John Norton, writing in the April 3 edition of Our Sunday Visitor, has a pretty good analysis of the possible outcomes of the Father John Corapi matter that has been sizzling news among Catholic blogs and websites. I protested a part of Mr. Norton’s essay. He advised Fr. John Corapi’s “diehard supporters” to consider this parenthetical statement: “Weren’t Father Marcial Maciel’s supporters just as vehemently certain of his innocence before it became undeniable that he sexually abused seminarians and his own children…?”
I was uncertain of John Norton’s intent, but he explained to me that he most certainly did not intend to use the Father Maciel case to detract support from Father Corapi. I think I understand his point, but let’s be clear. Every accused priest is entitled to a presumption of innocence. Can you imagine a teacher being accused, and then someone suggesting that because another teacher in another state was guilty of abuse, this teacher must also be guilty? It is deeply flawed logic, and it is deeply unjust. But it’s exactly what happens in just about every media storm involving an accused priest.
When I faced trial in 1994, my prosecutor – for whom I prayed a couple of weeks ago – repeatedly placed before the jury the fact that Father James Porter, a notoriously abusive priest in neighboring Massachusetts, had been suspected and convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse against many vulnerable victims. The sole evidence used against me was the fact that another priest in another state had abused children. So I reacted to the suggestion that Father Corapi’s supporters should be cautious because Father Maciel led a “double life.” It boggles the mind and offends justice, neither of which was John Norton’s intent in OSV.
I don’t think there is anyone in the online Catholic arena who is not aware that the highly popular and respected Father John Corapi has been placed on administrative leave. At least one bishop with truth and justice in his heart – and a good deal of courage – wrote of the Father Corapi case on his blog, Abyssus Abyssum Invocat (“Deep Calls to Deep”) on March 22. Bishop Rene Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, republished Father Corapi’s statement of defense, and reminded us all that “Father John Corapi is innocent and remains innocent until… he should be proven guilty.”
No one truly knows who to believe in any case of “she said, he said.” We tend to believe the person we know and disbelieve the person we don’t. Absent clear evidence, however, Father Corapi must be presumed innocent and must be treated as such. Meanwhile, this case has focused a national spotlight on the serious flaws of “Zero tolerance” in the U.S. Bishops’ collective response to the clergy sex abuse scandal. Father Corapi has himself addressed this flaw in his statement. Administrative leave is a penalty imposed long before guilt or innocence can be established.
One accused priest asked me this week why Father John Corapi wasn’t speaking out about this injustice BEFORE he was himself accused, but let’s be fair. He is not the first accused priest to learn only from painful experience that any priest accused is doomed to a cloud of unknowing and suspicion unless he can somehow prove his innocence.
In a March 25th column in the National Catholic Reporter (“On Philadelphia, bishops take wait-and-see stance”, John Allen quoted an unnamed bishop who was concerned about recent news in Philadelphia and the chilling effect it could have on the ministry of American priests. The bishop was quoted thusly:
“Every priest in the country is just one phone call away from disgrace and removal. I don’t understand why nobody seems to be speaking up on this.”
If by “nobody” the bishop means other bishops, then he might consider proposing some corporate reflection on the meaning and impact of “zero tolerance,” a policy adopted in a state of episcopal panic in 2002. I refuse to believe that the bishops haven’t noticed before now that every American priest is just a phone call away from having his career and ministry destroyed. It has been the elephant in the sacristy since 2002.
But if “nobody” means everybody else, then the bishop is wrong. Many accused priests have been speaking up about the unjust impact of zero tolerance and the reality of false accusations for years. I, for one, have been speaking up about it to anyone who would listen. My three-part post, “When Priests are Falsely Accused” is a graphic and cautionary tale about the subversion of justice and due process when all claims against priests are treated from the outset as true. They are not all true.
