Fr. John Corapi

[LadyOfSorrows]

From Fr. John Corapi's Website- http://www.fathercorapi.com/default.aspx

[quote]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.
[/quote]

Prayers for all involved and that investigations be carried out in a just manner. Poor Father!

[CatherineM]

One of my favorite priests once told me that just being accused, a priest often loses his income, his home, his insurance, and his friends in one big swoop. I want our house to be cleaned, but a witch hunt isn't the way to do it.

[AudreyGrace]

prayers.

A priest who my mother knew since she was a girl and I knew since I was 5 was accused of improperly touching a child. Which he's told us, and I know in my soul, is completely false. Now, he cannot leave the friary in his habit, he cannot offer Mass, say Confession, or call out/receive phone calls. It's so devastating.
It's horrible and so sad that people overreact if a priest hugs a child. Literally, just hugs. Jesus hugged. He loved kids. So unfortunate.

[Papist]

This is terrible. The accusers know that by accusing the priest, he will be guilty until proven innocent. And that the being accused label never goes away. The devil's work indeed.

[dUSt]

What's up with his new tan and black goatee? Weird.

[sixpence]

I can't imagine what this must be like..

[Seven77]

[quote name='dUSt' timestamp='1300636908' post='2221935']
What's up with his new tan and black goatee? Weird.
[/quote]

What the heck does that have to with anything right now? The man had a vitamin d deficiency requiring heavy doses of sunlight. As for his goatee, is it weird to dye your beard? Anyway, vitamin d and hair are linked--it's quite possible that the darker color is a result of medication. Fr. Corapi has looked that way for about a year-- ever since he made a video announcement that he was recovering from health problems. And all of a sudden everyone keeps bringing up that he looks strange.

[Seven77]

Lord, let your servant be cleared of false charges and be restored to your service…

[Ed Normile]

Fr Corapi will only be viewed as guilty in the eyes of those who want to see him that way. Jesus knows his shepherds, his earthly damage may be great, but his heavenely reward will be greater still. The accuser will be likewise treated in the end, she needs prayers as well as those who would overlook this priests mission to focus on innuendo and accusation. The shame is that there are many who will be open to beleive this as they are looking for some reason to accept any hint of scandal, and these poor souls are the deceivers playthings.

ed

[Lil Red]

I guess I have a problem with Fr Corapi being painted as a saint (or anyone living really). Anyone living is open to falling and sinning...even Fr Corapi and I would argue especially Fr Corapi (or anyone well known in Catholic circles that preaches/teaches well).

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1301083508' post='2223278']
I guess I have a problem with Fr Corapi being painted as a saint (or anyone living really). Anyone living is open to falling and sinning...even Fr Corapi and I would argue especially Fr Corapi (or anyone well known in Catholic circles that preaches/teaches well).
[/quote]

I also have a problem with people being declared guilty (or even thought of as lesser than they were before) on a mere charge or accusation. He is innocent until proven otherwise.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1301199796' post='2223660']
I also have a problem with people being declared guilty (or even thought of as lesser than they were before) on a mere charge or accusation. He is innocent until proven otherwise.[/quote]
i don't disagree. unfortunately, with the Church in the position it's been put in lately (rightly deserved), suspending a priest accused of misconduct is the proper thing to do (even if he is innocent).

to read some comments out there of his defenders, he is a living saint who can do no wrong. (which isn't his fault.)

again, prayers, prayers, and prayers for all involved.

“God knows full well all that is happening and if Father Corapi is innocent as he claims, then perhaps the priest is being used as a poster child to fix a broken process. “
— Diane Korzeniewski, TeDeum Laudamus Blog

[quote]"So let’s pray for Corapi, and for his accuser. If she has leveled a false charge, she has done something heinous — and it’s heinous to do this to a man whether he is a priest or not –and needs help.

If she is telling the truth, they both need help and healing." --The Anchoress[/quote]

[quote]Let us recap what we do and do not know, so far:

[b][u]What we do know[/u][/b]: Whether it is a constructive or — as Gerald Nadal suggests — destructive decision, Fr. John Corapi, a fine priest and preacher, with a large following of Catholics who have gained fervor for the church through his orations, has been placed on administrative leave, in the face of accusations which all of us hope are untrue.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: Who has put him on leave, whether it was his bishop or, as seems more likely, his religious superior. [color="#FF0000"]We do know that it was his religious superior.[/color]

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: A religious superior is in charge of the good and welfare of the hearts, minds and spirits of those in his or her charge, so there is a good-faith presumption that whoever did this must have thought it a good thing, in some measure, for Corapi – even if it is meant, only, to give him time to pray.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: Why that superior/bishop has chosen to do this; good-faith assumes the best.

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: Old Scratch has his hand in all of this, because — whatever the real story is — someone is lying, so the Father of Lies must be a part of it, in any case. And it’s Lent.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: No matter how fervent our respect, no matter how dear our hopes, none of us can possibly know what the story is.

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: Corapi is certainly not “guilty by association” with some beard dye any more than he is “innocent by association” with his priesthood and the church.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: Whether EWTN has suspended Corapi-centered programming. [color="#FF0000"]It has.[/color]

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: Writing letters insisting that EWTN “defend” Fr. Corapi is unrealistic; it is fairly common procedure for institutions of all sorts to take a step back when an investigation of any of its members is ongoing, for the sake of the organization’s own exposure to liability, and (more importantly) its credibility. EWTN is not, suddenly, a “bad Catholic” organization, any more than anyone else who is choosing to “wait and see” is a “bad” Catholic.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: Where the line blurs between honoring and respecting a fellow human being — which involves acknowledging the fullness of his/her gifts and faulty humanity — and slipping into the sort of hero-worship that will brook no human wondering, without lashing out; only God and our own consciences can know that.

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one’s trust in mortals. Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one’s trust in princes. And our “princes” are anyone we love to such excess (family, co-religionists, politicians, entertainers) that it gets in the way of seeking Christ and his will, first and foremost.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: the state of anothers’ soul – not even of those we love, or do not love.

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: “wait and see; pray for all concerned” is good counsel. Venting may be cathartic but hysteria, name-calling and misidentifying enemies serves nothing but the Father of All Chaos.

[u][b]What we do not know[/b][/u]: why God allows things to happen.

[u][b]What we do know[/b][/u]: all things ultimately work for the Glory of God, even if we do not always recognize how, while we’re in the midst of events.[/quote]again, the Anchoress