I have to think this through, but I thought I might post some of the things running through my head.
One the one hand, if the process is anything like what Corapi describes with secret accusers and secret accusations and no due process, the Church is acting in a grossly unfair way.
On the other hand, it has only been three months and he throws in the towel on the whole priesthood? Rather than suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Corapi answered the ‘to be or not to be’ with a resounding ‘not to be.’
The process may be grossly unfair, but it really has only begun. Throwing in the towel so quickly, unfair process or not, is not the only thing that stinks in Denmark.
Leaving the priesthood so that you can continue your (profit making?) ministry after three months says that he does not hold his priesthood in very high regard. How can a priest give up saying the Mass so easily?
There are priests in China who suffer much more than Corapi has in these last few months at the hands of a much more unjust system but would never consider giving up their legitimate priesthood. Never.
This quick decision to abandon the priesthood by Corapi cannot help leave one with the impression that the priesthood was only a means to an end. When the going got rough, he quickly dumped the priesthood to move on. This does not speak well of him.
I have a tendency to think in analogies and metaphors to help clarify my thinking. I know this is not a perfect parallel but imagine…
I have unfairly been accused of adultery. My wife ignores my protestations and moves out and will not even pick up the phone. What kind of man would I be if I said after three months, I guess divorce is my only option?
What about pray, suffer, persevere? And then pray some more?
I don’t think that quitting the priesthood necessarily means that Corapi is guilty of what he has been accused (but it doesn’t inspire confidence.) That said, quitting the priesthood may mean he was not a very good priest or man.
June 18, 2011 at 2:19 pm
I'm still trying to get over the shock of that video. His actions don't seem to match the words he used while preaching. All those talks about the Blessed Mother and the suffering she endured, not to mention I seem to remember him speaking about Padre Pio and the trials he was put through when he was not allowed to say Mass in public because of his stigmata.
My concern is, what IS he going to preach now? Will he go against the teachings of our Church in order to make his points?
This is so sad. I'll pray for him.
June 18, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Or, you may be completely wrong. Maybe Fr. Corapi has seen several of his Priest friends in the past taken out by this totally unjust and truly weird inquisition process by the Bishops, and he is using his celebrity to highlight just how wrong it is to be unjustly accused and now even know who your accuser is, what the evidence is, etc. Guilty until proven innocent sounds stalinist to me, not Catholic.
June 18, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Pat, I'm with you on this but plz stop using the phrase "leaving the priesthood." It just perpetuates a popular myth. Corapi can leave the priesthood, of course, but the priesthood cannot leave him due to the fact of the ontological sign. His job isn't like mine (nursing) but something that he IS.
As such, no matter what his personal circumstances, his course of action is wrong because, when he stands before the Lord, he will still be "Father" & he'll be responsible for all the souls he's lead down the black hole. Scary.
June 18, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Corapi, the first time I heard him, was a very moving and powerful speaker. However, I have to say that I stopped listening to him because something seemed off. Now this obviously holds no bearing on the man and I admit I have no idea what his intentions are or what the facts of the matter are. That being said, he is one of those people who I have always thought twice about and noticed that 'something' in the back of my mind keeping me from really trusting him. God bless him and may he be in our prayers.
June 18, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Jude, As the mother of a priest & the sister of 2 priests, I'm fully aware (& so are they!) of the "guilty until proven innocent" fact of today's priesthood. All that has to be happen is an accusation by one disgruntled person & their lives are changed forever. I was VERY happy to hear a retired bishop from Alaska bring that uncomfortable fact to the attention of the USCCB earlier this wk.
That said, there is never any excuse for a priest to not only set himself up on a Victim Pedestal but to also encourage others to follow him out the door as he attempts to leave behind the Church. Two wrongs do not make a right.
June 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm
ThereseRita:
Are you aware that Archbishop Hurley -who made that statment at the USCCB – is one of the most prominent proponents of gay rights in the hierarchy?
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/two-bishops-speak-at-gay-conference-condemned-by-a-third-bishop
He had an agenda in that statement. I'd be careful about using him.
June 18, 2011 at 3:25 pm
First of all, he does not appear to be leaving the Church. So what if he joins with the lay faithful. The priesthood is not to be understood as something better than being a layperson but just different paths, different states of life.