If you have read my post about one beloved Boston priest, 81-year old Father Dominic Menna, then you know he was sent into the exile of “administrative leave” last year because of a claim of abuse alleged to have occurred in 1959 that could not possibly be investigated or corroborated. I pointed out in that post that for many Catholics “zero tolerance is looking a lot more like zero common sense.”
Father Menna was placed on leave, and ordered to leave his home, “to protect children” according to a spokesperson for his diocese. Of course, children must be protected. That’s a given, and an absolute. But was that really a legitimate concern after a single, half century old claim? And as for “the integrity of the investigation” cited by the diocese…well… there WAS no investigation. There was no integrity either, not at any step in the entire process of casting Father Dominic Menna out.
I was visited in prison recently by an old friend who is also my Confessor. At age 75, and having reached “senior priest” status, he still drives eight hours round trip from another diocese to visit me in prison. He has done this for all of the 16-plus years I have been in prison. I am grateful beyond words for his fraternal, pastoral, and sacramental presence.
But at this visit he had a sullen gloom about him. I knew instantly that something was wrong. I asked if he was aware of the situation involving Father John Corapi. My friend looked down for a moment, then said “The same thing has happened to me.” He told me that he received a call from a lawyer from his diocese informing him that he has been accused by someone whose name he has never heard before. The accusation, which came with a demand for money, was alleged to have occurred in 1967.
“It’s not true,” my friend said. Well, of course it’s not true. The tale was too familiar, the details too scripted, but it was all no less chilling for its repetition. In my post, “Why Accusers Should be Named,” I outlined the connections between monetary expectations and false claims, and how “the settlement game” has placed all priests at risk.
As I looked into my friend’s eyes in the prison visiting room, I knew to a moral certainty that he is a victim of the tyranny of false witness. Dorothy Rabinowitz aptly titled her book about false claims of sexual abuse No Crueler Tyrannies.
Like so many of you, I want with all my heart to believe Father John Corapi’s claim of innocence as well, but I also know that sometimes even the very best of men fail. None of that matters, however. Father Corapi has a Constitutional right to a presumption of innocence unless and until someone proves otherwise with clear and convincing evidence. His Church, especially, owes him this.
I’m sure there is more coming on this story.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA
News of the Catholic Church in Philadelphia has been painful, to say the least. After all that has been said and done in the last decade, there is a new priesthood crisis there that has consumed the Archdiocese and given the news media and others with agendas plenty of fuel for their anti-Catholic zeal.
Bill Donohue at The Catholic League has described how the “Philly Problem” has been overstated, however, and he is not alone in that belief. It seems there is indeed far more to this story than what the news media has printed to date. David F. Pierre has published a rather stunning analysis revealing another side of the media event in Philadelphia, and I highly recommend it. “Unfair in Philadelphia? A Closer Look at the Grand Jury Report” is available at www.TheMediaReport.com.
I’m most impressed with David Pierre for his media vigilance. You might remember from my post, “When Priests Are Falsely Accused Part 2: Why Accusers Should Be Named,” that David Pierre is the author of Double Standard: Sexual Abuse and the Assault on the Catholic Church, a landmark book profiled on These Stone Walls.
You may also remember David Pierre from my post, “Walking Tall: The Justice Behind the Eighth Commandment.” I wrote of the Special Report “Bombshell” he published in January describing evidence uncovered by Los Angeles Attorney Donald H. Steier who reported that a full fifty percent of abuse claims against priests have been false, money-driven frauds. David Pierre’s report on the Philadelphia debacle should be taken seriously.
PLEASE PRAY FOR MY BROTHER, SCOTT
I have a request for TSW readers. You might remember my younger brother, Scott, from a few TSW posts, most notably, “Take a Hike” and “Michelangelo and the Hand of God.” Scott is a remarkable man and a life-long friend. I remember vividly the day he was born.
Over the last two years, Scott and his lovely wife, Colleen have embarked on a great adventure. They have adopted two children, five-year-old Adaya from India and two-year old Anya from Ethiopia. My nieces are treasured additions to our family, and Scott and Colleen are gifted parents to these very special girls.
