God gives us all a cross to bear, but some are heavier than others. Few can match the weight of the one that Fr Gordon J MacRae has been carrying for two decades.
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by William Donohue, Ph.D., President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, to mark the 20th anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of Father Gordon MacRae.
His troubles began in 1983. Father Gordon MacRae was working at a clinic for drug-addicted youths in New Hampshire when a 14-year-old told his psychotherapist that the priest had kissed him; there was nothing to the story, so nothing came of it. Three years later, when the young man was expelled from a Catholic high school for carrying a weapon, he started telling his counselor how MacRae had fondled him. It turns out that the adolescent was quite busy at the time making accusations: he said two male teachers also molested him. An investigation into all of these cases was made, and they were all dismissed.
Ten years after the first charges against MacRae were tossed, the same man resurfaced with new accusations. The preposterous nature of the charges meant they would go nowhere, but as fate would have it, they would nonetheless play a role in helping to bolster a criminal charge against MacRae one year later.
It wasn’t over for MacRae, not by a long shot. In 1988, a teenager at a hospital that treats drug abusers told the priest about sexual encounters he allegedly had at the hospital and then exposed himself. MacRae, taking no chances, reported this to his superiors. While they believed him, they nonetheless suspended him pending an investigation. But the effect that this incident had on a local detective was not sanguine. In fact, he proved to be a zealot who made it his duty to get all the goods on MacRae, even to the point of making some details up.
The detective went on a tear interrogating nearly two dozen boys whom MacRae had counseled—looking for dirt—but he came up empty. Then MacRae met a teenager who worked for the detective in a “family-owned business,” and whose mother worked for the police. The young man said MacRae had molested him after the priest turned him down for a loan of $75; the same teenager was accusing others of abuse. Under considerable pressure to end this ordeal—MacRae had no legal counsel and was interrogated for four-and-a-half hours—he signed a statement saying he had endangered the welfare of a minor. The detective, who wanted more, said, “though no actual molestation took place, there are various levels of abuse.” It must be noted that the accuser refused to speak to an FBI investigator about what happened, and his own brother said the whole thing was “a fraud for money.” This was the last time MacRae would allow himself to be framed.
It is not a matter of opinion to say the detective was obsessed with MacRae: the evidence convinced independent observers that he was. For example, when the priest received letters claiming he had abused a male youth, little did he know that the detective had authored the letters for the accuser. Also, it was learned subsequently that a witness signed a statement saying the detective had given him cash, offering “a large sum of money” to make a false claim against MacRae (this happened just before his trial). Word on the street was that the Catholic Church was writing checks to get accusations of priestly abuse off its desk, a process that kept feeding the next frenzy. MacRae was caught up in it, and his superiors were ever quick to clear themselves.
On September 23, 1994, MacRae was shackled and led out of Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene, New Hampshire. He had been convicted by a jury of sexual assaults that allegedly happened nearly twelve years earlier. The 41-year-old priest was sentenced to a prison term of 33 1/2 to 67 years.
MacRae says he is innocent. So do those who have looked into his case. Count me among them. “I did not commit these crimes,” MacRae says. “In fact, no one did.” Pointedly, he maintains that he wasn’t the one on trial. “The priesthood itself was on trial. No evidence whatsoever was introduced to support the claims. My accuser committed a $200,000 fraud, the amount in settlement he received from my diocese.”
No one has covered this story better than Dorothy Rabinowitz, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. MacRae’s accuser, Thomas Grover, has a history of theft, drugs, and violence. More than anyone else, he is responsible for the ordeal that MacRae has endured. He provided not a single witness, even though the alleged offenses took place in populated areas; the places were so busy that it is unlikely that no one would notice if something were awry. Moreover, Grover was coached by professionals, people more interested in getting a priest than justice. His attorney put him in touch with a counselor who came in quite handy. She stood at the back of the courtroom during Grover’s testimony, away from the sight of the jury, instructing him when to feign crying. On cue, he cried loudly, often at some length.
