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Posted on 06/17/2011 6:11:52 PM PDT by Yossarian
This is a very sad day for Catholicism. Still, though, as Father Corapi asked in the beginning, say prayers for everyone involved....
Catholic Ping! (And a sad, angry ping at that...)
I suspect he will not be allowed to do much from here. A lot of his former avenues are not closed.
Sad to see this. I respected the man.
Background? That he’s unhappy with the process by which the hierarchy handled accusations against him is apparent, though no mention was made of the accusations themselves.
Hi Mods-
I posted this article in the “News” section, as it deals with newsworthy accusations made against conservative and orthodox Catholic priest John Corapi.
My hunch was that, since it didn’t deal with theology, that the news section was the better place for it than religion section.
Please feel free to move it if that was not the right place.
Father Corapi owns "Santa Cruz Media", a company that produces and distributes Catholic media. (He was free to have his own private company as part of the avenue of service he chose.)
Here is what is on the website (FatherCorapi.com) about the original allegations:
Father Corapi's Statement Regarding Allegations
"On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women. There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that, but it seems, once again, that they now don’t have to deem the complaint to be credible or not, and it is being applied broadly to respond to all complaints. I have been placed on “administrative leave” as the result of this.
"I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”, then through the process determining if he is innocent. The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers and civil and criminal attorneys have stated publicly that the procedure does grave damage to the accused from the outset, regardless of rhetoric denying this, and has little regard for any form of meaningful due process.
"All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned."
Interesting to see how this will work out. I think he is innocent, I think he is orthodox, and I think he has been mistreated. But how is he going to deal with this?
Yet another reason to be ashamed of my religious heritage. I promised a priest once that I would return to my church when the church excommunicated that fat, drunken, murdering, liberal POS Ted Kennedy. Instead the church gave him a 21 gun Catholic salute upon the POS’s demise. Screw them!! BTW. . . hope you’re lovin the afterlife Ted!
Palin/Corapi ‘12
Thanks for the information; I had only found what was written briefly in another page related to the link after commenting here. I have to say, not knowing anything prior, that in his story there, his statement here, and what you’ve just posted, there are several red flags immediately up. I wish him well with his new endeavor in any case.
‘You are for all practical purposes assumed guilty until you can prove you are innocent. This one is truly baffling. No civilized society operates that way.’
Bears repeating: No civilized society operates this way.
End of story.
Unfortunately, the further I progress in my process of formation, the more I tend to agree with you.
Unfortunately, the further I progress in my process of formation, the more I tend to agree with you.
A ping to update you on the (Father) John Corapi story.... 8^(
Fr. Corapi is correct in that the system put in place by the bishops is fatally flawed. More innocent, good men have been hurt and maligned to the point of broken hearts than have been proven guilty. The whole reaction to the Scandal and the measures put in place for "justice" have been anything but. This is one case where the wisdom of the Church in carefully and deliberately thinking through the issue and being sure it is done correctly to the point of being glacial was ignored much to everyone's detriment.
Please never be ashamed of your Catholic heritage: The history of corrupt priests in the Church goes all the way back to Judas - and he was picked by Christ!
Despite these bottom dwellers (that we still must pray for), the church moves forward, offering salvation to sinners, so long as we the faithful members of the church DRIVE it forward...
I'm bothered by the fact that Fr. Corapi has made this announcement on his own, without any word from his superiors. That makes me very uneasy.
Has he been done an injustice? Quite possibly. However, the saints were likewise persecuted and calumniated, often by the church hierarchy itself, yet they bore these trials with patience and humility. I'm thinking of Padre Pio's suspension, for instance, for a period of...was it three years, or so? He could have yelled...."I've got the dang stigmata, they can't do this to me!"....but he didn't. He simply prayed and waited.
As for Fr. Corapi, it's not at all clear to me what has happened here. It sounds like he's saying....."I could be suspended and in limbo for a very long time.....therefore, I'm quitting in order to continue my speaking ministry."
I hope I'm wrong in that analysis but if it's true, he's making a very, very big mistake.
Prayers for him and this very difficult situation.
Begging your pardon, Father, but once you leave the priesthood you'll discover that our tax system has always operated like this. In addition, you'll find that the rest of the government is rapidly following suit. It's called Administrative Law, and it's replaced the Common Law you may have heard about.
Once you leave the priesthood, get a copy of the US Code, the CFR, and your State, County and Municipal Codes and Regulations. Stack up the books, and look at all of them, and remind yourself this simple truth: you are guilty, 24 hours a day, of every violation in those books, the moment anyone in government, at any level, wants to accuse you of anything in them. Then you have to pay your own money to prove your innocence, while they use tax money an as many people as they need to come after you. And when you're done, if you win, they can start all over again - forever. And if they win, even once, they can take everything you have away from you and throw you in jail - if they don't kick in your door and shoot you first. And every one of them is completely indemnified and untouchable, even if they murder you.