A few months ago, Scott suffered a painful broken rib that was diagnosed with an ultrasound. He had no idea at the time just how much of a blessing a broken rib could be. It was in just the right place, and came at just the right time, for an aggressive cancerous tumor on Scott’s kidney to also show itself on the ultrasound. The cracked rib may have saved Scott’s life, and Anya and Adaya from losing their new father. A biopsy identified the tumor as malignant, but it seems to have been discovered before the cancer spread to other organs.
I asked Scott if he minded my mentioning this and asking for the prayers of TSW readers as he faces surgery this week. He was all for it! So please do remember my brother, Scott MacRae and his wonderful family in prayer this week. Scott and I went through a lot growing up, and someday I may write of that. I want Scott to be around to read it, and to see the new life he and Colleen have given to their daughters.
For my part, I thank the Lord for that nettlesome cracked rib. Colleen, Adaya, and Anya thank Him as well. Grace sometimes comes in strange and mysterious ways.
FIFTY-EIGHT TIMES AROUND THE SUN
I’ll never forget the day I entered prison. It was a scene very much like one from “The Shawshank Redemption” the film I described in “The Spring of Hope.” Upon arrival in prison in 1994, I was stripped of my garments. I stood naked while a guard unceremoniously doused me with a delousing agent, then I was given a prison uniform, a pair of used sheets, an old blanket that smelled just awful, and a new identity: Prisoner Number 67546.
Just as when Andy Dufresne was led into prison in “The Shawshank Redemption,” the prisoners in my new home pressed against the bars of their cells and lined up behind plexiglass to view the spectacle. I was nothing but a news item then, and the prisoners here were ready for me. On Saint Padre Pio’s Feast Day in 1994, I carried my folded belongings down the long walkway of the cellblock tier in which I was to be locked up as prisoners chanted in unison, “Kill the priest! Kill the priest! Kill the priest!” The rousing, foot-stomping chant went on into the night. It was maddening.
I was a 41-year-old, rather naive priest then. This week (9 April), God willing, I will turn fifty-eight years old. It’s hard to believe that a year has past since I wrote “Fifty-Seven Times Around the Sun” near my birthday last year. Now I’m staring down my 17th birthday in prison, and I dread it. My date of birth is boldly displayed on the ID tag that I must have visibly present on my person at all times. So there’s no hiding one’s birthday here.
The foot-stomping death threats stopped long ago, but even after all these years, I am still seen as sort of a novelty in prison. It isn’t anything like popularity. No sane man ever wants to be “popular” in a place like this. Everyone here puts a great deal of energy into NOT being noticed.
It’s difficult to describe my relationship with the prisoners around me today. A sort of ritual has evolved. For each of the last several years on my birthday, I am proudly presented with a hand-drawn card by a small representative contingency of prisoners. I’m supposed to pretend not to have noticed that something had been afoot all week as they furtively snickered while adding their snide little notes to the circulating card.
It’s part of the ritual that I’m supposed to step out of my cell on my birthday, open the card in surprise before the anticipating crowd, then pretend to be utterly shocked at its comic depiction of me. Most don’t seem to realize that I’m usually not pretending. Then I open the card to read aloud some of the local sentiments about the fact that I’m a year older in a prison filled with aimless youngsters who have no expectation they will ever reach my age. I’ve written about some of the best of their birthday comments before but they’re worth repeating:
“G is so old that when he was born, the Dead Sea was only sick!”
“I know why G writes about history so much. He was there for most of it!”
“We were planning to have a cake with a candle for each year, but the Fire Marshall said we need a bonfire permit!”
And this little gem from last year’s card:
“We asked G what he wanted for his birthday, and he said, ‘Depends!’ So that’s what we got him!”
Pornchai boasts of the best line of all. On the day he turned 37 last September, we were all watching “The Shawshank Redemption” on television. Prisoners who know I work in the prison library snickered as the film’s prison librarian, a very old man, wheeled around a cart full of books. The cart had long since become the old man’s walker. “That’s you in a few years,” I jokingly said to Pornchai.