In the pretrial hearing, Grover went into high gear. He said MacRae chased him through a cemetery, trying to corner him. The priest also allegedly pointed a gun at Grover, threatening him if he told anyone about their encounter. Not to be outdone, MacRae supposedly chased Grover down the highway in his car.
At the trial, Grover said MacRae sexually abused him when he was 15-years-old during five episodes. Rabinowitz captures the essence of what was really going on. “Why, after the first horrifying attack,” she asks, “had Mr. Grover willingly returned for four more sessions, in each of which he had been forcibly molested? Because, he explained, he had come to each new meeting with no memory of the previous attack.” If this is not preposterous enough, the accuser said he had “out of body” experiences that blocked his recollection. Just as we might expect, Grover conveniently changed his story many times.
Before the trial, MacRae had twice been offered a plea deal, but he turned them down. Midway through the trial, he was offered another opportunity. It sounded reasonable: plead guilty and the sentence is one to three years; refuse and risk spending decades in prison. He refused for a third time. The trial moved forward and he was found guilty. The sentence was obscene: it was thirty times what the state had offered in the plea bargain.
Why do I believe MacRae is innocent, a veritable modern-day Job who has been treated unjustly by the authorities, both ecclesiastical and civil? MacRae and I have been writing to each other for years, and I have read his account many times. The clincher year for me was 2012: recently discovered evidence emerged (now part of on-going court proceedings) that showed how utterly manipulative the accuser is. To be specific, signed statements by the accuser’s family and friends demonstrate that Thomas Grover admitted to them that he lied about everything; they have also spoken about his reaction after the trial ended.
Grover’s former wife and stepson say that he is a “compulsive liar,” “manipulator,” “drama queen,” and “hustler” who “molded stories to fit his needs”; he could also “tell a lie and stick to it ’till his end.'” When he was confronted with his lies, he would lose his temper and sign himself into the psychiatric ward at a local hospital.
The former wife and stepson testify that Grover bragged how he was going to set up MacRae and “get even with the church.” What was said is worth repeating at length:
“Grover would laugh and joke about this scheme and after the criminal trial and civil cash award he would again state how he had succeeded in this plot to get cash from the church. On several occasions, Grover told me that he had never been molested by MacRae…[and] stated to me that there were other allegations, made by other people against MacRae and [he] jumped on and piggy-backed onto these allegations for the money.”
Grover’s former wife, who acknowledges that he “never stated one word of abuse by [MacRae],” knew early on in their marriage that something was wrong. She had two daughters when they met, and both were frightened of him from the start. They saw him as a “sick individual who was obsessed with sex and teenage girls”; thus did they label him a “creep” and a “pervert.” They recall that he was “constantly eying” and groping them. When they woke up in the middle of the night, they would sometimes find him in their room, between their beds, staring at them.
It was also recently disclosed that the detective who had earlier hounded MacRae was guilty of badgering witnesses, misrepresenting what they said, offering inaccurate reports, and even collaborating with Grover’s civil lawyer. No wonder that another detective, a former FBI investigator, exonerated MacRae. “During the entirety of my three-year investigation of this matter,” James M. Abbott said, “I discovered no evidence of MacRae having committed the crimes charged, or any other crimes.”
When the trial was over, and Grover got a check for over $195,000 from the Diocese of Manchester, he photographed himself with $30,000 in cash. He bragged to his buddies, with bags of cash in his hands, that he had succeeded in “putting it over on the church.” That was in March 1997. In August, he took his former wife with him to Arizona where he blew it on alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, and other vices. In a three-day gambling spree, he went through $70,000 and he even had a Nevada casino hunting him down for another $50,000.
MacRae arrived in prison on September 23, 1994. He did not know it at the time, but it was the Feast of Saint Padre Pio, himself the subject of false allegations of sexual abuse. A dozen guards in riot gear surrounded him, forcing him to stand naked in the middle of them for an hour while they laughed at him. “For the first three nights while locked alone in a cell with nothing—naked and with no bedding but a bare concrete slab—tiers of prisoners stomped their feet in unison chanting, ‘Kill the Priest’ for hours on end into the night. It was maddening.” Prayer allowed him to persevere. “I lifted the cross willingly—though perhaps then more like Simon of Cyrene than like Christ—but I lifted it.”
