Posted on 06/17/2011 6:11:52 PM PDT by Yossarian
God Love You, God Bless You, and Good-Bye.
Jun 17
Posted by The Black SheepDog
This Sunday, June 19, 2011, is both Trinity Sunday on the Catholic liturgical calendar and Fathers’ Day on the secular calendar. It is a day I’ll never forget, and sadly so. It is the twentieth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic Church. For twenty years I was called “father.” I am very thankful for those twenty years. I could have easily died any number of times, any number of ways in my life before that, so I consider it all a bonus, an undeserved bonus. To all of you that have communicated support, ordination anniversary congratulations, and other kind sentiments, I am greatly thankful, and I do not take that for granted.
All things change, only God stays the same, so I have to tell you about a major change in my life. I am not going to be involved in public ministry as a priest any longer. There are certain persons in authority in the Church that want me gone, and I shall be gone. I have been guilty of many things in the course of my life, and could easily and justifiably be considered unfit to engage in public ministry as a priest. The present complaint that you have heard about is, as far as I know, from the one person that I can honestly say I did more to help and support than any human being in my entire life. I forgive her and hope only good things for her. I am not going to get into a back and forth or argument with the Church or anyone else about this matter.
Suffice it to say that I love the Catholic Church and accept what has transpired. Unfortunately, the process used is inherently and fatally flawed, but the bishops have the power, apparently, to operate anyway they see fit. I cannot give a lengthy explanation of what has transpired, but I can tell you that the most likely outcome is that they leave me suspended indefinitely and just let me fade away. They can’t prove I’m guilty of the things alleged because I’m not, and they can’t prove I’m innocent because that is simply illogical and impossible. All civilized societies know that. Certain leaders in the Catholic Church apparently do not.
I accept moving on, but I am not ready to be altogether extinguished just yet. In the final analysis I have only one of only two viable choices: 1. I can quietly lie down and die, or 2. I can go on in ways that I am able to go on.
I did not start this process, the Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas ordered my superiors, against their will and better judgment, to do it. He in fact threatened to release a reprehensible and libelous letter to all of the bishops if they did not suspend me. He has a perfect right to do so, and I defend that right. Bishops aren’t bound by civil laws and procedures in internal Church matters. I agree with that, and would defend to the death the Church’s right to proceed as they see fit. He is the bishop and he has the right to govern as he sees fit. It isn’t an easy task. Many forces besiege him, including pressure from other bishops.
My canon lawyer and my civil lawyers have concluded that I cannot receive a fair and just hearing under the Church’s present process. The Church will conclude that I am not cooperating with the process because I refuse to give up all of my civil and human rights in order to hold harmless anyone who chooses to say defamatory and actionable things against me with no downside to them. The case may be on hold indefinitely, but my life cannot be. Some of the things that might surprise you about the way some of the bishops treat accused priests are as follows:
1. The identity of the accuser is not revealed. You can guess, but you don’t actually know. Nor are the exact allegations made known to you. Hence, you have an interesting situation of having to respond to an unknown accuser making unknown accusations (unknown to the accused and his counsel).
2. The persons chosen to investigate the allegations normally have no qualifications to do so. They certainly didn’t graduate from the FBI academy, nor do they have any other background to qualify them to interrogate or otherwise interview witnesses.
3. There are no set rules of evidence or norms of procedure.
4. You are for all practical purposes assumed guilty until you can prove you are innocent. This one is truly baffling. No civilized society operates that way. If you are accused of something you are considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
5. The accused and his counsel have no right to obtain and review any of the evidence against him.
6. The accused and his counsel are not provided the names of witnesses, nor are they permitted to cross-examine them.
7. There is a general unwillingness or outright refusal by certain of the bishops to abide by applicable statutes of limitations, both in canon and civil law. There are good reasons for these statutes. Time has a way of clouding memories and distorting perceptions.
By the way, Canon Law does not dictate this. They choose to selectively ignore or violate both Canon Law and Civil Law, as they deem appropriate and or expeditious. Once again, they apparently have the discretionary power to do this, and if that’s the way it is I have to accept that as reality.
The bottom line is that the only way a just outcome is likely, in my view and that of my counsel, both civil and canon lawyers, is by accident, rather than as a result of the process.