I will say this. I respect very much the opinions of Catholic bloggers, in particular the Archbolds, Mark Shea, Elizabeth Scalia. But on this none have the complete picture so it is all speculation and one person's take or reaction is as good as the next whether one has a blog and a following or none.
These excellent Catholic bloggers seem rather angry and that's fair. But we should note that the people who instantly piled on the condemnation and the hate on this priest when the news hit are in fact the same people who go around hating EWTN. And why would people go around hating EWTN? Or Fr. Corapi, why did he hit such a nerve? All that these places do is teach the magisterium, not more and not less. When you actively hate the magisterium of the Church, and publicly teach the dissent (not just personally hold one view or another or struggle as we all will), what is hated is the Church.
Now I fully realize, Catholic bloggers will simply not be going there. I get that and there are very good reasons. They have to consider many things as all leaders in the Church should also do when putting something out there for consideration.
I did not have the same reaction as the bloggers to this. In this I suspect that I am far from alone.
What I do see is something bigger, beyond what is happening with or to John Corapi, which we all should reflect upon. The Church is holy. We profess this every Sunday. The Church is her ability to lead and to teach. Without that, well. And, we are Church though of course that is never limited to the relatively small number at Mass on Sunday. From moment to moment the number of earthly followers changes. We belong to the greater communion of saints.
The magisterium is not a collection of documents. The magisterium is the Church and the Church is a living being, totally dynamic and interactive.
At one time I believed that one could have, magisterium, plus, dissent, and somehow it could all still work. I have come to realize that the magisterium cannot in any sense be equated with dissent and it will never be an equally valid path, a good option for us. The Church/magisterium is the body of believers and it is a rule of life. It is not something that one can just intellectually agree to as if a vote and forget about. It may require struggle, there may be challenge. It may confound. It might not look like what we believe in all times and places it needs to look like. But for leaders in the Church to teach, organize and celebrate dissent, right now in times as they are? And to comprehend that the magisterium is the Church and vice versa takes not one iota away from believers, from any individual believer, or to the challenge of living a Christian life in times as they are. To comprehend that does not remotely close the door on the Church's ability to speak to and be effective and even to adapt to all times and places, keeping in mind the truth and the needs of the faithful.
Please pray for those who partake of the Church's sacraments wherever situated. Please pray for unity in faith, hope and love.
June 18, 2011 at 3:28 pm
When St. Gerard Majella was accused of sexual wrongdoing, he remained silent. He did not defend himself and he submitted to the authority placed over him. About a year later, the girl who accused him recanted. When his superior, St. Alphonsos Liguori, asked Gerard why he didn't defend himself, he simply replied, "The rule forbids it."
I don't know the details of this case, and Corapi is right when he says that the process in place is unfair, but what I do notice is a distinct lack of humility on Corapi's part. Jesus came in all humility and all of the saints exhibited it. I think it's safe to say that a person can't be a saint without humility. And I'm not seeing a lot of humility here.
June 18, 2011 at 3:34 pm
It's easy to say nice pious things about how Corapi should just suffer in silence.
To me it sounds a bit like laying a heavy burden on someone's back. Anyone willing to lift a finger to help him move it?
June 18, 2011 at 3:47 pm
He did not "leave the priesthood"; he was suspended. http://catholiclane.com/father-john-corapi-and-the-state-of-due-process-for-accused-priests
June 18, 2011 at 3:47 pm
From an excerpt of his autobiography on fathercorapi. com
“ Finally, I knelt before the Successor of St. Peter. His hands rested on my head as he conferred the sacrament of Holy Orders. A thousand dark and desperate moments, like malevolent soldiers from another time, crashed the gate, and at what seemed like the speed of a single thought, my whole life passed before me.
I was terrified, and I had no idea where I was. My head and my heart were pounding from the effects of three days of a cocaine-induced hell. What goes up must come down, and the law of gravity was functioning just as predictably on my body and mind as it does on all material objects. The White Lady is seductive and exotic when first you meet her, but in the end she’s a cruel and heartless lover. She’ll leave you more desolate, cold, and miserable than you ever could imagine. If she doesn’t give you a heart attack, she may convince you to kill yourself, for the dark depths of despair can be unbearable. “
Is he saying he was lit up when he was ordained? W T ..?
June 18, 2011 at 3:53 pm
We have to distinguish between the opinions of thoughtful people versus those who wish to destroy the Church because they hate the truth of the magisterium. Even on this comment thread.