You thought you understood the world your parishiners live in, but you didn't. Now you will.
Remember how often Saints are made after "silencing." The first one who comes to mind is St. Padre Pio. We are not without weapons or advocates in this battle.
St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in the battle. Be our refuge against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May GOD rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the Power of GOD, cast into Hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who wander about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
As he states in the article, he was not allowed to know the exact charges made against him.
I believe he is only announcing to the subscribers to his website/service. The formal announcement will be made by his bishop, but having just had a somewhat similar circumstance in our diocese, I can tell you that the diocesan "powers that be" are NOTORIOUSLY SLOW about announcing these things. Pray.
I am stunned.
“...he was not allowed to know the exact charges made against him.”
It would have been illuminating, coming to it ignorant as I did, even knowing the inexact charges, which elsewhere are mentioned.
We put a window into our priest’s office, at his request. Some priests have taken to having a camera w/o sound and not aimed at the face for confession.
In all sex related “crimes” in this country, the accused is assumed guilty from the start. Check out these very pages! Haven’t you heard of sexual harassment charges at workplaces? I have seen innocent men, straight, homosexual, accused, demoted and thrown out of work.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
All zero tolerance policies have the same result the hounding of innocent people who can not prove a negative.
Angry? I had a Priest that had an affair with my wife, which led to a divorce (her choice), and then he resigned his priesthood and married her 3 months later. Excuse me, I have no sympathy. I had a mutual friend that had supper with the local bishop later on, and he was asking for donations to the church. She told him that he should talk to her friend (me)—she said he already donated a wife. Do I sound bitter? You betcha. This person was in a position of trust and threw it all away. And by the way, he portrayed himself as a good friend to me. He will be talking to G-d at some point.
Not even Jesus Christ himself can fix this mess. Strange you mention Judas. He was not a priest of the Catholic Church since the Catholic Church had not yet been established. He was a disciple as I recall. Someone was a bad judge of character.
Very sad to learn of this. Evil is busy....
The conversion story of Father Corapi had a great impact on my journey to the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said the same thing. Any ideas how they did it the last time?
There is Higher Justice!
Perhaps, from the point of view of the saints, John Corapi should have remained silent and gladly accepted whatever suffering came his way. But it isn’t our responsibility to judge him for being insufficiently saintly.
Truly awful story. My sympathies to you.
Truly awful story. My sympathies to you.
I love the Catholic Church. I love Father Corapi. I think this is reprehensible, just absolutely disgusting. Satan wins.
Oh, and very often I have a REAL BIG problem with humans.
In all sex related “crimes” in this country, the accused is assumed guilty from the start. Check out these very pages!Yep! Same thing happened with Euteneuer's victims, but he was guilty.
How can this person be demonstrably troubled if the identity of the person is not known?
will not try to fight this irrational and unjust situation for the simple reason that I don’t want to be placed in an adversarial posture against the Church.
I have listened to quite a few of ex-Father Corapi's sermons. As far as I can tell, he has had an adversarial posture against the Church for the past 20 years. That's why he supported himself with his own income.
ping
I don’t see any mention of laicization. Is he requesting it? Apparently his faculties have been suspended.
Father Corapi and Father E. both had groupies, right here on FR and elsewhere. Making a rock star out of a priest (or televangelist or any religious figure) is a sin. It’s called idolatry. Many here need to look inside themselves.
As for Father Corapi and Father E, they too are responsible. There were called to be priests, not rock stars. They should have re-directed the spotlights elsewhere, instead of soaking up the light.
The lesson will be lost, and the next priest/rock star will not fail to disappoint and we never seem to learn.
What is funny is that many who idolize their own religious figures, point fingers at others who do the same thing. Don’t get caught laughing at the Benny Hinns and Jimmy Swaggarts and then swoon at the Father Corapis. Idolatry is idolatry.
pretty judgemental aren't you??? You have no way of knowing the state of Kennedy's soul when he died....our chrch allows for complete reconciliation with Jesus up to the moment that we pass on, so if you believe in the church, don't pick and choose what you want to believe.....that's what protestants do!!
I recommend anyone unfamiliar with Father Corapi to find any of his lectures on youtube.
you were dealing with an individual, who with the cooperation of your wife, had an affair.....what that has to do with the church is beyond me...the church was his place of employment.....if he had worked for G.M. would you forever drive a Ford???
TK was the perfect example of a Cafeteria Catholic as I suspect the majority of American Catholics are today. Examples are too numerous to count even within the church itself. My wish is to have the opportunity to piss on his grave someday. Oh and the wise crack about being "judgmental"; why yes I am! Thank you for noticing.
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