“That was you a few years AGO,” Pornchai retorted to wild applause. I can’t win!
Anyway, I’ll offer April 9th in this prison for TSW readers, and of course your prayers for me are greatly appreciated – far more than you may know. Thanks and blessings.
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happy birthday ,Gordon….Christ be with you….phil b…..
This story is so sad. I was just getting ready to ask Father Corapi to help my nephew. My nephew would have related to him so well and it probably would have been another sucess story. Knowing Father Corapi he would still help my nephew if he knew (priest or not) he could save a soul.
Remember Jesus was falsely accused. Padre Pio was also falsely accused as well as many others. Maybe we should rethink our quickness to judgement which many times are WRONG. By the way I believe I have been blessed with a miracle through the intersession of Padre Pio. God Bless, Joanne Duncalf
I know Jesus loves and has a special interest for prisoners, innocent and not innocent.
What I like about these stories, is that you bring them back to a level of being human again. I have no interest in justly convicted and sentenced people who deserve to be there in punishment for their crimes. But you are the first I’ve read and have come back to read more, because you bring them to light and reveal how people behind bars actually live. I particularly enjoy reading about people who aren’t completely defeated by their circumstances and don’t define themselves by them alone. I wonder if one of the reasons why we are not to judge, is because we would forever put a person in their past mistakes and keep them there and not allow them to rise above them. Thanks Father, for giving people dignity again.
Dear Servant of God,
Rest assured of my daily prayer for you and so many like you that ahs been judged wrongfully.May God bring you peace and comfort and May His Mother Mary shield you with her mantle.
God bless you abundantly today and always †
Sister in Christ,
Bernadette
From the moment Fr. John decided he was going to embrace the priesthood and stand firm to his Catholic convictions no matter who tried to silence him, he has been the object of vehement attack and criticism from all fronts. Now that he needs prayers and support (INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty), many are willing to judge him, convict and throw him under the bus. C’mon folks we know what diabolical forces are at work here, please pray that God will give him justice and that God’s own people won’t be on the devil’s side and crucify him.
I have so much enjoyed Father John Corapi’s teaching ministry on tv. While I am not a Catholic, his teaching has inspired me and I have even spent some time studying the catechism. I was so very disappointed when I learned why he is no longer there.
I pray that justice will be speedy and he can return to what God has enabled him to do so well….teach and preach. I pray that the Holy Spirit will so convict his accuser that she will recant her accusation and perhaps we can again see and hear Father Corapi teaching again. The Catholic Church is not alone in these problems of accusation. There needs to be some rethinking in this serious miscarriage of justice. Respectfully submitted, Anna Kemp, a 77-year old.
Hi Fr. Gordon:
Just came across your site and your situation…Mass will be offered for you this Monday…you will be in my daily prayers by name from now on…thank you for your coverage of my good friend Fr. Corapi…if there is anything you need please let me know…as you understand Fr.Gordon we are all in prison but most do not know it…only the few who know it are truly free…Blessings and the Peace of Christ my Brother -Fr. Jim
Dear Fr. Gordon,
another wonderful post… Thank you for your courage ! I will be offering mass for you tonight. Happy belated birthday ! Please keep in your prayers 4 students from a school in our region who died from a tragic car accident on Thursday.
Peace !
I have long been concerned about the priests whose hitherto good relationships with women or children have been impaired in the concern to replace under-protection with over-protection and even more so about those who are falsely accused.
It seems you will soon be achieving your majority all over again in prison years, which I suspect makes you older in your prison life than some of your companions are in their whole life, before and after prison … or very nearly so! I am just about to go read a certain Joseph Ratzinger on Jesus Christ: I have an assignment to do on the Passion narratives, so will have to pay some attention there (!). As I study I will think of all the priests who are all too much an alter Christus and, like him, falsely accused, and all those Christians who are suffering under Islam. I hope the Pakistani minister who was martyred will be the seed of the Church for them.
