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 4:42 pm
If he becomes a lay person, he is constrained, because of his laicization to be a member of the church by attending mass etc and taking the Sacraments and nothing else. He has GIVEN UP THE SERVICE OF THE LAITY AND MUST NOT TAKE A PART IN ANY POSITION THAT IS IN ANY WAY A POSITION OF AUTHORITY OR TEACHING, CHOIRMASTER, CATECHIST,. I THINK HE WILL BE EMBRACED BY THE WARM FUZZY CHARISMATICS AND START YET ANOTHER SPLIT IN THE CHURCH
June 18, 2011 at 4:49 pm
It seems worth noting that Padre Pio & St. Gerard did not have the Internet to contend with & the extent of damage to both priest & the faithful is so much worse. Pray for Holy Mother Church as well as all involved.
June 18, 2011 at 4:50 pm
"No priest, no Eucharist." – Father Corapi. I am sad and confused.
June 18, 2011 at 4:58 pm
It's not that complicated. Fr. Corapi's charism is preaching and growing God's Kingdom by spreading the good news.
People in positions of authority in the Church have used the opportunity of a unsubstantiated accusation from an unstable person to put a a bushel over Fr. Corapi's light.
Father Corapi has told the story many times about the first spontaneous prayer he can remember praying as a young boy – God please don't let me die like other men, in bed of old age – let me go out with a bang – I want to die with my boots on!
It is not in Fr. Corapi's nature to live a quiet life, hiding his great gift of preaching under a bushel, so since the Church won't allow him to preach, he has no choice but to continue his public ministry as a lay Catholic.
Corapi's courageous move may inspire the Church leaders to correct the extremely flawed due process they impose on priests, and allow Fr. Corapi to speak with less restraints and to a wider audience. This will be a good thing!
It is sad to see Catholic bloggers trying to make hay off of Fr. Corapi's situation, and be so willfully blind to the injustice he's suffered and all of the good his 20 year preaching career has done for building the kingdom.
Father's ministry is self supporting, so he has to continue working and earning money to pay for this ministry, including the salaries of the people who work for him. It's not that complicated, but people insist on accusing him of being greedy for earning money to fund his ministry, and for being selfish for wanting to continue being a public figure rather than fade away never to be heard from again.
The people who are judging Father Corapi and using his misery to increase their readership have not done half as much as Father Corapi has done to grow the Kingdom. We need more courageous Father Corapi's and less mediocre, mealy mouthed Catholic bloggers.
June 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm
I agree with a previous commenter that Fr. Z's comments are worth reading. By far, the best I have read to date.
June 18, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Father Z's comments are the only comments worth reading. I will never bother again with the Anchoress or that other guy's blog. Such vitriol just makes a painfully sad situation even worse. Everyone of us, and most especially priests, should learn a lesson from this. "There but for the grace of God……" Father Corapi deserves our most heartfelt prayers right now, not our criticism..
June 18, 2011 at 5:44 pm
"Father Corapi deserves our most heartfelt prayers right now, not our criticism.. "
How about both?
June 18, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Now he can have all the chicks and bottles Just-For-Men he wants. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Well… maybe a little smack would be nice.
June 18, 2011 at 6:18 pm
The fact that he left is the takeaway, some or all of his vows discarded. Everything else is speculation.
Looking at this whole thing in the larger, spiritual battle context, one of our towers, seemingly impenetrable, has been taken out. It is a grim reminder how vulnerable we all are, especially priests. Maybe venting our own feelings isn't the best approach, but we do need to think about all of this. And do some reinforcement/resupply in the spiritual sense.
I am going to recommit myself to prayer and sacrifice, for Father C, all priests, the body of Christ, and my own pitiful self. Please, Dear Lord, send us your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
June 18, 2011 at 6:38 pm
All the admonitions to pipe down and just pray would make sense if Corapi had said "Because of the process which has rendered me suspended I am no longer functioning as a Catholic priest but will be starting a new life as an insurance adjuster in Bozeman. Please pray for me." That would be one thing.
But he's rebranded himself and will be selling himself and his stuff under this new brand.
