Bishop troubled by SJU dorm storm

The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Brooklyn Diocese has released a statement calling for “a spirit of humility and mutual cooperation” regarding the controversial St. John’s University dormitory project in Jamaica Estates.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who oversees Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens, released the statement on Wednesday, February 20, in response to a published article the Friday before, in which State Senator Frank Padavan accuses the university of painting “a political bull’s-eye on his back.”
Padavan has been the elected official most vocal in opposing the construction of the six-story, 485-bed facility on a residential block of Henley Road, a quarter-mile from the campus.
An “irrefutable” source at the Bishop’s office reportedly told Padavan that St. John’s president Reverend Donald Harrington was pushing an on-campus voter registration drive to unseat the politician in the coming election.
Harrington alleged told DiMarzio, “I’m going to get Padavan, because Padavan’s been critical,” Padavan claims in the article.
DiMarzio said he met with Harrington at St. John’s on January 31, when he was at the school to receive an honorary doctorate.
Harrington indicated that Padavan had “repeatedly disparaged the student body, in an attempt to galvanize opposition” to the project, DiMarzio said.
He continued, “I was told the student body [emphasis his] was so offended that student groups intended to hold voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote efforts.”
Padavan, however insisted in the article that his information was accurate, and said, “I don’t think the Bishop’s office would have called me and told me about this if it wasn’t true.”
DiMarzio said “I instructed my staff to speak to (Harrington and Padavan) in order to find an amicable solution,” but he lamented, “I am troubled by the resulting confusion.” He concluded with a hope that Padavan and Harrington “will find a solution that satisfies all parties.”