diocese of rockville centre

Nicholas Coppola delivers 18,603 signatures, asking to be active in his Roman Catholic parish. Photo courtesy RNS/GLAAD.

The story of a Long Island Catholic ousted from his parish jobs for marrying his male partner generated headlines, outrage and an 18,000-signature petition to Bishop William Murphy to have Nicholas Coppola reinstated. 

But now the tale has an odd coda: Murphy, who heads the Diocese of Rockville Centre, mailed the petitions back to Coppola with a one-line cover letter on the bishop’s stationery that reads: “FROM YOUR FAITHFUL ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP.”

No signature, nothing else.