Ajemian meeting takes place at St. Pat’s
Published on November 21st, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - A handful of frustrated parents met with St. Patrick’s Pastor William T. Schmidt and other church and Boston Archdiocese officials Tuesday night to discuss the recent high-profile stalking arrest of former parish priest Father David Ajemian.
Ajemian, who left the Stoneham church last June and had since relocated to a Chelsea rectory, was arrested earlier this month for allegedly stalking late night NBC talk show host Conan O’Brien.
The meeting, held in the upper parish conference room, was convened after at least two parents with children enrolled at St. Patrick’s School reportedly questioned whether Schmidt and other church officials knew more about Ajemian’s reported history of mental illness before he departed Stoneham last summer.
“Basically, there were two sets of parents who expressed concerns, and I indicated I would address those,” said Schmidt on Tuesday, just before he entered the early evening meeting.
“Obviously, we are here to support Father Bill,” Boston Archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon added.
The Stoneham Independent, as well as other media outlets, were not allowed to sit-in on the private discussions, which started at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and lasted at least an hour.
Ajemian, who attended Harvard University at around the same time as O’Brien, purportedly tried to force his way into a taping of the show in NBC’s New York studio two weeks ago.
Although the Catholic priest was found fit to stand trial during a court proceeding in New York last Friday, Ajemian’s lawyer, Eric Seiff, acknowledged that his client had been treated for psychological problems and was scheduled to undergo mental health counseling.
The former St. Pat’s priest, who has characterized the circumstances leading to his arrest as a big misunderstanding, has since been released on $2,500 bail.
In the wake of a media frenzy that followed Ajemian’s arrest, both Schmidt and multiple St. Patrick’s parishioners have criticized the sensational headlines and characterizations of the priest — especially given his history of mental illness.
“At a time like this, I feel for any parent with a mentally ill child, and I think many people are making a profit off of a very unfortunate situation,” one anonymous parish member recently commented. “Why can’t they just leave this man alone.”
“Clearly, we’re dealing with some level of mental illness here and there’s a lot of sadness in watching the way things have developed,” Schmidt said last week in a separate interview.
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