Priest divorce wife during church service and announces gay partner
An Episcopal priest shocked his Queens congregation recently when he left his wife and married someone else — a much younger man.
The Rev. Juan Andres Quevedo-Bosch, 59, the archdeacon of Queens and
rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Astoria, announced over Facebook
last week that he got married in a Los Angeles church.
The Cuban-born prelate was pictured on a beach with the caption: “I’m in Miami Beach with my new husband. God is good.”
One churchgoer said many parishioners severed ties to the church after Quevedo-Bosch came out as gay at the pulpit a month ago.
“Most of the people aren’t coming anymore,” the elderly woman said. “Because he’s homosexual,people have stopped coming.”
But she said Quevedo-Bosch also has supporters among his flock at the
church, which holds Spanish-language services for a largely Hispanic
congregation.
They started a petition to urge him to stay when he publicly offered to resign, the woman said, adding that she signed the petition.
Quevedo-Bosch has not been seen at the church for the last month, she said.
Attendance has dwindled, she said, with many parishioners instead going to Mass at a satellite church a few blocks away.
Saturday services have been canceled, and only seven worshippers showed up at Wednesday’s Mass.
Some of the faithful remain in the dark. One told The Post that
Quevedo-Bosch is “a wonderful husband” to his wife, Adria, 73, and
seemed puzzled when told the pastor had married a man.
Quevedo-Bosch’s bio on the church’s Web site still says he “lives
with his wife, Adria, enjoys house music and enjoys watching dance
break.”
On a different, older Facebook page in his name, he and his wife are
pictured in a 2011 photo illustration as Santa and Mrs. Claus standing
in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Quevedo-Bosch would not answer any questions about his wife or divorce, and he revealed little about his new union to The Post.
“I am aware that there have been concerns regarding my divorce and
subsequent remarriage and have been in touch with my bishop and my
congregation about them,” Quevedo-Bosch told The Post.
In a post on Twitter last week, the priest announced that he would be
keeping his personal and professional lives separate from now on.
The Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop in 2003.
“Priests who wish to enter into same-gender marriage are approved to
do so in the Episcopal Church and in the Episcopal Diocese of Long
Island,” said Bishop Larry Provenzano, head of the Long Island diocese,
which includes Queens.
Provenzano said that he had been in touch with Quevedo-Bosch “as is
customary in personal matters that involve divorce and remarriage” and
that the priest has his full support.
Before becoming a priest, Quevedo-Bosch worked as an economic planner
for the city of Havana in the early 1980s, his LinkedIn page says. He
studied to be a priest in his native country.
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