I will not try to fight this irrational and unjust situation for the simple reason that I don’t want to be placed in an adversarial posture against the Church. For 20 years I did my best to guard and feed the sheep. Now, based on a totally unsubstantiated, undocumented allegation from a demonstrably troubled person I was thrown out like yesterday’s garbage. I accept that. Perhaps I deserve that.
I can’t do what I can’t do. I can only do what I can do. I shall continue, black sheep that I am, to speak; and sheep dog that I am, to guard the sheep—this time around not just in the Church, but also in the entire world. I am, indeed, not ready to be extinguished. Under the name “The Black Sheep Dog,” I shall be with you through radio broadcasts and writing. My autobiography, “The Black Sheep Dog,” is almost ready for publication. My topics will be broader than in the past, and my audience likewise is apt to be broader. I’ll do what I can under the circumstances.
Please don’t bother the bishop or complain because it will do no good and it wastes valuable time and energy, both his and yours.
I hope you stay with us and follow us into our new domain and name of “The Black Sheep Dog.” Through writing and broadcasting we hope to continue to dispense truth and hope to a world so much in need of it. For those of you who choose to part company and go away from us, we wish you well and thank you for your many kindnesses over the years. We’ll miss you in our usual meeting places, but assure you that there will be new places for us to meet, just like in “the good old days,” so for now,
God bless you, God love you, and goodbye.
John Corapi (once called “father,” now “The Black Sheep Dog”)
Yes.
Reason - In Chicago there's a very *infamous* parish priest named Father Pfleger, at St Sabina's Church. He's been there over 20 years (that's against the rules) and he has broken almost every other rule in the book, like getting arrested, and THREATENING SOMEONE'S LIFE -- and worse as far as The Church goes (IMMO), openly thumbed his nose at direct orders from the Cardinal, whose also the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George.
To boot Father Pfleger 'has preached' at Obama's old Chicago 'church' where that anti-American, Anti-Semitic, Anti-White, 'Rev' Jeremiah Wright spewed his bile. Yet. Father Pfleger remained at St Sabina's.
Only recently has the Cardinal said enough is enough, you have to be reassigned to a new parish due to the Church's rules and that's that, but Pfleger is STILL there. Yet this priest, Father Corapi, gets the boot OUT OF THE PRIESTHOOD in relative light speed based on *evidence* he can't even see.
Something is very wrong (head shaking).
His Church will shed the unfaithful and The Church will be stronger for it. Catholics in this country became obsessed with being accepted by the Protestant majority, the hierarchy most obsessed of all. A great many priests and bishops left The Church a long time ago but remained in their positions nonetheless rather than bothering to physically leave. They deliberately and with malice aforethought distorted and subverted Vatican II as their vehicle to try and make the Catholic Church into just another Protestant denomination.
Christ will fix The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church in this country. The Church, however, will not be spared a share of the punishment this whole nation deserves nor will it be spared the punishment those who have abandoned His Church to follow another gospel have earned for themselves by adopting and basking in Sola Yourselfa or other doctrines they've adopted rather than remaining faithful to His Church. That Jesus Christ will wait until stubborn and headstrong humans are convinced all is lost and therefore will have to admit that it took a miracle to turn the Church around is no surprise to me.
Rest assured, He has..I am now married to the love of my life..It sounded bitter when I spoke it, but it is not. I just stated the facts. My reason for sharing this was that some think that a priest should get a free pass—he should not. He should be judged like the rest of us.
I had a chance to see him last year when he came to our area. I wish I had done so, but other obligations prevented me from doing so. Drat!
I think Father Corapi is outstanding and I wish him well. He had the fire and conviction of St. Paul.
Whoa to those in power who are corrupt. God will deal with them in his own time and way. I don't envy any of these who seek to destroy in God's name.
Thanks for the information.
In my judgment, Father Corapi is getting the short end of the stick here. Anyone else?Yikes is all I can say. Notice how "John" makes no mention of Mary ...
I’m bothered by his rather rash decision also. It reminds me of corrupt politicians who rail against the system after being convicted of misdeeds in office. Many saints have been accused, yet remained silent. St. John Vianney was once accused of impregnating a young woman, yet he remained silent and followed Christ’s example. The good Cure d’Ars was exonerated.