For any soul facing false accusation and unjust punishment Jesus’ words are important to remember
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
On your birthday, Father, I thank God for the gift of you to us. While I do not uderstand His plans for you, I believe that your faithfulness to Him, wherever you are, is a good witnessing of His faithfulness to us.
I am praying that you open yourself more to His outpouring of grace: for strength, for endurance, for hope, and for proclaiming His love to those around you regardless.
It’s a tough calling you got there, but His grace is enough!
Count my prayers for your brother Scott and for your faithful confessor.
Hi Fr G,
Happy Birthday to you.May the Lord give you all that is in his will for you.
Love your writting these articles and you hit the spot every time.
Fr Corapi being accused made me cry and I have put him on my list of priests to pray for. My husband says that the world has turned upside down and I think he is right! Holy week is around the corner I will Pray for your confesser until all is resolved. May his vindication come quickly. God Bless you you are in my prayers.
Dear Father Gordon
Thanks for another excellent post!
May you be truly blessed on your birthday tomorrow.
Am praying especially for you, your brother Scott, Fr Corapi, your confessor and all our priests who are very vulnerable at all times.
God Bless
Trish
Dear Fr McRae;
I have been praying for you every day.
It saddens me to see double standards in our Deomocratic Society. When any civilian is accused, arrested and has to stand trial, the judge always rely on the “presumption of innocence” and the ruling is “innocent till proven guilty”. Why should it be different for priests? I believe many priests have been accused wrongfully and have not been given this right.
I also disagree with the “zero tolerance” shown our priests. Do we apply this same principle for civilians on any accusation made, irregardless of its origin and without a fair trial?
I will continue to pray for you and have added Fr John Corapi and Scott MacRae in my daily prayers.
Stand firm and God Bless You,
Jim from Hawaii
Dear Fr Gordon,
Best Wishes and blessings for your Birthday; hope my card arrives.
Prayers especially for your brother and his lovely family, also for Fr Corapi (n0t aware of his case here in the UK, thanks for the information) and for your Confessor…I think you have mentioned Fr Fred previously .
Dear Fr Father,I fervently hope and pray the year ahead will see you vindicated and an end to your suffering.
Catherine
Hello Father. Another priest in Hawaii has been accused of assaulting a local Hawaiian woman. Please pray for him. He is a frail, holy priest who was accused of improprieties by a large Hawaiian woman with a history of making these types of allegations. The poor man, on mission from Canada, has been abandoned by the Ukranian Catholic Ordinary and left to defend himself while his family had to put up $70,000 bail to release him from jail. This zero tolerance policy is nothing but cowardice on the part of our Bishops. It is terrible because they are complicit in persecuting our priests. Poor Jesus.
Happy Birthday Father M.
I will pray for Scott and his family along with, I am sad to say, my growing list of priests in crisis. I pray for all our priests but especially those who stand accused.
I wonder sometimes if our bishops realize that, they too, are just one accusation away from being stripped of all they hold holy and dear. I pray every night for their hearts to opened as well as their minds.
Father Corapi has been added to my list and I will add your friend. God Bless you and may you soon be free.
In Christ
Susan
I will offer my daily rosaries for your birthday for the next three
days, Fr. Gordon, and celebrate Holy Mass on the 9th with Holy
Communion for you and for Fr. Corapi. My Our Bless Mother
embrace and keep you both in her arms.
In Christ’s love,
Eli Heff
Happy Birthday, Father. I will pray for your priest friend and your brother and his family.
Happy Birthday Father G! I love the humour of your friends “inside”!
I think much good will come out of Father Corap’s current ordeal. Just as God has drawn much good out of your unjust imprisonment so He will bring much good out of all that Father Corapi is enduring.
