{"id":873,"date":"2009-03-26T04:49:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T04:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/hotel-manager-fired-for-catholic-slur.html"},"modified":"2009-03-26T04:49:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T04:49:00","slug":"hotel-manager-fired-for-catholic-slur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/hotel-manager-fired-for-catholic-slur.html","title":{"rendered":"Hotel manager fired for Catholic slur"},"content":{"rendered":"

You never know where anti-Catholic bigotry might pop up — and the New York Daily News has the story of an ugly incident<\/a> that took place at one of New York’s finest hotels: <\/p>\n

<\/a>The manager of one of the city’s most luxurious hotels was given the boot after ordering a Catholic employee to clean up his forehead on Ash Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“Wipe that f—–g s–t off your face,” managing director Niklaus Leuenberger told a bell captain at the New York Palace Hotel on Feb. 25, sources said.<\/p>\n

The unholy ultimatum ended up costing Leuenberger his job at the Palace, a swanky 55-story tower on Madison Ave. across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.<\/p>\n

“As of Monday, March 23, Leuenberger is no longer employed by the New York Palace,” hotel spokeswoman Teresa Delaney told the Daily News Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The incident was deemed so severe, Christopher Cowdray, head of the London-based Dorchester Collection, which owns the Palace, flew here to hand Leuenberger the pink slip.<\/p>\n

“We take the well-being of our employees extremely seriously and that is why our CEO, Mr. Cowdray, went to New York in person to deal with this matter,” the company said.<\/p>\n

The object of the manager’s insult, bell captain Mike Murray, said the cross of dark ashes was liberally applied to his forehead at his Long Island church.<\/p>\n

“My priest did a real number on me,” he said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

Catholics receive the ashes as a reminder of their own mortality on Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of penance that ends on Easter.<\/p>\n

“The [general manager] wanted it off, and he knows he was wrong,” added the observant Irish Catholic employee. “I’ve never been approached on a religious issue [before].”<\/p>\n

The 893-room five-star hotel, where a posh suite with city views fetches well over $1,000 a night, combines Renaissance-style architecture with modern design and amenities.<\/p>\n

The hotel leases its land from the Catholic Church. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s more at the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You never know where anti-Catholic bigotry might pop up — and the New York Daily News has the story of an ugly incident that took place at one of New York’s finest hotels: The manager of one of the city’s most luxurious hotels was given the boot after ordering a Catholic employee to clean up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nHotel manager fired for Catholic slur - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/hotel-manager-fired-for-catholic-slur.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hotel manager fired for Catholic slur - 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