WILKES-BARRE — A part-time Episcopal priest said allegations of extravagant night clubbing that led to his ouster from a northeastern Pennsylvania church have been greatly exaggerated.

The Rev. Gregory Malia defended himself against a pair of stories published earlier this week in the New York Daily News. The newspaper, relying on unidentified club workers, depicted Malia as a denizen of Manhattan's hottest clubs and a big spender on top-shelf liquors who leaves five-figure tips.

"I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion and misconstrued," Malia told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site.

The Daily News stories raised enough concerns that Malia has been inhibited from performing his priestly duties by Bishop Paul Marshall of the Bethlehem diocese.

Marshall posted a note on the diocese Web site saying that the allegations, if true, "constitute a serious violation of ordination vows to be 'a wholesome example' to a priest's people."

Malia, 43, said his presence at clubs is an outgrowth of his fundraising and business activities. He owns New Life Home Care, which specializes in providing medical services to those with hemophilia and other blood disorders.

"I have business interests and there are some people who ask to meet me in clubs, and as a business person I'm sort of forced to be accommodating," Malia said. "I've never acted inappropriately."

Malia has a residence in Laflin, Pa., and serves as vicar at St. James Chapel, a church open 10 Sundays a year about 25 miles away in Dundaff.

But he told the Times Leader that he also has an apartment in New York because he is treated there for severe hemophilia.

"I'm not taking party trips, I live there. I'm there more than I'm in Pennsylvania, mostly because of my health," Malia said.