Should MacRae have accepted the three plea deals? He never regrets saying no. As he sees it, “to succumb to a negotiated lie was like falling under the weight of the cross of false witness for the first, second, and third time.” Incredibly, even in prison, he is still the target of those seeking to shake him down, looking for the Church to fork over more money. In 2003, he was accused by another man of molesting him many years earlier. But MacRae had never even heard of this guy, so he instructed his lawyer to challenge the accusation. He did, and neither MacRae nor his lawyer ever heard from him and his attorney ever again.
December 23, 2006, MacRae calculated that he had been a priest for 4,125 days before he was sent to prison. He then tallied the number of days he had been in prison and came to the realization that on the very next day he would be a priest in prison longer than in freedom. “For the first time in 4,125 days in prison, I sobbed uncontrollably at this realization. I was losing myself.”
MacRae’s despair was relieved the next day when a Conventual Franciscan priest, Father Jim McCurry, visited him in prison. He gave him a laminated “holy card” depicting Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a member of Father McCurry’s order in whose cause for sainthood he had been involved as a Postulator. To this day, Kolbe’s historic story provides much inspiration to MacRae, as well as to countless others. The Polish priest gave his life in a Nazi death camp so that the life of another innocent person, a young father, would be spared.
Father Gordon J. MacRae does not aspire to be in the same league with Father Kolbe. That is not the point. The point is that his ordeal, like that of Kolbe’s, is born of grave injustice. There are so many guilty parties to this travesty it is hard to know where to begin. At work is maliciousness, callousness, apathy, and cowardice.
Please keep Father MacRae in your prayers. We can never give up hope.
William A. Donohue began his teaching career in the 1970s working at St. Lucy’s School in Spanish Harlem. In 1977, he took a position as a college professor teaching at La Roche College in Pittsburgh. In 1980, Bill was awarded his Ph.D. in sociology from New York University.
Bill is the author of five books and many articles. His first book, The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union, was published in 1985. His second book, The New Freedom: Individualism and Collectivism in the Social Lives of Americans, was written while Bill was a Bradley Resident Scholar at The Heritage Foundation; it appeared in 1990. Bill’s third book, Twilight of Liberty: The Legacy of the ACLU, was published in 1994; a new afterword to this book was published in 2001. His fourth book, Secular Sabotage: How Liberals are Destroying Religion and Culture in America, was published in 2009. Bill’s latest book, published by Image, a Random House imprint, is Why Catholicism Matters: How Catholic Virtues Can Reshape Society in the 21st Century.
Bill is the President and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. The publisher of the Catholic League journal, Catalyst, he served for two decades on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars, and continues to guest lecture every year at New York University’s Fulbright program for Ph.D’s from around the world.
Bill also serves on the board of advisors of the Washington Legal Foundation, the Educational Freedom Foundation, the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Catholics United for the Faith, the Jewish Action Alliance, Ave Maria Institute, the Christian Film & Television Commission, Project Moses, Catholic Citizens of Illinois, The Georgetown Academy, Catholics Come Home, The Coalition to Save Iraqi Christians, and the Advisory Committee for InsideCatholic.com. In addition, he is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Catholic War Veterans, and is an Honorary Member of the Catholic Social Workers National Association. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy.
Winner of several teaching awards, and many awards from the Catholic community, Bill has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows speaking on civil liberties and social issues.
Editors’s Note: a continued thanks to TSW readers for their generosity in responding to Ryan MacDonald’s appeal to help with the legal costs, at the Federal level. We haven’t reached our goal yet, so please share this link to Ryan’s news alert post!
