It is part of my job as a Catholic blogger to read as much as I can on hot Church topics and nothing is hotter than the Fr. Corapi story. So it is that I stumbled upon the post of one Michael Sean Winters at the National Catholic Reporter (the one that got 4% in the vote for best Catholic newspaper).
I have critiqued Mr. Winters columns from time to time because, well, even I sometimes just want the easy post. What I am trying to say is that I have never been awestruck at Mr. Winters intellect. Well, actually I have. But not in the good way. That said, I have never thought of him as vicious. I may need to re-evaluate.
Writing on the Father Corapi story, Mr. Winters had this to say.
Still, everytime I flip channels and come across the supremely self-confident Corapi screaming about whatever cause he is embracing on any given day, I confess I have had the thought: Me thinks the gentleman doth protest too much. Stridency is rarely evidence of real, genuine faith.
It is also telling that Father Corapi’s statement is so breathtakingly self-centered as to cause one to question whether he has any clue about why the Church must take all accusation of priestly impropriety seriously.
Stop. Read it again. This is one of the most despicable comments I have seen on this topic. Mr. Winters suggests the likelihood of Father Corapi’s guilt in this case because he doesn’t like his style. If stridency evidences a lack of faith, as he suggests, then Mr. Winters gives Christopher Hitchens a run for his money in the faithless department. Winters is nothing if not strident.
Winters suggests Fr. Corapi lacks genuine faith and suggests by extension his possible guilt. Don’t tell me that is not what he said. Even a dolt like Mr. Winters is clever enough to leave himself some rhetorical escape clauses, but his intent is clear. This is evident in his indicting use of the phrase “doth protest too much.”
The principal use of Shakespeare’s phrase is suggest that one’s vehement protests are a reaction to one’s own hidden guilt. In Shakespeare– it is used by the unfaithful queen who married her husband’s murderer. She protests because she knows she is guilty. Winters thereby suggests Corapi’s insincerity in faith and given the context — this impugns guilt — obvious caveats not withstanding. Even in his redolent craftiness, what is Mr. Winters if not strident?
So what Winters is saying is that Father Corapi is so strident in his defense of the faith as to suggest that he really doesn’t believe it. And if he doesn’t really believe it…ahem! Do the math.
This. Is. Despicable.
Now I do not pretend that I have any idea about what Father is or is not guilty of, but I presume innocence. Winters does not. Evidence? Stridency. (I hope that faithless St. John the Baptist and St. Vincent Ferrer are not reading this.)
It shouldn’t surprise that when channel surfing between episodes of Spartacus and Glee, coming across Fr. Copapi might be jarring. Truth can do that. One might forgive Winters as he is a member of a generation reared on milquetoast which consequently views flavored oatmeal as strident. He is also a member of Catho-clique that prefers such watered down version of the faith that genuine faith expressed genuinely is unpalatable.
But whether you like his style or not, Father Corapi speaks what the Church speaks and ultimately that might be the style that Mr. Winters finds so unsettling.
I am not sure what Fr. Corapi may be guilty of, but I can’t say the same for Mr. Winters.
March 28, 2011 at 8:03 am
Tha comment on Fr. Corapi is his cover for attacking EWTN & the orthodoxy of those on it. Thus making it even more dispicable.
Not sure why he gives Mnsr Swetland a pass. Yes he is not "bombastic" (I have met him), but neither are most of the other ones he says are either (again several of whom I have met). It is, as you point out the speaking what the Church speaks that is really what he finds unsettling.
I pray Fr. Corapi is innocent of all charges. But whether he is or isn't doesn't make Mr. Winters actions any less dispicable.
March 28, 2011 at 10:01 am
Um, you're doing the same thing you're annoyed at Winters for doing – making an assessment of someone's character, etc., based on what you've seen or read. And you can't possibly know his intentions, whatever you read into his grammatical/structural choices as 'wiggle room' or what have you, and more than he can prove that Fr. Corapi is show over substance — which is the only accusation, veiled or otherwise, that he made.
I don't have an opinion one way or the other over the Father, because I haven't seen or heard him in any context. All I've ever read by him was his statement on this matter – and by any logical, objective viewpoint, it was odd. He took the best defense is a good offense maxim too far in attacking a process that is designed like a tourniquette to halt any possible harm — even if I were unjustly accused, I have worked with too many victims to object to this. What we cannot say is why it is this way — it must be very stressful to be so accused, so any oddities do not prove anything, and that's where Winters goes overboard — we can't possibly know anything.