That's very public. It's activity that will separate people from their money.
It bears scrutiny.
June 18, 2011 at 7:14 pm
For those searching for the humility and the obedience it is there. He says, do not bother the Bishop. He said, it is his right, what he is doing. He also says that Bishops have a heavy weight.
I don't hear that he is not a priest but that he has left public ministry. It is not something any culture or society should aspire after, but if it happens that way it is because God permits it but he is no less a priest.
Maybe another take home message is justice. He states that he is innocent. In these times of litigiousness, it is interesting that from this he does not waver. The accuser stated that she desired that he be destroyed. If you have been wronged, to desire the destruction of someone is simply not the Christian way and it is not justice either. Sometimes people forego litigation. Sometimes people go through with processes although they constantly have to re-evaluate their motives and must face that the justice that even the American system offers is never justice in the sense of the way Jesus envisions justice.
In this instance he states that he is innocent. If you desire his destruction anyway simply because the message of the Catechism and the Catholic faith you also hate then you are going to need to check your motives.
But since we are gathered together to interpret this event why don't we take a look at it. Let us assume for a moment that the accuser is entirely truthful that he engaged in orgies and drug use. Consensual sex with an adult.
Understandably, such actions are not consistent with vows. We do not wish to tolerate this.
But if we are all about driving out Church leaders well then, we had best get out the shovels and dig in.
If we are selective about the driving out, and favor driving out, only ones who preach the Catechism, then we in the whole Church have got a problem that should be addressed.
If our system of justice is configured such that people who are innocent must nonetheless be condemned, that is not justice and we've got big problems then.
Do we desire that this man cease to exist, not breathe, not ever speak ever again? That's a problem. Why should we wish that on any person? Criminals in places in the world whose system of justice we look down may have more rights than that sort of envisioning.
Catholic bloggers who reflect the goodness of the Church's magisterium, in their rush to get out a reaction to this and be on the scoop, may have gone a little bit too far in the venting. But it is not a sin and I will continue to read them though I did not have the same immediate reaction and it seems there are others as well. Their voice and contributions are so needed in the Church in these times.
I understand that many people now professing to be Catholics are not familiar with the catechism and even believe that it does not matter. But in terms of the nerve this touches, I wonder whether any of us really has any sensible and respectful conception of what the holy priesthood is all about at all. A priest is not a coach, is not a sacramental minister, not a moralist, not a commentator on current events, not a dispenser of advice, not a spiritual counselor, not a community organizer, not an individual who is without sin. And yet it is true that where there is no priest, there is no Eucharist.
This situation is not an easy one, not easily grasped or comprehended. Not something solvable through explanation, litigation or soundbyte. And no one has the full and complete story.
June 18, 2011 at 8:14 pm
I think this is more about the priesthood in general that Father Corapi himself. Here's my response.
http://rantingcatholicmom.blogspot.com/2011/06/responding-to-father-corapi-another.html
June 18, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I've said it before and I'll say it again: There is an underlying "I" in alot of his preaching. Sometimes I found it difficult to get passed the "ego-wall" that seemed to stand between him and his listeners, which often made it difficult for me to see the fullness of the messages he was preaching. I know it may be just me; but just sayin'.
June 18, 2011 at 11:55 pm
My father returned to the Church because of John Corapi. Too bad Corapi ultimately doesn't have the courage of his convictions.
All of the military analogy, combat, relentless warrior, etc. and when it got a little tough he bails and abandons his priesthood. So much for all the tough talk.
He will fade into obscurity, or worse. Pray for him.
The lesson to all is to avoid the cult of personality priest. That smells of protestantism.
It's about Christ, the Truth made flesh, and His Holy Church.
June 19, 2011 at 12:31 am
Anonymous@6:55
You hit it on the head.
June 19, 2011 at 1:29 am
"I respect Mark Shea and Elizabeth Scalia and the Archbolds highly and anger and disappointment are totally understandable."
I've stopped reading Shea a few years ago and will probably stop reading Scalia if she continues down path of dissent.