Mary Fran says
I was just on the Innocence Project website yesterday briefly, looking at compensation for wrongly charged prisoners. In Delaware where I live, prisoners who have been found innocent are given NOTHING in compensation. In New Hampshire where Father Gordon is, they are given $20,000 total no matter how long they have been there. In Texas, they are given $80,000 per year. For 20 years (Fr. Gordon’s years), that would amount to over a million and a half. I know that no dollar amount can ever really make up for the damage that is done to an innocent person in terms of health, reputation, career, friendships. But, if I could choose where to be falsely incarcerated, I’d choose Texas for sure.
Ryan A. MacDonald says
What you write here is true, but it should also be noted that the Sate of New Hampshire has never paid that $20,000 to any wrongly convicted prisoner. This state does not recognize actual innocence as a justification for overturning a conviction. This is why prosecutors have fought tooth and nail to suppress this particular case and keep it out of public view. If this man’s trial is overturned, this state will then fight him by every means possible to prevent him from collecting a dime.
Mary Fran says
Thanks, Ryan. I didn’t know that, that they have never coughed up anything for any innocent person. That makes me even sicker than thinking they would pay him what would basically amount to about $100 a month.
“This state does not recognize actual innocence as a justification for overturning a conviction.” WHAT?????????? If innocence doesn’t qualify, what in the world does? Somebody owes him SOMETHING. A LOT of something. I just can’t believe this. Justice system? What justice is there in this system?
Thanks, Ryan, for all you are doing on Father Gordon’s behalf. Most of the rest of us can only funnel in money for him and pray. Sounds like there will be a great need for more of both of them if this appeal is successful. Dear God, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! say YES.
Vincent Sanzone, Esq. says
New Jersey Criminal Defense Attorney has left a new comment on your post “Justice and a Priest’s Right of Defense in the Dio…”:
Having been a criminal defense attorney for 25-years I have never read of a more appalling case of an unjust conviction. Good people of faith and courage must unite and do everything possible to reverse this miscarriage of justice. Is there any difference between the imprisonment of St. Maximilian Kolbe and Father Gordon; I think not. Both suffered because they were Catholic Priest. Any Bishop who abandons his priests will face the consequences at judgment day. Why does it seem that our Bishops are politicians first and so quick to appease satan’s agents, such as the press, trial lawyers looking to make a quick buck, and others. Didn’t they (the bishops) realize long ago that once satan smells blood he will never let up.
Thank you for this Blog.
Vincent J. Sanzone, Jr., Esq. (A.M.D.G.)
“…for the one’s with great difficulty and no clear evidence of success plot away at the task of awakening in just a few men, a small spark of faith, of hope and of charity.”
Liz says
I never got a chance to comment last week, but thank you Mr. Donohue for this wonderful post, and for all that you do for the church. Your work is invaluable! God bless you!
Diane Ekman says
In spite of the horrendous suffering that FrGordon MacRae is enduring, I believe that his “white martydom”
Will bring many many souls to God.
May God have mercy on the perpetrators!
Cathy Pequeño says
Thank you Mr. Donohue for this excellent post. It leaves me brokenhearted. The tragedy is not that the world persecutes the Church — Jesus promised this would happen — but that bishops don’t defend their priests.
My prayers are always with you Fr. Gordon. May Our Lord always give you strength and courage and, if it is His will, your freedom. I pray in the same way for Pornchai. May Jesus and Mary be always with you both.
Ryan A. MacDonald says
Father MacRae was not accused by a child. His accuser at trial was Thomas Grover, a 27 year old, 220 lbs, ex-football player with a criminal record for assault, theft, forgery, and narcotics charge all of which was covered up and kept from the jury by Judge Arthur Brennan. After the trial one prosecutor was fired. After The Wall Street Journal exposed the truth of this case, the other prosecutor committed suicide. Thomas Grover is hiding on a Native American Reservation in Arizona and when approached by investigators, he refused to speak and demanded a lawyer. I wrote of this disaster of a trial here:
http://thesestonewalls.com/gordon-macrae/the-trial-of-father-macrae-a-conspiracy-of-fraud/
Barbara Ellen Edsall says
This is the first I knew of the prosecutor’s suicide.
