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 . . .
. . . Note to Readers: The following was written a few days before Father John Corapi’s latest statement on his website in which, with great reluctance, he left ministry as a priest rather than assent to the process imposed on him. Father Corapi’s statement alters none of the content of this post, but only points to the urgency of its message. ~ Fr. Gordon J. MacRae
When a good priest’s good name is under siege these days, the situation he faces is best summed up in a combination of two terms from classic literature used in my title. What Father John Corapi and other accused priests face is an all-too-familiar “Kafkaesque Catch-22.” “Kafkaesque” refers to an oppressive, nightmarish situation from which there seems no escape. It’s a reference to the fictional worlds created by Czech writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924) who wrote in German. “Kafkaesque” is today used to describe a scenario like that in Kafka’s most famous novel, The Trial (1925). It’s the story of an innocent man accused and facing trial, but subtly prevented from offering any defense because the tools for doing so elude him at every turn while prosecutors lurk in the shadows with agendas and motives that are never clear. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on June 15, 2011 · 4 comments
. . . dded to that uproar were the tactics of a now disgraced and disbarred state prosecutor. Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was more interested in throwing “gasoline on the fire,” according to USA Today, than gathering evidence. He ignored the complete lack of evidence, not to mention the accuser’s constantly changing story, and vowed to continue his prosecution even after the case fell apart. This prosecutor suppressed exculpatory evidence, hid it from defense lawyers, and held repeated news conferences to keep the momentum of judgment going in the court of public opinion. Co-opting some Duke faculty into pre-trial condemnation of the accused was a tactical advantage for prosecutor, Mike Nifong. The result was a trial-by-media that should sound hauntingly familiar to Catholics reeling from the Church’s own sex scandal. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on April 27, 2011 · 9 comments
. . . The break we are taking is due to several circumstances. Charlene is planning a journey to Rome in May, and I have no one else available to scan and forward my posts. Also, Suzanne is planning a blog design upgrade. This might mean that the site will look off kilter while she adjusts the graphics and HTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL customizations to fit in with the new WordPress theme. Suzanne is on Australia time so midnight on the U.S. East Coast where I am a prisoner is 2:00 PM the next day in Australia. TSW’s hiatus reminds me of something I wrote about last year. Once during a Sunday Mass in my last parish, I had some sort of allergic reaction that constricted my larynx. As I finished reading the Gospel, I lost my voice completely. Only a squeak would come out. So I skipped my homily while the lector led parishioners in the Nicene Creed and Prayers of the Faithful. . . .
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 8, 2010 · 12 comments
. . . The art of woodcarving and model shipbuilding were honed in Pornchai during his years in a Maine prison. Pornchai was 18 years old when sent to prison with a sentence of 45 years. The first five were a blur of despair, violence, and trouble for Pornchai. Then he met Mike Tribou, a fellow prisoner and carpenter who offered to teach Pornchai his skills with woodworking. Mike is out of prison now, with a new family and a new life, but he and Pornchai remain friends. I am proud to say that Mike is also a TSW reader. . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on August 4, 2010 · 10 comments
. . . Since his 1977 conviction for child sexual assault, Roman Polanski has won three Academy Award nominations and a 2002 Oscar for Best Director. Meanwhile in our own backyard, Catholics are now pitted against Catholics. Bishops are bullied into shunning their priests. Cardinals are sniping at each other in public, and the mere taint of association may cost one of the highest ranking Catholic Church officials his reputation and career. There is something wrong with this picture. And there is one ominous figure who is taking it all in from his place in the shadows, having the laugh of his long, dark life. . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on May 19, 2010 · 4 comments
. . . Up to that point, I had no idea of a blog’s potential. They didn’t exist when I came to prison nearly sixteen years ago. I read about them, and heard them mentioned on the news, but I had no idea how blogs worked. I remember sitting in my cell last May, knowing that I made a commitment with a deadline, but I had no idea what to write. I thought of my first night in prison, of that maddening, foot stomping chant that went on for hours. So I wrote . . .
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on May 11, 2010 · 2 comments
These Stone Walls and the case of Father Gordon MacRae have been noticed by publications and individuals concerned for the state of due process, justice, and liberty in America. Here are some of their comments:
Scott P. Richert, Catholicism Guide on About.com
“Fr. Gordon MacRae’s blog, These Stone Walls, is a timely reminder that, for Catholic priests [...]
by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on April 14, 2010 · 9 comments
. . . Perhaps NBC sensed the line of decency was breached a few weeks ago when it apologized to The Catholic League and the world for a scandalous and libelous smear against Pope Benedict XVI on its affiliate news channel, MSNBC. We owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Donohue and The Catholic League for not letting this one pass. It is also no coincidence that the lurid stories of priestly sex abuse and papal complicity rose to a frenzy in the U.S. in the same weeks that tax-payer funded abortion was being argued in the Obama health care bill. Writer and art historian Elizabeth Lev made this same point in a brilliant essay on PoliticsDaily.com entitled “In Defense of Catholic Clergy (Or Do We Want Another Reign of Terror?)” Ms. Lev cited English statesman, Edmund Burke’s 1790 commentary on Catholic witch hunts during the French Revolution: “What would Edmund Burke make of the headlines of the past few weeks …? In 1790, Burke answered … ‘It is not with much credulity I listen to any when they speak evil of those they are going to plunder.’ What would he think of the insistent attempt to tie [a] sexual abuser to the Roman pontiff himself through the most tenuous of links … as the present sales of Church property to pay settlements swell the coffers of contingent-fee lawyers and real estate speculators …?” . . .
