Fr. Corapi Responds to Some of His Order's Charges

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Originally Posted by JourneyForTruth
Well this shows the Catholic church is different then other churches because it can self clean itself. The hierarchy of the structure does do this well but it can also try to protect the faithful when the church covered up priest abuse.
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All in all I would rather be part of a church with Hierarchy as long as it’s transparent in it’s leadership and watched over by the lay people to keep it’s leaders true to the faith.
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GraceSofia said:
Journey,
I see you are fairly new, so please don’t take this personally, that I’m picking on you, okay, but you have said something here that I wonder about.

Is it true that the lay people keep our leaders true to the faith? I would have thought we have no influence really. Which can be a good thing. Look at Germany with these 250 theologians demanding women priests :rolleyes: . I for one, am glad to know that Pope Benedict is not going to take their votes into consideration. Don’t we always say the Church is not a democracy?

Thoughts on this?
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I think this statement by bishop Lennon shows how the faithful watch over the church and it’s leadership. I learned this in adult religious education that the masses of lay parishioners do influence the Vatican but I’m new at this.

Bishop Lennon statement:

“While I am confident that I am faithfully handling the responsibilities entrusted to me, I personally made this request earlier this year because a number of persons have written to Rome expressing their concerns about my leadership of the Diocese. This visit will be an opportunity to gather extensive information on all aspects of the activities of the Diocese and will allow for an objective assessment of my leadership. I ask for prayers that this process will support the vibrancy and vitality of our Diocese going forward.”

msnbc.msn.com/id/43714057/ns/local_news-cleveland_oh/
 
I care a great deal about Father Corapi. For me, he was the voice and face of the Church. It was through his ministry, that of Mother Angelica and the late Fulton J Sheen that brougth me back to my faith. There were others like Mitch Pacwa and Benedict Groeshelle (sp?) that have influenced me greatly.

Therefore when Father Corapi announced his leaving the priesthood and refusing the order of SOLT to return, I, like many others were greatly disturbed. The video of him in the Harley jacket is telling. He’s having a very difficult time – we need only look at his face to know this.

If you look at his eyes, they are puffy. He’s obviously not been getting much rest as this episode has weighed heavily upon him. Not knowing the particulars, I think that there’s a lot going on in his soul right now – a great deal of pain – and he needs our prayers and support more than ever.

Whatever he did or did not do is really not at issue at the moment. He’s no different than the rest of us in that he is wounded, and has the same human frailty as do we all.

Being a priest does not remove the woundedness nor does it dininish human frailty. It places upon them a much bigger responsibility and demand for purity. We look up to our priests and have high expectations of them, but we should never forget that they are subject to the same weaknesses and faults as we. And if they should fall, we need to be there for them, just as they are there for us.

I sincerely hope that he will return to the Church that he loves.

Let us never stop praying for him – and for all priests for that matter. They need us just as we need them.
 
treadhead said:
I care a great deal about Father Corapi. For me, he was the voice and face of the Church. It was through his ministry, that of Mother Angelica and the late Fulton J Sheen that brougth me back to my faith. There were others like Mitch Pacwa and Benedict Groeshelle (sp?) that have influenced me greatly.
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I think we need to remember that, ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit that led you back to the Church, and your freewill positive response to grace. The reason it is so treacherous to be a celebrity clergyman - or even just a local favorite - is that it is so easy to quietly slip into spiritual pride, and the notion that the messenger becomes indispensible instead of the message. I find it particulary distasteful that Catholic blogs are becoming “celebrity” driven as well. Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, etc – where does one cross the line from evangelization and into vainglory?

Ultimately, it’s the Holy Spirit at work. If Fr. Corapi or someone else who was an instrument chooses to reject that grace, it’s not for anyone to despair, as if there’s suddenly a void in the Church. The Holy Spirit does not let that grace go to waste. He will raise up another messenger, another priest, another lay person who will decrease before the Lord until that person has to decide to live for oneself or die to oneself and continue receiving that grace.
 
First, I would like to apologize to anyone who found my post upsetting in any way.

I did not make the post in haste. The fact is, while some have described it as uncharitable, I believe it is direct and honest and I stand by my thoughts.

Still, I realize that a lot of us have been hurt first by the allegations and then by the new information from SOLT.

Perhaps, my lack of charity was in not fully perceiving the depth of pain and the manner of my post may have added to the pain. For, this lack of charity, I am deeply sorry…
 
No worries, cargau.