I happen to believe Father Corapi is the victim of a disturbed person who probably failed in an attempt to manipulate and/or extort and has turned to vengeance hoping to gain money from the Church.
However even if Father Corapi did falter in a moment of weakness it would not change anything . Like all our religious guilty or not guilty he needs our prayers and support as does the woman bringing forth her accusation.
Prayer remains the solution to every human conflict. Every religious who has been wounded by false accusation shares in the pain of the Innocent One who too was falsely accused and executed despite having healed, loved and forgiven broken humanity.Sometimes the sentimentalised portrayal of Christ makes us all forget He was not loved by all and there were those who hated him enough to lie about him. He was rejected, humiliated and ultimately killed by hatred, envy and pride. Yet on that cross even with His last breath He reached out in forgivenes. So be it with us all. Let us pray for the accuser. Perhaps the sheer volume of our prayers will bring about the triumph of Truth and reconciliation in this matter.
Will remember your brother Father G.
Aloha Father:
Glad you wrote about Father Corapi, zero tolerance, etc. I was hoping you would. Your article was very good. Sorry about your friend and confessor. I will add him to my list of priests I spiritually adopt and pray for daily.
I will be praying for your brother too. I will add him to the list of people I pray to Bl. Seelos’ for intercession in healing.
I hope you have a very happy and blessed birthday.
“G is so old that when he was born, the Dead Sea was only sick!”
BTW, tell whoever wrote that…I loved it
I will be saying extra prayers for you on your birthday.
May God bless you always abundantly!!
Wishing you a Blessed Birthday on Friday, Fr Gordon. I will pray for your brother Scott, that he will receive a complete healing from the cancer. I enjoyed reading about him and his wife opening up their homes and lives to the little girls.
I keep dear Father John Corapi in my prayers too. It has really hit home to me to really pray for our priests. Today I was just watching a horrible video of the good Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard being assaulted publicly with pies rubbed into his face. These brazen and dastardly attacks are just awful.
I pray for your release Father… That you will be home soon.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dear Father,
Why do people not do something about all the sexual abuse from magazines I have to protect my children from at the check out stands at the grocery store? Why is there a culture of poronography? How many parents let their children look at anything on the internet, the T.V., etc? That is sexual abuse!
And the media, and the mobs of people dare to point the finger at the Catholic Church and declare open season on priests?
People can no longer recognize holiness of priests such as Father Corapi because they themselves are polluted with inpurity.
Thank you and God bless.
Father Gordon, you are right, of course, in your comment on John Norton’s unfortunate comparison of the Maciel case and the Corapi allegation. But in defense of John Norton, I must say that he is one of the best editors in the Catholic press today. He has worked miracles with Our Sunday Visitor and his best years are ahead of him. I am new to your case and your blog and the few times I have read it so far I am still amazed at your circumstances. I don’t know if you still have hope about one day walking out of there but I have hope and I have yet to absorb all that occurred to put you where you are today. Keep writing and keep commenting and keep writing, for good and for bad, to John Norton. Believe me, he wants to do his very best.
Hi Fr. MacRae,
I was wondering when I was going to see your post about this thing going on against Fr. Corapi. I looked forward to it.
Some of the stuff I have seen has been nasty. Most are supportive of him. I am one of them.
I have received so much from him, I can’t even express it well. He has taught and retaught the precious faith to me at a time when I desperately needed it. There is such a huge lack of good preaching in our church today, that people like me are just starved to hear someone like Fr. C with an authoritative voice, deliver a sermon we will never forget. He is just so darn good, and he has been good for a long time. Thankfully my husband has made sure I can listen to his talks whenever I want to.
I disagreed with EWTN on taking him off especially during Lent. We need his teaching on the practice and the truth of our faith. I guess they did what they had to do, but again, I disagree. I wanted to see our bishops come out in print all over the place in support of him until he should be proven guilty. I think he deserves their support.
