity, some of which were alleged to have taken place at night in the priest's Brooklyn church. Andries, 61, who continues to live in Brooklyn, is unemployed.
Andries has said he was never asked by the article's author, Rudy Maxa, or by the magazine to respond to allegations made by two Brazilian men who charged that Andries and several other priests had engaged in sexual orgies with them in the rectory and in St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Howard Williams, 47, of Brooklyn, N.Y., former coordinator of children's ministries at the Episcopal Church Center, was fired after he was identified in a photo of guests attending a same sex blessing between Andries and one of the Brazilians. He is currently working at a car dealership.
"The main thing I have learned from this experience is that, whatever its mission, an institution's first concern is self-preservation," said Williams, who was not deposed. "That takes precedence over justice, truth and integrity."
A report issued a year ago following a lengthy investigation conducted by retired Bishop O'Kelley Whitaker on behalf of Long Island diocese found that 22 of the 38 separate allegations identified in the Penthouse article were completely untrue or unproven and nine more were largely untrue.
With the letter from Penthouse, the lawsuit is concluded. Attorneys for Andries said that, given the enormous cost of sustaining a libel action, Andries settled for the retraction.