I think a lot of the problem is we get fed a little info from both sides (SOLT/Corapi) and go “wild” with it (not literally). Unfortunately (or fortunately), we are neither of the parties invovled so we really don’t know what’s going on and we have no right to speculate as if we are “experts” on the whole situation. Somebody posted that our personal opinions should be kept to private messages which is good and bad. Good because it keeps the threads open, bad because it opens us up to gossip which is sinfull.

I’m just as guilty of it because I find myself unsubscribing then subscribing again to these threads (like slowing down at a bad accident). The really sad thing is that the moderators will warn us then one or two posts later we’re back at it like we never read the warning. Forget taking a breather, we all need cold water splashed in our faces.

Anyway, that’s my :twocents:

Happy St. Benedict’s Feast Day. (Live in the world, not of it).

Pax†
 
catharina said:
Elizabeth, I have no problem with your call to moderation of word and actions.
I am very surprised that anyone would seek to judge you when you are seeking PEACE.

I’ve never known you to derail any thread, intentionally or otherwise.
I can’t imagine that you would begin to do so now.

Peace to you. God bless you.
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Appreciative of such a kind and generous reply, catharina. Thank you.
🙂
 
“That era of my life is sadly ended, but rather than lie down and die, I have made a decision to continue doing what I can to inspire, teach, and give hope to the people living in a time in history much in need of it.”

Again, with the “lie down and die” phrase!!! I am so tired of hearing/reading that!!! How insulting it is to his order!!! As if the vows he took now amount to laying down and dying!!! How trite this is, how shallow, how empty! How can anyone read that and still think that this man has anything to offer them???

:mad:

How can he just say “That era of my life is sadly ended…” as if it is just a job he can quit or a marriage he can just walk away from???

Oh this statement makes me the angriest of all!!! I am DONE, and it will be hard for me to even pray for him after that.

p.s. Edited to add: I would bet that he has been told NOT to sell anything else and to close down his other websites. He’s making it sound as though it’s his idea but I would bet that it’s a legal issue. Good. He wants to be finished, he should be finished.
 
How generous, 50 % off… well maybe it will finally sink in to a few on his fans that he IS NOT going back, he is where he wants to be.
I wont personally be buying his book or items, but everyone has to live thier own life, I just pray the blinders come off so they can see clearly.’

For someone who mentioned the rosary and Mary so often, I noticed a definite void since he was on leave. It’s like she is either forgotten or maybe he feels guilty, but I wondered if anyone else noticed it also.
 
News flash to Black Sheepdog!

You are not all that and a bag of kibble! There are plenty of talk show hosts that have been in the business for years and years and you are not going to revolutionize the radio waves. In fact, you are not interesting at all. Your audience is going to shrink rapidly, now that you have left your priesthood behind, and referred to your 20 years as a priest as merely an “era” in your life. Did you really think they came just to hear you? They came to hear about Jesus! What are you going to talk about now, Black Sheepdog? Will you just bark and bark in your emptiness? Growl and foam at the mouth about the state of our nation? Bor-ing!

Hey, with all your “lie down and die” and “they want me to die” rhetoric, maybe you can style yourself as the Catholic Alex Jones! He’d probably love to have an assistant who is a former priest gone rogue. His websites all have “contact us” buttons. See infowars.com especially.

You told your followers, “You follow Jesus Christ and His Church, you don’t follow me.” I hope they listen to you one last time. And I say that with the most charity I can manage.
 
Why does he say “lay down and die” so often, every statement. He’s not old, he’s has money (maybe not enough to continue his lifestyle) but it seems enough to live off. He said he was tired or preaching, took over 2 years off, just retire and don’t cause scandal.
Why is it this or nothing? Ego, anger, something else?

Many of us will never own what he does, he doesn’t need any more sales from adoring fans, he needs peace and grace and God.
 
debraran said:
How generous, 50 % off… well maybe it will finally sink in to a few on his fans that he IS NOT going back, he is where he wants to be.
I wont personally be buying his book or items, but everyone has to live thier own life, I just pray the blinders come off so they can see clearly.’

