A Brooklyn pastor was disciplined for allowing pop star Sabrina Carpenter to film a racy music video inside a 160-year-old church.
Monsignor Jamie J. Gigantiello was relieved of his administrative duties at Our Lady of Mt Carmel-Annunciation Parish in Williamsburg this month, after Carpenter’s video “Feather” debuted on YouTube on Halloween, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Parts of the video — which has amassed 11 million views in a month — featured the 24-year-old blonde songstress strutting around the 19th-century Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in front of four upright pastel coffins while wearing a tiny black dress.
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan re-consecrated the church during a mass on Saturday, the Diocese told the Catholic News Agency (CNA), which first reported on the outrage over the video.
Brennan on Nov. 2 said he was “appalled” to learn about the video — which also featured scenes of men killing each other as they vied for Carpenter’s attention — and that he would investigate.
Brennan later said Auxiliary Bishop Witold Mroziewski had been appointed as temporary administrator of the parish and would have “all administrative oversight” over it while Gigantiello will undergo a review, CNA reported.
Gigantiello’s tenure as the Diocese’s vicar for development has also been stripped from him, according to a statement to CNA. He held the position for 15 years.
In a letter to parishioners, Gigantiello – who has been a priest since 1995 – asked for forgiveness and hoped his fellow followers of Christ would “forgive my oversight in this unfortunate matter.”
Gigantiello said he was told most of the video would be “filmed outside” the church and he and his team were “not aware that anything provocative was occurring in the church, nor were we aware that faux coffins and other funeral items would be placed in the sanctuary.”
“While I take full responsibility for the erroneous decision to allow the filming, I want to assure you that I had no knowledge that such a scene would be filmed in our church which we worked so hard to restore to its present sacred beauty,” he wrote in the Nov. 6 letter.
Gigantiello, who also serves as an FDNY chaplain, said he initially accepted the offer after being approached by a local film crew and was told it would be a “production featuring Sabrina Carpenter.”
After looking up the young artist, his search “did not reveal anything questionable,” so he allowed the shoot to proceed.
The $5,000 the church made from the video will also be donated to Bridge to Life, a pregnancy crisis center in Flushing, Queens, Gigantiello said.
Parishioner Mary Ann, who declined to give her last name, told The Post on Tuesday that it was a “lapse in judgement” to strip Gigantiello’s of his administrative duties.
“Father Jamie has been incredible. He’s a priest that gets things done. He’s not judgmental. He’s a lovely priest. I truly think he should be reinstated,” she said.
But she also said that Carpenter shouldn’t have been allowed to film in a “sacred place.”
“In terms of the video, there was nothing wrong with it. It was just a stupid pop video. If you saw it anywhere else, who cares? But this is a sacred space. For the people who believe, it’s a sacred space,” she said.
“There’s so many things today that are divisive, I don’t think this is one of those things that should a deal breaker. He made a mistake. Re-consecrate it. Move on.”
Prior to entering the priesthood, Gigantiello cooked for many famous people while working in some of New York’s most elite kitchens following his graduation from culinary school.
He’s cooked for the likes of Mayor Eric Adams, to former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, to Hollywood royalty Paul Newman.
Gigantiello, who parishioners said holds community cooking classes, even published a cookbook called “Breaking Bread.”