And no I do not think he was not on cocaine when he was ordained, please grow up.
June 18, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Mark Shea and Elizabeth Scalia both posted outrageously inflammatory articles, with Mark's being downright ugly and vile.
Allow me to repeat – everything Father Corapi said about the process is completely correct and that is really what is important. All the rest of it is really none of our business.
June 18, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Fr. Corapi didn't say he was leaving behind the Church. According to him he will be continuing to teach on Christ's teachings. The ones who are diabolical and following the devil are the bishops who are mishandling this investigation. In fact he is stepping down from public or private ministry from the priesthood so he doesn't have to take an adversarial approach to the Church. The Church was way too reactionary in their approach on how to handle those priests who are accused of improprieties. Frankly, the way the Catholic Church in the United States operates has some serious flaws in the way it handles scandals or scandalous actions by those who openly speak against Church teachings and then they assume the accused are guilty and that is shameful in my opinion.
Here is my response: http://tunecedemalissedcontraaudentiorito.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-it-right-for-church-to-presume-guilt.html
June 18, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Meant to say – accused priests are guilty without there being any evidence to support their guilt.
June 18, 2011 at 3:59 pm
I am disappointed with Fr. Corapi. His leaving the priesthood instead of fighting the fight….is both telling and sad.
June 18, 2011 at 4:08 pm
What Mr. Archbold fails to calculate in his opinion is the possible emotional toll the accusations and investigation has had on Father Corapi. Perhaps, he suffered more than we realize and could not bear any more. Suffering has a subjective component. Of course, we wish that Father Corapi could have endured until the investigation was complete, but we just don't know what he was going through emotionally.
June 18, 2011 at 4:13 pm
I respect Mark Shea and Elizabeth Scalia and the Archbolds highly and anger and disappointment are totally understandable.
It is worth asking: what is it that Fr. Corapi taught (that filled huge venues and stadiums which evidently people were hungry to hear)? He taught the Catechism of the Catholic Church! He did not teach himself though he gained following and popularity. He taught the truth. The truth is the truth no matter who preaches it or teaches it. The truth is powerful. Even if Fr. Corapi is totally guilty, is selling out as some are saying, wants adulation as some are saying, even if he is totally failing that does not change the fact that he taught the truth and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
If you celebrate his downfall then you may have to re-evaluate whether what you really hate is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If anyone actually believes that by celebrating his downfall that the truth will somehow now stop existing, well I suggest you undergo a reality check. You may not be playing with a full deck. The truth will never go away because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and His teaching are embodied in His Church.
Now when it came to what was taught, preached, and celebrated in liturgy in my home parish which was all about dissent and contained none of the timeless and powerful truths of the faith, when it was discovered that the same leader was a child rapist, I was quite relieved to throw out the whole baby with the bathwater. The dissent way never worked to begin with and the man himself was a violent predatory criminal who worked hatred on children and he never preached the truth. The truth was not in him and it was obvious from the start, in his words, deeds, actions.
A conservative priest who founded an order and also preyed on children similarly did not preach the truth but preached, taught, and constructed, himself and his organization, first and foremost. It was readily encountered that the organization reflected first and foremost the worship of, the founder and not the truth even if it had elements of truth reflected. It was not a workable path of life.
But when a man who has garden variety failings gains popularity, acclaim and sells dvds in abundance only because he has taught the truth of the Church (only recently have people even known what his order was) then the message is still true, will always be true, it is the faith and it is reliable and it was not made up by mortals and is not a fairy tale of one's own design.
The take home message is, if you are in a place that celebrates dissent to the neglect of the ordinary and basic truths of the catechism, be careful. The truth is knowable by the sources of faith we have always known. It is good in all times and places. Other things have not endured the test of time and so we should be wary about placing our trust in that.
June 18, 2011 at 4:22 pm
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/06/about-fr-john-corapi-with-observations-about-our-times/
Father Z's thoughtful comments on Father Corapi's departure.
June 18, 2011 at 4:26 pm
I only listened to it once, but I was confused: was he forced to leave the priesthood or did he do so voluntarily? I had the impression that this was not his choice but that those over him were suspending his faculties. Also, another question: I thought he was a priest of a religious order, so does he go back to his religious order? And finally, when he talked about preaching to a wider audience, does that mean he is not going to preach/teach about the church? It just all seemed so vague and, for lack of a better term, weird.