Father Corapi had done good work, but he has allowed Satan to take down his ministry. Sad, really...
Second, you are right Condor! There is an interesting thing going on. I don't know if Corapi is guilty or not, but if he was like Pfleger and attacking the conservatives no one would say anything.
It is funny how often when some one is on the liberal side, the bishops say how powerless they are. Yet when it is on the other side, the hammer comes down quickly.
The US Catholic church has issues. And it will take generations, if ever, to fix.
Sadly, just about all the churches and synods in the US are facing similar things. The LCMS is fighting a rear guard action, and the Southern Baptists will go gay soon.
The part that disturbed me as I read through Corapi's account is that the Bishop of Corpus Christi forced this on the order and the order couldn't get answers either (the bishop's CV doesn't give many answers on that quarter either other than he was in Rome under Paul VI). There's something fundamentally wrong with the system if this is the case. We have zero idea what is happening behind the scenes. IMO, Corapi is giving up way too fast and may well have needed a break from his public schedule, but to not be able to get answers? Even Christ gave answers to those he knew were sinners. That is simple Christian charity and the bishops are not demonstrating that in any way.
“St. John Vianney was once accused of impregnating a young woman, yet he remained silent and followed Christ’s example.”
Why does the Church employ lawyers (canon and secular) if self-defense is considered unsaintly?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Roman Catholic. And no matter what scoundrels get themselves appointed bishop, I hope that, like St. Joan, I would die saying “Jesus is the Church and the Church is Jesus.” I.e., the Church is how Jesus has chosen to remain in the world until He comes again.
Yes. It’s just that we do Him so many injustices that it gets discouraging.
For about a year my FReep tag line was “If false accusation wasn’t a big problem it wouldn’t be in the Ten Commandments”.
Christendom—not only the RCC—is in need of serious remedial catechesis in the Eighth Commandment.
Those who falsely accuse should be subject to penalties as harsh as what they sought to bring against an innocent victim.
Remember, though, that according to Revelation 12 “the ACCUSER of our bretheren has been cast out”. The day will come when his little helpers will also be cast out into the lake of fire.
Come,Lord Jesus!
Isaiah 53:8 Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people,
A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.
I would suggest going to youtube and listening to Father Corapi’s talks.
He always stressed his human frailty and pointed to Christ and the Truth and Answer.
This is a loss for all Christians, not just Catholics. Many of my Protestant friends admired Corapi.
I was reading a thread about the same issue in the Religion forum, and did not see them mentioned
I did not read the whole thread over there because I wanted to see the responses to the article with out the censorship of a caucus thread so I came to this one.
A very sad situation.
It is very similar to the dems mantra that it doesn't matter if the accusations are true or not, it's the severity of the charges.
And act out of ignorance of the truth and in the process destroy someone in a very unfair manner.
It is saddening to see the Catholic church use the same tactics to tar a feather someone who is apparently innocent and has no chance in that strict one sided venue to state their case.
He seems to have made the right choice in his responses imo.
“Why doesn’t Father Corapi remain obedient to the Church and her processes, rather than publicly attack them and launch his new commercial venture?”
He may be innocent or he may be guilty - no way of knowing. But if his description of this “process” is accurate, it seems unfair, arbitrary and skewed in favor of accusers. And if it is systemic, perhaps in bringing this to light he’s performing a service to the Church and his fellow priests.
“I am troubled by the choices he has made”
Yes, it’s disheartening.
¨...I know you haven´t the best of breaks since you got back, but it seems to me you ought to stick here, and fight it out on your own home ground a little longer....¨
I am relieved to learn that your anger is not an festering injury in your heart; rather an outrage at all injustice such as you experienced.
You are right that church officials are not above moral or civil law and Catholics should support the church’s duty to investigate the claims of victims. It is a given that the investigative process will be painful and claimed to be unjust, by the accused. It seems few trust the integrity of the investigators. Conservative priests are just as open to temptation as are liberal priests. I hope the process used in the church to investigate claims against church officials is just to the accusers and the accused.
Are church officials turning all criminal cases, as they are reported, over to civil authorities for investigation now?
I listened to Fr. Corapi on one the two local Catholic radio stations. I learn a lot from those stations.
I liked Fr. Corapi very much. I also like Fr. E. I just learned not to idolize any man.
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