In response to the question your friend had about why he did not speak about the unjust decision of the bishops zero tolerance decision, well, he did, many times in his talks regarding our priests, the scandals, and the spiritual battle we are all engaged in. I have heard him say more than once that a number of good priests were removed from their duties due to an accusation, maybe many years ago, and demoralized and humiliated for one infraction.
Now, as you said, priests are human and make mistakes. No one approves of abuse of a child. That is not the point here. We live in a sick society, and the culture of death and immorality has had its claws around all our necks for a long time. Satan would love to destroy all priests, because we know who he really hates.
Why can’t something be done about this ridiculous situation? We, the faithful Catholic laity must speak out and write letters, make calls, anything we possibly can to demand that this situation change. Recognize the truth of what is really going on here! I get so angry about this. I offer up my prayers and Masses, and Adoration for our priests, which include you Fr. M, and I see that it is small potatoes. But I have to do all I can. I have spoken about you with people I know, posted your website on my facebook page in the past, and that goes for Fr. C too. I am not going to be silent as long as I can type, or talk.
I will surely pray for your dear brother. God bless him and his family.
Your description of your demoralizing treatment when you entered prison reminded me of Jesus’s betrayal before Pilate, with the Jews shouting Crucify him, crucify him, and the disrobing and scourging. How precious Our Lord is to me, and how precious his priests, all of you.
Forgiveness is mine to give anyone, since I have been a sinner who needed it and was shown mercy. I don’t know where I might be today without priests and the sacraments, the love and the kindness, the support they have given me during my life. I do remember you all in my prayers and I hope our society will demand fairness for our priests, especially you and Fr.Corapi.
Thank you.
Dear Father Gordon,
I wish you a good birthday. I hope there are some happy moments in it.
We are all brokenhearted about the accusations against Fr. Corapi and few, if any, of us think it’s anything more than a vindictive sensation seeker. We could be wrong, however. She could be stark raving crazy! Either way, I’ll pray for her.
I also pray that God will give our bishops enough courage to stand up to our many enemies in the media.
There will always be greedy men stealing from those around them. Nevertheless, I pray for the trial lawyers too.
And of course I pray for you always, Father.
Kathy
Father-wishing you a blessed birthday, as much as it could possibly be. Which, in Jesus, could be more than we know.
I appreciate you thoughts on Father Corapi. I am dismayed about him and ALL falsely accused priests. Not that I know what his reality is, but I believe him so. I talked about it on my blog.
My prayers for Scott! And your friend, and Father Corapi.
I am a Philadelphian. Not a pretty place to be right now.
On Fr. Corapi speaking out – I seem to recall that he has done so, several times. It was in reference to friends of his, men he knew, and the damage done by a single accusation. He’s watched priests fall like flies in the face of the injustice against the Priesthood.
My prayers for you continue, Father.
Dear father Gordon,
First- prayers for your brother and his family. I agree, sometimes God gives us gifts but his wrapping paper is not very attractive.
Next- Birthday blessings to you this week- I’ll leave the clever wit to your fellow prisoners.
As for the whole Fr. Corapi mess, well while there seems to be great injustice being done in the way this is being handled, the devil is having a field day! Fr. Corapi has in some ways through his preaching, been giving the battle plan on how to deal with the enemy, so in a way, Fr. Corapi has been ticking him off for years. EWTN has pulled all of Father’s programming from their line up. In some ways this plays right into the devil’s hands as well. Many people have been brought to God through Father Corapi’s preaching and teaching. I pray that his programs resume soon so that many more will also be brought to him.
I am always shocked when I hear people say that the devil wants nothing to do with priests (or things to that effect). You are all on the front lines of that battlefield. The blogosphere, some of it Catholic I am ashamed to say, has been down right cruel in their assumptions and opinions of Father Corapi. Liking the man or not should have no bearing on justice being carried out, and as Christians we need to pray for and encourage our priests, not look for ways to tear them down. We need to remember- No priests, no Jesus in the Eucharist.
Thanks for your patience with this somewhat long comment.
God Bless!