by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on November 2, 2011 · 23 comments
. . . Okay, I’ll admit that sounds a little weird. It isn’t as though seventeen years in prison has conditioned me for ever more punishment. I do not find punishment to be addictive at all, especially when I did not commit the crime. The punishment of Purgatory, however, is something I know I cannot evade. The intense suffering of Purgatory is entirely a spiritual suffering, and it begins with our experience of death right here. The longing with which we sometimes agonize over the loss of those we love is but a shadow of something spiritual we have yet to share with them: The Holy Longing they must endure as they await being in the Presence of God. That Holy Longing is Purgatory. It is the delay of the beatific vision for which we were created, and that delay and its longing is a suffering greater than we can imagine. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on September 21, 2011 · 24 comments
. . . After I wrote “Father John Corapi’s Kafkaesque Catch-22,” a lot of comments about his situation from other blogs were sent to me. Both admirers and detractors of Father Corapi seemed disappointed with his response to being accused. Some felt downright betrayed by his announcement that he was leaving ministry without a fight. A number of commenters, and some letters to the editors of Catholic newspapers and magazines, seemed unable to help comparing Father Corapi’s post-accusation demeanor with that of Padre Pio who suffered under similar and far more chronic accusations in his life and priesthood, and suffered them while also bearing the visible wounds of Christ. The comparisons of the reactions of these two priests – a half-century and an ocean apart – have some built-in problems. I’d like to think that Padre Pio would respond today as he did back then – with heroic virtue. That’s going to be the bottom line. Padre Pio did everything with heroic virtue, and just how heroic it was is something I learned from a recently published book . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on May 25, 2011 · 1 comment
. . . An example of the subtle ways Saint Padre Pio has been an inspiration is this: I decided to end the month of May by asking readers to re-visit this post in his honor, but I had no idea at the time that today, 25 May, is also Saint Padre Pio’s birthday. Francesco Forgione, who became the modern world’s most beloved Saint Padre Pio, was born 124 years ago today on 25 May 1887 to Mario Forgione and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione in Pietrelcina, Italy. On the next day, 26 May 1887, he was baptized. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on March 16, 2011 · 13 comments
. . . In the online world, we can be anyone or no one at all. We can light fires with our words, or we can fan an inferno lit by someone else. We are free to write with the assurance that no one out there knows who we are, or can suspect what is truly in our hearts. We can strip the Beatitudes from our soulful existence, and let anger and disdain run amok. We can take a rumor and run with it without ever stepping for a single moment into the shoes of the subjects of our contempt. We can delude ourselves into kneeling before God with thanks that we are truly unlike that tax collector over there on the other side of the Church. We can pat ourselves on the back believing that his sin, now in the open, is so much worse than our own, still hidden behind the veil of cyberspace – hidden from everyone but God. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on September 22, 2010 · 16 comments
. . . The New York Times (September 24, 1998) carried an article charging that Padre Pio was the subject of no less than twelve Vatican investigations in his lifetime, and one of the investigations alleged that “Padre Pio had sex with female penitents twice a week.” It’s true that this was alleged, but it’s not the whole truth. The New York Times and Atlantic Monthly are simply following an agenda I’ve described before. That should come as no surprise to anyone. I’ll describe below why these wild claims fell apart under scrutiny. But first, I must write the sordid story of why Padre Pio was so accused. That’s the real scandal. It’s the story of how Padre Pio responded with heroic virtue to the experience of being falsely accused repeatedly from within the Church. This heroic virtue in the face of accusation is a space we simply do not share. It far exceeds any grace ever given to me. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on June 23, 2010 · 7 comments
. . . I learned that a donor heart had been found for Christopher. As I write this he is in the middle of an eight to ten hour heart transplant surgery at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. The days and weeks to follow will be of critical importance for this young man. Your prayers are also of critical importance. Please pray for Christopher Warwick, for his new heart, for the heart’s donor, and for the Warwick family. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on November 11, 2009 · 25 comments
. . . Then, suddenly, EWTN was gone. Early in 2008, EWTN converted to a digital signal ahead of the national transition that was to take place. To the dismay of many Catholic prisoners, EWTN was lost to us. The local cable company promised to restore it after the national transition to digital television, but that has not happened. EWTN is no longer available in the prison, and is deeply missed. I am approached daily by Catholic prisoners asking how we can restore EWTN. Without EWTN for daily Mass, I was stranded again. A friend challenged me to do all I can to regain the ability to celebrate the Eucharist. I wrote for an appointment with the current prison chaplain who told me he would approach prison officials for approval to have Mass supplies if our bishop also approved it. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on September 23, 2009 · 14 comments
. . . In 1960, at the age of 73, Padre Pio was accused of sexual misconduct. The accusation came not from the unnamed women he was alleged to have abused in the confessional, but from a brother priest who brought it forward without evidence or corroboration of any kind. It was a particularly devastating accusation. Any priest so accused would be entirely unable to offer a defense due to the seal of the confessional. If Padre Pio had been a priest in the United States, and such a claim was brought in 2002 instead of 1960, his ministry would have been terminated and he would likely have remained under a cloud of suspicion for the rest of his life. The accusation brought upon Padre Pio more than the wounds of Christ that he bore in his body. It inflicted upon him the humiliation of Christ accused of blasphemy. . . .