I wish Catholic bloggers would stop posting about Father Corapi, the posts always come out so uncharitable. Father Corapi's main ministry was calling fallen away Catholics back to the church – he was successful. Now folks, take a guess at who might have not liked that! Ok, now can we all just pray for the man and focus on being charitable? And if we're so scattered… what priest is in old-scatch's site next? It's getting scary out there.
June 19, 2011 at 1:34 am
Anon @ 5:55 There's an old saying: talk about what you know. Our Lord mentioned Himself quite a bit in Scripture, as did St. Paul. Talking about yourself doesn't inherently mean that you are on an ego trip.
Anon @ 6:55 My father is a Protestant who loves Fr. Corapi. I haven't told him about this. But who is any of us to judge what is going on in the mind and soul of Fr. Corapi? I thought Fr. Corapi was exaggerating when he said he was tossed out like yesterday's garbage, but I've read enough 'blog comments today to validate that assertion.
And who is any of us to predict what will happen to Fr. Corapi? I admit, I listened to the black sheep dog speech and I find it strange, but I have no idea what is motivating Fr. Corapi's actions, and I'll bet a $2 bill that nobody here does either. That doesn't include people who think they know what is motivating Fr. Corapi's actions because they have a priest friend who…, etc.
Father Corapi is not an idol to me; he is a brother in Christ who has done a great amount of good for the Church and for the Kingdom. It saddens me that so many people have turned on him without knowing the facts.
It seems that more than a couple of 'blog commenters have found it amusing to say, "He's no Padre Pio." I would reply that anyone who goes around unjustly accusing a priest is no St. Francis of Assisi.
June 19, 2011 at 1:36 am
He did not ask to be made into a "big star". All he did was travel around preaching, the Catechism. That his audience grew and grew, not for his asides about his past history or his comments but for the truth, for the Catechism. People seem to have been craving this. We should ask, not why people packed large venues to listen but why do Catholics not appear to be supplied with this where they need it.
Fulton Sheen was a tv priest and his cause has been opened for sainthood. Another who did not ask for fame but had a gift and a talent and spoke the truth in and out of season.
A "personality" preach should not be the first and last stop for a Catholic interested in knowing about the faith. Anyone who would merely stop there and go no farther would be in a bit of an arrested development. But that was not what happened. People who have realized conversion, reversion, from hearing the truth will never have that taken away.
If the message where you are from your preachers lacks truth, is lukewarm, is just, ok, then do you blame the priest's personality or is it about something else? The truth is the truth and it will always be the truth.
What we should do is realize that people need to hear the teachings of the Church and proclaim it that much more so. The sale of his dvds and his popularity establishes this.
There are obviously dissenting priests, some in horrible dissent and saying horrendous things about the Church, who totally rely upon the "cult of personality". Is that "protestantism"?
It is not about the fame but the message which is eternal and does not matter that this accusation got the best of him even when it was apparently a false accusation.
June 19, 2011 at 1:42 am
Corapi shouldn't open his mouth to accuse people of accusing him.
June 19, 2011 at 1:49 am
One "good" that has come out of all of this is the emergence of great lay leaders who also teach the Catechism, the beauty of the Church's teachings and can be heard on EWTN tv and radio and also go around the country speaking to parishes and groups and some also publish books, articles, have blogs. So, whether you miss Corapi or didn't watch anyway, whether you are military, retired, like hunting, or didn't get any of the battle metaphor, no matter. Watch, Jeff Cavins, Scott Hahn, Mike Aquilina, Joseph Pearce, Johnette Benkovic, Patrick Madrid, Colin Donovan, Barbara McGuighan and many many other lay persons who teach the exact. And then there is Salt and Light. There are European, English, Australian Catholic bloggers. If you speak Spanish, French, German, Portugese, Italian, and many many more you will find lay Catholics sharing the Good News. The truth is good, the sources are trustworthy, and the truth is eternal. Sure, if a proclaimer is taken out of commission the faith takes a hit but it takes it in stride, never overcome, never extinguished and it will never go away. The magisterium of the Church is set up to endure even the failings and sin of the faithful and still prevail as is God's will. Peace.