You have not been silent friends on this blog, and, having had a friend accused unjustly, I commend that, but it is approaching inappropriate at this point and I advise you to stop fanning the flames of something we should all refrain from judging and refer to prayer.
March 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm
making an assessment of someone's character, etc., based on what you've seen or read.
What a silly comparison. MSW is going beyond assessing Fr. Corapi's talent is trying to impute guilt to him because of his style. Patrick is doing no such thing,
All I'm going say about Winters is – glass houses and all that.
March 28, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Nzie,
You are way off base. I am critiquing Winters for something he said. I am not hinting that he might be guilty of other horrors because I do not like his writing. Notice that I didn't critique the rest of what he said because that is merely a difference of opinion. I am saying that what Winters did here is wrong. That is a world apart from what Winters is doing.
March 28, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Good column, Patrick. Curious – did you leave a comment at the NCR saying as much?
March 28, 2011 at 1:22 pm
No Larry.
March 28, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Thanks for writing this. The Catholic-clique you refer to is what I would call professional Catholics. They make their careers by 'working for' the church as any kind of minister that can get a label. They are not members of religious orders, nor are they clergy. If I had to stereotype them, I would say they are divorced, and generally have skills that don't lend themselves to capitalism. They like to gossip. Mr. Winters and Fr. Corapi's accuser give me that vibe. I know nothing of either of them, but… Yeah, I'm profiling. Really good column. Thank you.
March 28, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Knowing what the "Catholic Reporter" stands for, Winters' comments are not surprising, that is why they pay him–to attack the Faith whenever possible.
March 28, 2011 at 3:24 pm
It could also be the difference between the HeteroCaths and the HomoCaths:
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/when-so-called-pro-lifers-are-hateful
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:uhf6bms9zyUJ:www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm%3Fentry_id%3D3032+Winters+McCarrick+Keehan+birthday&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BLXCPrPtG3oJ:www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm%3Fid%3D52811576-3048-741E-1065143912120232+Winters+McCarrick+Keehan&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:7NZEH6HitnsJ:www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/24632+who+is+Michael+Sean+Winters&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
March 28, 2011 at 4:30 pm
I read the National Catholic Reporter once or twice after I began attending a Catholic church, talking with Catholics about their faith, and studying the Early Church Fathers. Those couple of readings of the National Catholic Reporter convinced me I would never read the National Catholic Reporter again. To me reading the National Catholic Reporter was pointless for someone like me trying to know about the Catholic Church — which I have grown to love in all its beauty and depth.
Patrick Archbold’s excellent post confirmed my own assessment of the National Catholic Reporter’s poor content, but he described the defects much better than I could.
March 28, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Having heard Fr. Corapi speak in person, I am sorry to say that he does have a strong "me me me I I I" speaking style which can be off-putting. I never felt the same way about his message after hearing him unedited in person.
That doesn't mean that I think he is any more capable of the sin he's accused of than any ordinary fallen human, and I am praying that he is vindicated.
March 28, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Why you bothered to read pig slops is beyond me. Although it could be a good pick-me-up if you were feeling like the worst sinner.
March 28, 2011 at 10:23 pm
One wonders if Mr. Winters would accuse the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen of the same??
March 29, 2011 at 1:38 am
Patrick, thank you for this piece. I'm simply appalled at the number of people who have either rushed to judge Fr. Corapi (even though they know little or–more commonly–nothing about the facts), or else to sanctimoniously pronounce that he should be happy to be personally and professionally destroyed just because some other priests have done something wrong.
Hang in there and keep it up, Patrick.
March 29, 2011 at 7:22 am
A guilty accusation deserves another? Ouch.
March 30, 2011 at 2:51 am
In a March 25 article on the Philadelphia mess in NCR, writer John Allen quoted an unnamed bishop: "Every priest in the country is just one phone call away from disgrace and removal. I don't understand why nobody seems to be speaking up on this."
Someone has been speaking up on this for a long time, but no one in the Church would listen to him. Certainly no one in the Catholic press would listen. Now some people are finally listening and I recommend that you read about this. Here's the link:
http://www.thesestonewalls.com/gordon-macrae/when-priests-are-falsely-accused-part-1-the-mirror-of-justice-cracked/
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Ryan A. MacDonald