“For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
Alexius Comnenus says
I will pray for Fr. Mac Rae. I am a priest also and I know what is to be falsely accused. We have to remember the devil works realy good in this world. Woe to those through whom the injustice comes.
St. Padre Pio (my favor Saint) had suffered a lot. I am glad Fr. Gordon did not gave up his innocence.
Fr. Alexius
Dee Susan says
I agree Fr.Alexis. That is what makes everyone so certain of his innocence and makes us all realize that this is a martrydom.
Mary Frances says
God bless Fr. Gordon! Only God can forgive such a travesty. We are praying for you, Father, even tho silent most of the time. As for Blain, Anderson, Clohessy, etc., God bless and forgive them all. Incomprehensible and sorrowful beyond words.
Michael Brandon says
Dear Father Gordon:
Even when you do not write, blockbusters show up on TSW. Dr. Donohue brings together the story of your false imprisonment succinctly and clearly, and that should help us all to empathize with you in your physical imprisonment.
But, with perspective it can help us appreciate the gift that TSW is to us all, and how that is reminiscent of the gift of Our Saviour’s birth.
At least that is how I see it.
http://freethroughtruth.blogspot.ca/2014/09/from-fear-and-humility-to-hope-and-love.html
God Bless You
Michael Brandon
kelso says
Monsignor Arsenault, who was Bishop McCormack’s assistant in charge of handling sexual abuse complaints, is now in prison for three counts of major theft from the diocese and one Catholic hospital. He used the money for lavishing gifts on his “boyfriend”. No wonder he did not come to Father McRae’s defense.
Bonnie says
Dear Father Gordon, I’m sending a copy of this post to our Dear Holy Father Pope Francis. It will be my sixth letter to him in this regard. I’m hoping others are writing to him as well. As always you and Max are in my daily prayers.
Siobhan says
I too have written to the Holy Father about this, but will follow your lead here Bonnie and write again with a copy of this article. Maybe others will join us
Bonnie says
Thank you Siobhan, Bless you.
Maria Stella says
I will join you in sending this post to Pope Francis. Is there a specific address for Pope Francis?
I am not from the USA – I hope that others around the world will also do the same. An international outcry!
Dee Susan says
Pope Francis’ mailing address is:
— Vatican Mailing Addresses
His Holiness, Pope Francis PP.
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano
or
His Holiness Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
Vatican City State, 00120
Dee Susan says
I will write to the Pope too. I think this is a good idea.
PHIL NICOSIA says
Why? This is a sad story, but the Pope unfortunately has no power to change the sentence. He can appeal to the parole board for consideration, but they seem determined to let him serve his sentence.
Bob says
The Pope is coming to the U.S. next year. What if he were to request a meeting with Fr. Gordon?? Even if prison officials denied it (for “security reasons”, or whatever), the news generated by the mere request would go far in making people aware of this injustice.
Barbara Ellen says
AGREED! Let’s pray and work toward that.
Lionel (Paris) says
Yes indeed, it looks like a travesty of “justice”, this is « un immense et vrai scandale »!
I pray to your intention, Father MacRae LD
kelso says
Poor man. God help Father MacRae. How heavy a cross! Thank you Bill Donohue for coming to his defense. The name of the local detective was not given. Who was he? The Manchester diocese just abandoned this poor priest. What loyalty is this to a priest of the Church? It is bad enough that real abusers in the clergy got protection, but to let an innocent priest be sent to prison is equally evil. There will one day be an accounting from the Just Judge and the sentence will be forever.
Ryan A MacDonald says
The detective was James F. McLaughlin of the Keene, NH Police Dept. He went on to become rather notorious for his hundreds of arrests of Internet offenders. There are many questions about his behavior in this case. As to the Diocese of Manchester, I wrote about some of the problems relative to the Father MacRae case here:
http://araminthethicket.blogspot.com/2013/10/justice-and-priests-right-of-defense-in.html
Edward Koll says
What can we do to support Fr. MacRae?
