Right-wing Catholic website agrees to pay Manchester priest $500K
Mar. 5—The owners of a right-wing Catholic website have agreed to pay $500,000 to a Manchester priest for several articles lawyers say besmirched his reputation.
In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in February 2021, the Very Rev. Georges F. de Laire — the Diocese of Manchester's expert on church law — alleged churchmilitant.com, a website run by St. Michael Media (SMM), defamed him in several articles about the diocese's handling of St. Benedict Center, an ultra-conservative religious group in rural New Hampshire.
In his lawsuit against SMM, de Laire said he was a victim of a "campaign of lies, disparagement, defamation, harassment, intimidation, and maliciousness" by churchmilitant.com.
One article cited in the suit quoted unnamed sources who described de Laire as unstable, manipulative and vindictive, a troublemaker and a careerist responsible for botched cases.
De Laire contends that the unnamed sources never made the statements, so the attribution is false.
Michigan-based SMM issued an apology last week to de Laire, saying it "sincerely apologizes for their part in any distress or damage they may have caused Father de Laire."
"The story was authored by Marc Balestrieri, who requested that his authorship be concealed, and led SMM to believe that the claims in his article were supported by anonymous sources known to him," a statement posted on churchmilitant.com said.
"SMM and Church Militant extend their apologies to Father de Laire for the publication of this story which has been permanently removed from the ChurchMilitant.com website. Additionally, we have resolved Father de Laire's defamation lawsuit through a financial payment to him."
The statement goes on to say SMM and Church Militant "regret that the article was not properly vetted."
"It was later revealed that Mr. Balestrieri could not substantiate his claims regarding Father de Laire with any credible sources," the statement said. "Further, Mr. Balestrieri did not disclose to SMM his active involvement in a canonical dispute in which he was representing a client and Father de Laire was representing the Church at the time he wrote the article, which would have raised questions about the motive behind the anonymous allegations in the article prior to its publication.
"Mr. Balestrieri, after being sued, did not defend the lawsuit, leading the Court to enter a default judgment against him. Mr. Balestrieri further failed to attend his duly-noticed and agreed-upon deposition."
President resigns
The settlement comes after SMM announced Nov. 21 that Michael Voris, who founded the organization and its media outlet, was resigning as president.
"Church Militant/St. Michael's Media was founded as a bastion of Catholic truth and a light to the faithful in hard times," the Nov. 21 announcement said. "This is why we are being fully transparent with you all. Michael Voris has been asked to resign for breaching the Church Militant morality clause. The board has accepted his resignation. We understand this is a shock to you all, but our founder and former CEO is stepping aside and focusing on his personal health.
"The Board of Directors has chosen not to disclose Michael's private matters to the public. The apostolate will be praying for him, and we kindly ask you to do the same."
De Laire, who is pastor of St. Pius X Church in Manchester, alleged the website insinuated something improper about his purchase of a home in 2012, according to the suit.
De Laire, whose family made a fortune in the French perfume industry, bought the property for $900,000, according to Amherst town property records. The town valued it at $1.74 million for tax purposes this year, according to those records.
The home sits on 1.4 acres on its own point on Baboosic Lake in Amherst.
De Laire also has sued Voris individually. An April 15 trial date has been set in this lawsuit, though Voris has requested an extension for medical reasons.
De Laire has served as Bishop Peter Libasci's judicial vicar and vicar for canonical affairs since 2013. As the vicar for canonical affairs, he advises the bishop on canon law.