For someone who mentioned the rosary and Mary so often, I noticed a definite void since he was on leave. It’s like she is either forgotten or maybe he feels guilty, but I wondered if anyone else noticed it also.
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Someone said something to that effect (could be Juliane?) on one of the many threads about John Corapi (can’t bring myself to call him Mr. Corapi, not because I’ve lost all respect for him, but because it’s just weird), and I think it probably has to do with his plan to “broaden” his message or his audience, so he will likely also drop the Eucharist, which he once proclaimed was “the summit, the source, and the center” of the Church’s life (those were not originally his words, I think JPII said that 1st). Right now I am careful how I receive anything he says as he is not always consistent. For instance, he claims he’s not angry and bitter, then expresses why he’s angry and bitter (thrown under a bus, thrown away like yesterday’s garbage, the Church has never done anything for me etc.)
 
Just a reminder I posted this on another thread that was shut down.

A PRAYER FOR ALL PRIESTS

KEEP THEM, I PRAY, THEE LORD, KEEP THEM, FOR THEY , ARE THINE–

THY PRIESTS WHOSE LIVES BURN OUT BEFORE THEYCONSECRATED SHRINE.

kEEP THEM FOR THEY ARE IN THE WORLD, THOUGH FROM THE WORLD APART;

WHEN EARTHLY PLEASURES TEMPT, ALLURE,

SHELTER THEM IN THY HEART.

KEEP THEM, AND COMFORT THEM IN HOURS OF LONELINESS AND PAIN,

WHEN ALL THERE LIFE OF SACREFICE FOR SOULS SEEMS BUT IN VAIN.

KEEP THEM AND O REMEMBER LORD, THEY HAVE NO ONE BUT THEE,

YET THEY HAVE ONLY HUMAN HEARTS, WITH HUMAN FRAILTY.

KEEP THEM SPOTLESS AS THE HOST,THAT DAILY THEY CARESS;

THERE EVERY THOUGHT AND WORD AND DEED,DEIGN DEAREST LORD, TO BLESS.

FROM: PIETA PRAYER BOOKLET.
IMPRIMATUR: CARDINAL DOUGHERTY,ARCHBISHOP OF PHILIADELPHIA

SAY 1 OUR FATHER HAIL MARY,QUEEN OF CLERGY PRAY FOR THEM.

It would be good to remember he is a priest forever.

God bless
 
There is an aspect of Father Corapi’s ministry that always appealed to me.

His June 30th blog “Thoughts on Sheep, Sheepdogs, and Independence” reminded me of it.
theblacksheepdog.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/

It is the sheepdog that seems to be lacking in Sunday sermons today that avoid the serious issues of the day. This is something that I’ve been feeling for a long time and articulated through this essay (last year)…

Priests and Sheepdogs

There once was a movie “Pollyanna” where the minister was given to “fire and brimstone” sermons and the congregation would go into church feeling good and come out depressed. Pollyanna, ever cheerful, turned the minister around and they all lived happily ever after.

Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, was no Pollyanna priest. I have a book of many of his sermons, and he pulled no punches about the real existence of demons and hell and, the consequences of not forming a good conscience. He let you know that beyond the boundaries of the Ten Commandments, there were wolves and some in sheep’s clothing.

In my life, I have come to love border collies, renowned as sheepdogs. Border collies are like priests in many ways. Their coat is black and white, not gray, like absolute truth, not moral relativism. Their coat is mostly black, like the sin of the world, but a significant amount of white, as is much of the worlds activities. They generally have a white collar like a priest.

There’s a natural instinct in a sheepdog that does not have to be taught. It is why God calls them to be sheepdogs. If the master walks in a given direction, the sheep will follow but some will get confused by obstructions or perceived threats, and will wander astray. That is where the sheepdog comes in. He takes up the rear guard, and outruns and heads them off. This is instinctive, not taught.

The sheep are accustomed to the sheepdogs, but nevertheless they fear them. They look like wolves, a constant reminder that beyond the boundaries set by the sheepdog, there are wolves.

The best sheepdogs know how to posture as a wolf, increasing the effect of a worse threat than the sheep’s other perceived threat. The sheepdogs’ front end crouches down, and their back end raises up in a posture suggesting that they are ready to attack. Some shepherd’s look for a sheepdog with a touch of the “wild eye”.

Of course, a sheepdog without this instinct is just another domesticated dog, useless as a sheepdog.

My prayer for Father Corapi is that he renounces his black sheepdog personna reminiscent of a black wolf and returns to the faithful black and white sheepdog that we loved so well in better days.
 
I’m sorry if this has already been posted- ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=114254 But this is the full story for EWTN on why he was removed and has now been found guilty for his crimes. See EWTN’s full news section for all articles pertaining to this investigation.

As the poster above kindly posted- please pray for him and all priests. While he’s no longer a priest, he still needs our prayers.
 
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