Posted on 03/22/2011 2:04:01 PM PDT by NYer
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Father John Corapi, a popular author and preacher who has had speaking engagements all over the world, has been placed on administrative leave from priestly ministry over an accusation of misconduct.
“We have received an allegation that Father Corapi has behaved in a manner unbecoming of a priest and are duty-bound to conduct an investigation into this accusation,” said Father Gerard Sheehan, a spokesman for Father Corapi’s community, the Texas-based Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.
Father Sheehan, who has the title “regional priest servant,” issued the statement March 18 on behalf of the community.
“It is important to keep in mind that this action in no way implies Father Corapi is guilty of the allegation,” Father Sheehan said. “It is equally important to know that, based on the information we have received thus far, the claim of misconduct does not involve minors and does not arise to the level of criminal conduct.”
The matter will “be investigated internally,” he said. Father Sheehan did not reveal the exact nature of the allegation.
In a March 19 statement, Father Corapi said, “All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned.” His statement was posted on his website, www.fathercorapi.com.
He said he learned on Ash Wednesday, March 9, 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.”
Father Sheehan told Catholic News Service that Bishop William M. Mulvey of Corpus Christi has instructed the religious community to ask two priests who are not clergy of the diocese and who are not members of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity to investigate the allegation. The two priests have not yet been named.
In his statement, Father Sheehan added that “unless and until information suggests otherwise,” the allegation made against Father Corapi “will not be referred to civil authorities.”
If officials of the religious community learn that the accusation involves a violation of criminal civil law, he said they would refer the matter to civil authorities.
In his statement, Father Corapi complained that the bishops’ procedures to protect minors from sex abuse by church personnel are “being applied broadly to respond to all complaints,” whether the complaint is deemed “to be credible or not.”
“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,” Father Corapi said. “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,” he added.
It was not the first time Father Corapi has criticized the zero-tolerance policy mandated by the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
In an address at the Call to Holiness conference in Michigan in 2002, Father Corapi called the policy “unjust.” He said there was no question the church needed to remove serial molesters or any priest who posed a threat. But he said there was “a radical difference” between a child-molester priest who “just wallows in it” and a priest removed because he was accused of one long-ago incident but who repented and went on to have 25-30 years of fruitful ministry.
According to his website, Father Corapi has traveled more than 2 million miles preaching the Gospel since his 1991 ordination by Pope John Paul II. He has preached in 49 of the 50 states, all of the Canadian provinces except Newfoundland, and several other foreign countries.
Father Corapi often tells audiences his story of his late vocation to the priesthood and his life before that, when he knew both success and failure, from gaining millions of dollars in real estate to being penniless, homeless and addicted to cocaine.
Besides television and radio, he also preaches about the Catholic faith using the Internet and various other multimedia formats. He is the author of several books and has produced a number of multimedia products.
A native of Hudson, N.Y., he makes his home in Kalispell, Mont.
Father Corapi, 63, is widely known from his appearances on the EWTN cable TV channel, as a guest homilist in churches, and his many speaking engagements.
Founded in 1958, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity is based in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. It is comprised of priests, brothers, deacons, sisters and laity.
Its website says the community’s “primary apostolate is to serve the areas of deepest apostolic need.”
Its members serve in missions around the world, working in parishes, and ministering to migrants, refugees, homeless people, among others. They also are involved in education, catechetics, evangelization, and marriage and family life. The community also has an outreach to prisoners and drug addicts.
Update ping!
I just love Fr. Corapi’s sermons. He’s inspirational, and I often listen to him while mowing the lawn. I pray that he is found innocent and that they publicize that finding as widely as they publicized the accusation.
Thanks for the update. I have faith all this will dissolve into nothing. He’s just a high profile target. He needs to learn that he can never be alone with anyone. Somebody has to have his six.
No offense. As John Wayne spoke in the Searchers film! That will be the day!
Maybe he wasn't. If the accusation is false, the accuser(s) need not have had private time with him.
The headline is misleading: if the investigation is being conducted by priests from outside the diocese, and not affiliated with SOLT, that isn't really "internal." Presumably the writer meant an investigation by the church, rather than by the police, but since fornication isn't a crime, there's no possible police involvement.
But he said there was “a radical difference” between a child-molester priest who “just wallows in it” and a priest removed because he was accused of one long-ago incident but who repented and went on to have 25-30 years of fruitful ministry.”
This guy is, at a minimum, an enabler.
After this was in place, a Hispanic priest from either South America or Central America wss accused of abuse.
The Hispanic people are very outgoing, so touching someone in a very innocent way is quite common.
What happened was that a 7th grade girl told her mother that the priest touched her.
What happened was that the priest put his arm on the girl's shoulder, and there were other girls who saw the incident and thought nothing of it.
But since the mother complained, the priest in question had to be moved to another parish.
It was the policy of the Archdiocese to relocate the priest regardless of whether there was any basis for sexual abuse.
The mother and the girl regreted their overreaction -- they were very sad at losing the priest.
That is the price the sexual abuse has cost the church. The fact the media has overblown this situation and they make mountains out of molehills just adds fuel to the fire.
It should state that the priest put his hand on the shoulder, not his arm.
Thank you for the post and ping. That is only one of several situations that have resulted from the bishop’s stance. As someone else pointed out, even if the priest is vindicated, the damage has already been done.
That was my thought, too. This isn't like the priests accused of abuse of a minor, so the secular authorities wouldn't necessarily need to be be involved.
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