Ryan A. MacDonald says
I’m very glad you asked this question. As I wrote at length several months ago about Fr. MacRae’s new hope for appeal and how readers could help. Here is that link:
http://thesestonewalls.com/?s=New+Federal+Appeal+Filed
Paul Fabijanic says
What is going on in our country isw unbelievable. Each day brings on more corruption, increased lying, legalizing evil, turning life upside down to the point where it infiltrating the from top to bottom. God help us.
Mr Lawrence G. Lyons says
This sort of thing is only going to worse – much worse. Pray for strength. We are the target, and they are zeroing in…
Mark says
Many of these allegations are nothing more than a get rich quick scheme for a corrupt anti-Catholic organization and a bunch of 2 bit attorneys that work directly for the ring leader, Jeff Anderson. Once you’ve been involved in a priest sex abuse trial or two and learn their system you realize how dirty it is. For example, Barbara Blain from SNAP asked me to come up with some allegations against a well known priest friend of mine because “there will be lots of money in it” for me. Sickening. And sadly, many orders and diocese choose to cower in fear and pay them off instead of defending the priest, violating the priest’s canonical rights. I’ve learned so much from the abuse cases I’ve worked I should write a book. Many are nothing more than a well planned con.
Barbara Edsall says
In 2009, when I was first receiving instruction to become a Catholic, our priest lent me several copies of “The Catalyst,” the journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. There, I learned for the first time of Father MacRae’s almost incredible ordeal, in an article by Bill Donohue. I have supported the Catholic League and received The Catalyst” ever since, as well as supporting Father MacRae and being blessed by “These Stone Walls.” Faithful Catholics need to put our prayers AND our dollars where they need to go.
Although not a lawyer, I spent 26 years working in the legal profession. Hence, the outrage of what has occurred here hits me perhaps even harder. Many thanks to Mr. Donohue for his continued courage in reporting it and advocating for Father MacRae, as well as other clergy under the lash of sensationalism, deceit and greed.
St. Padre Pio, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. Damien the leper priest of Molokai, pray for us!
Elizabeth Sheehy says
Our prayers are needed also for the USCCB, that they scrap the “Zero Tolerance” nonsense and implement polices in line with Canon Law and Christ’s teaching. We need to STOP listening to Insurance Companies and PR people and start listening to Jesus.
A case in point – When challenged, Fr. MacRae’s second accuser quietly slunk away…
Dee SUsan says
Every time I read of Fr. MacRae’s unfair trial and imprisonment, I think of what Jesus said,.”..what you do to the least of my brothers, you do to Me.” and I shudder.
As much as I don’t want to, perhaps we should pray for the people responsible for this travesty of justice because unless they receive the grace to repent their eternal future seems very terrible.
God bless you Fr Gordon, you are in my daily prayers.
Barbara Edsall says
Right you are, friend. My husband says, “it’s not us-and-them, it’s us-and-Him.” “Us” certainly includes the perpetrators and facilitators of this travesty. Our Lord’s exhortation to pray for our enemies can never be reduced to a mere suggestion.
James Lee Hawes says
What an excellent article. Please remember Fr. MacRae, and all falsely accused Priests, in your prayers.
Mary Fran says
I find it totally incomprehensible that people can so blithely go through life destroying other people’s lives without a second thought or a moment’s regret. So many people in the wrong here, both by commission and omission. So much need for earnest prayer for all of them and for reparation for the irreparable damage they have done and are continuing to do. And a call to all of us to become holier, more selfless people.
James Lee Hawes says
It is called GREED my friend.
Mary Fran says
Well, I know it’s greed. I just can’t understand it. I have never wanted something so much in my life that I would destroy someone else’s life to get it.
Irene says
Wow! Thank you so very much for writing this- I pray everyone reads this and prays & fasts for Fr. I pray for his release, for justice, for healing. What a cross! I will be putting him on our parish prayer list. My Jesus, mercy!
Mary Fran says
I know this is totally off topic. But, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jean J. Smith says
Thank you for bringing Fr. MacRae ‘s story to the wider public. I am speechless that this imprisonment happened and continues on.