If you read my recent post on Father John Corapi, then you know well the challenges and consequences for any Catholic priest accused of misconduct in the current climate. The story of Father Corapi is not yet fully told, and the evidence for his culpability, if any, has not yet been revealed. Nonetheless, Father Corapi has been the subject of much mud slinging in the media, including on some Catholic blogs and websites. It’s a lesson learned. Priests are easy targets in this climate, and priests who are high profile, like Father Corapi, are the easiest targets of all.
So I thought this would be a good time to re-visit one of the most important TSW posts of the past year. Whether civil liberties for accused priests are intact is still an open question, and the story of Father John Corapi defending himself in a media firestorm is another chapter in this story. Please have a second look at the ongoing uphill battle of one accused Catholic priest, and why he shunned the easy path in favor of the Narrow Gate. Are Civil Liberties for Priests intact? You may answer that better for yourselves after reading this.
Please click here to visit “Are Civil Liberties for Priests Intact?”
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Fr. Macrae,
I found out about you and your sad case as I was doing research on Fr. Corapi. I love your articles. I want you to know that I am keeping you in my prayers every day, and I will have Masses celebrated for you.
May Jesus and Mary keep you in their loving care,
Emily
Dear Father,
I am a poor soul indignant over the recent publication of the news of an accused priest in my diocese. He is retired and has been accused of abuse that allegedly occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The diocesan process for handling such scenarios is grotesque.
God bless you and all accused priests. May St. Thomas Becket intercede for you.
Please pray for me, because I, in my freedom, do not offer to satisfy the Lord’s thirst the way you describe in your post on the Mass.
Reading the other posts has shown me how the Holy Spirit is bringing good out of the cross both you and now Father Corapi is carrying and as your other posts have shown there are other priests and laity suffering deeply from the anguish of unjust accusation. The world cannot offer any consolation in such circumstances The only comfort is to focus on the Christ of the Sorrowful Mysteries and know like Simon of Cyrene you are shouldering Christ’s cross and one day you will be with Jesus in Paradise.
Good Afternoon! I just read your short commentary on Fr Corapi. I have been following this story since it happened back on Ash Wednesday. I am truthfully sorry this learned Priest, this man of God was accused of such vileness. Its unbelievable since I have heard his talks many times and I know what he believes. It is hard for me to understand why he would put himself into such a position as to bring scandal to his church and his brother Priests that he loves and speaks about. I don’t believe this accusation for a minute and all I can say is I have prayed on it to God and have put it in His Hands and His Will be done.
I had occasion recently to view a documentary film based on one man’s conversion after being away from the Church and the sacraments for 25 yrs. It is being shown here in New York City in a theatre in the Village on 11th St and 3rd Ave currently. And for anyone who has any doubts as to why they are Catholic or want to learn something more about the faith, I suggest if you live in the area of NYC that you go to see it. It is called Vito Bonafacci, One Man’s Journey of Faith. We as Catholics do not evangelize enough in the world, we don’ t talk about our faith and our Church enough.
We act like we have something to be ashamed of . We have a shortage of Priests, they are closing and combining many Parishes and we are not teaching our generation coming up much of anything except to talk of all the scandals in the Priesthood, instead of talking of all the good Priests we do have and all the good they do and encourage more men to be Priests. That’s all I’ve got to say. Thank you
Dear Father
I just found your blog by accident — or was it Providence?
— and my heart is breaking. You will be the weekly prayer intention for my site, Catholic Spiritual Motherhood. I have the privilege of living in Quincy, IL where Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first black Priest in America, is buried. Until recently, I would say a daily Rosary at his grave-site for another Priest who was falsely accused. I will start saying my Rosary at his grave for you again today. Please keep me in your prayers as well. The prayers of a suffering Priest are powerful before God.
May Our Mother of Sorrows keep you
Catherine
Oh Father.
I am in California in the Bay Area and it is safe to say that you helped me to dig deeper into my faith before I ever knew about Father Corapi, but from you I went to my local radio, Immaculate Heart Radio, and then from there I went to EWTN, both locations where I of course encountered Father Corapi and was gratified beyond measure.
Knowing your situation first, this whole sordid situation has left me dumbfounded as to how not only are you still not further along in the battle for truth that must be waged, but how Father Corapi could be brought down by a California Catholic arena so measurably behind in the renewal that is overtaking others.
Outrage would have been so easy before you and Father Corapi both taught me about humility and listening to God’s voice and discerning the lesson. Outrage is a luxury that those struggling for piety cannot indulge in without harming the purity of their quest. Justice, the search for truth and pursuit of it done with integrity that gives glory to God is soooooo challenging. Any outrage has to be tempered with humility and gratitude because you and Father Corapi both know that what you are undergoing is putting you under a microscope that will be an example for others, as well as knowing that that is secondary to the personal relationship you and Father Corapi have with God.
I try to understand it without defaulting to my western gut reaction of having the good guys take out the bad guys, because so many who are perpetrating this horrible miscarriage are people that you and I have to pray for because God wants them to come home.
This is such an enormous mission for you two, but I’m so grateful that both of you are so eloquent. Your witness and the irrefutable effect of this effort is astounding, especially when you hear of how you actually achieve it. Father Corapi leaves behind massive filmed and audio witness that is global and I know that both of these with their enormous effect on people have to likewise be enormously loathed by Satan.
There is so much ’sophisticated’ veneer in this world, but with the cowardly submission to paganism, jihadism, relativism and virulent anti-Christian behavior in all forms of communication with the public -politics,media,education,Human Resources- it is now the least educated and the least spiritually connected era since possibly the Dark Ages. Some say, Father Corapi does in fact, that in the future this time may well be viewed as the DArk Ages. In the last Dark Ages we knew there were gross miscarriages of injustice, many of them never seeing the light of day. I am so very sorrowful for your suffering, but so very grateful for your courageous choice to accept this cross.
You ARE obliged to pursue truth. Cowardice is not the trait of royalty and people forget that we are the children of God, there is no more royal lineage and TRUE royalty, as Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, must achieve the HIGHEST virtues of mercy, humility, service and truth.
I did not intend this long column and I’m always fearful of veering too much into praise because I know the deadly balance between confidence and self-congratulation. You are a humble soul, a man with a lamp searching for truth, a child bravely trusting his father, and a warrior fighting a battle that was never of his making.
God bless you and keep you and console you with the remembrance that where you are planted is not accidental and that every person you touch God means for you to touch, though you may never know the outcome.
Dying Christ destroyed our death. Rising Christ restored our life. Lord Jesus come again in Glory.
I have been a police officer for over 25 years and I know that there is a lot of evil in this world but I also know that there are many false allegations which are inherently evil themselves.
I have no scientific proof to offer and as you know it is hard if not impossible to prove the negative but during my career I have dealt with more false allegations of sexual abuse than real cases.
I am not saying that there isn’t much sexual abuse going on but many victims do not come forward because they are afraid they will be called liars and honestly due to various factors many real cases are not prosecutable in criminal court.
I also admit that it is very difficult for guilty people to be convicted so when I listen to a convicted sex offender’s version of their case I keep an open mind and still check out the cases against them since I have access to their court papers.
I found this site while researching Fr. John Corapi’s allegations and even though I have not read through all of the info pertaining to your case, I see some serious red flags in your favor.
I don’t know enough to say you are innocent but even at this point I have some reasonable doubt.
When people complain to me about “ all of those Catholic Priests” who are pedophiles, I quickly point out that most pedophiles are married white men.
Deception, division, confusion and destruction are definitely Satan’s tactics.
Pax Christi