Posted on 03/19/2011 9:19:28 AM PDT by marshmallow
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.
Sadly, in these troubled times, it's difficult to tell.
The way Fr. Corapi chose to respond and the timing of his response are the hallmarks of an innocent man.
A beloved local Priest went through this recently and it took 8 months for him to be cleared of any wrongdoing.
I believe the “guilty until proven innocent” approach has the potential to destroy the priesthood.
It is a misguided over reaction to the problem.
Guilt by accusation.
This cuts both ways.
Obama molested me.
The key phrase seems to be “former employee.”
As you say, this could be either/or. Either a former employee who was mistreated, or a former employee who was fired for cause and is now getting revenge.
He is, however, quite right to criticize the process. The bishops carried the blame for covering up earlier offenses during the bad times in the 60s and 70s. So now they have shifted the blame to priests who are falsely accused—guilty until proven innocent.
So many priests have been accused falsely.
And they don’t like him. You don’t hear what he preaches in your typical sermon anymore do you?
I hope this is NOt true. He is my FAVORITE Catholic teacher and I am not Catholic. I feel for him cause his name will never really be cleared in the mind of many.
I think only with those who didn't like his message. The liberal catholics....
It is Satan striking at good people...
I have got so much from Fr Corapi...he has had a past before being a priest of the “wild” life...and that is why I don’t believe this...He CHOSE to become a priest and is very traditional..thus, the attacks. I wonder if the “employees” were Catholic?
Satan going into Lenten & Easter overtime to destroy those who preach the message of Christ.
I know a guy who got similar false accusatiom fron a college classmate. He hired a lawyer, asked others to pray for the truth to out, etc. At the quasi-hearing, the colleges’s administrative idiot blew the cahrges off, and near-apologized. “There’s obviously nothing here, it’s just that some people don’t know how to interact and communicate positively.”
I read that Billy Graham made it a point to never be alone with a woman, including employees. He also made sure that aides were always around when he gave counsel to any of his followers.
It was to prevent exactly this from happening.
I agree with your assessment. Father Corapi was a big part of my conversion to the Catholic Church. He has been, and still is, such an inspiration to me! In my mind, he is innocent until proven guilty. Considering the church’s past coverups, I certainly understand the reason behind this overreaction. However, I agree with you that this sort of “guilty until proven innocent” attitude is very destructive. We need to pray for Father Corapi.
We recently put a window in the door to our priest’s office at his request. He says some priests are installing cameras without audio in their offices and in the confessionals.
We know what to do, pray, pray, pray.
One good thing is that Fr. Corapi knows better than most the power of the evil one and I’m sure he’s not surprised that something like this has happened to him. He also knows the power of prayer.
There is good reason for our judicial system to be based on the axiom “innocent until proven guilty.” It applies to criminals. It should be applied to priests.
Billy Graham’s very sensible policy would not have prevented a false accusation from being made. A malicious or insane person can accuse someone he or she never met at all, let alone in private, of sexual activity or abuse.
I presume him to be innocent until shown otherwise. I would suspect that a former employee means she was released and until we know why can assume she has a grudge and is a bad witness for anything. I hope and pray that this is resolved soon and that God's will be done, and that the Church and Father Corapi are made stronger in the end. I have faith and trust in God.
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