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

[Robertanthony]

Thank you for that link! Yes, it seems I’m not the only one with that concern.

I would gladly kiss the hands of our beloved and overworked priest. But would any of us truly want to kiss the hands of Fr. Cutie after he slid those hands into the bikini bottom of the married woman he cavorted with on the beach? The one he was sleeping with at the same time he was serving Mass as a priest and then married and left the Catholic Church to become an Episcopalian priest and denied the Catholic Church.

Let’s be real.

Not trying to play holier-than-thou with you sojo as, spiritually and humanly, I am way below you (not trying to tempt you into pride, either), but there’s this story, apparently true, of Francis of Assisi kneeling before and kissing the hands of a priest leading a publically immoral life, because St Francis primarily saw the high dignity of the priesthood .

 

[Shoshana]

St. Francis said to the sinful priest, after kissing his feet, ''All I know
… is that your hands bring me Jesus Christ, I know nothing else."

 

[wynnejj]

St. Francis said to the sinful priest, after kissing his feet, ''All I know
… is that your hands bring me Jesus Christ, I know nothing else."

A Crisis of Saints By Fr. Roger Landry April 2002
catholic.com/library/A_Crisis_of_Saints.asp

There is a story told of Francis of Assisi that sticks in my mind from one of the biographies I read as a seminarian. Once one of the brothers in the order of Friars Minor who was sensitive to scandal asked him, “Brother Francis, what would you do if you knew that a priest celebrating Mass had three concubines on the side?” Francis replied, “When it came time for Holy Communion, I would go to receive the sacred body of my Lord from the priest’s anointed hands.”

 

[Cinette]

*I have been affected by the parable about the wheat and the weeds and how Jesus tells us not to remove the weeds until harvest.

I know a young man who converted when he was 22 three years ago who is currently discerning a vocation to the priesthood and has chosen SOLT. I met him through CAF and I have great admiration and affection for him.

I guess we will always have weeds in our midst and we need to identify them, pray for them and not judge them.

Cinette*

 

[monica123]

I have a question. Since Fr Corapi has been silenced by his order (solt) does that mean that we should not purchase his new book on abortion? Would purchasing the book be considered supporting him in his “disobedience” to the directives of SOLT?

 

[7_Sorrows]

I have a question. Since Fr Corapi has been silenced by his order (solt) does that mean that we should not purchase his new book on abortion? Would purchasing the book be considered supporting him in his “disobedience” to the directives of SOLT?

WELCOME, MONICA! i don’t know for sure that he has been silenced by his order.
i have not followed some of what has occurred too closely. so i can’t really answer
if buying the book would be contributing to his disobedience or not. however, i, personally,
do not plan to buy anything until i learn more of what is going on and what has happened.

 

[7_Sorrows]

*I have been affected by the parable about the wheat and the weeds and how Jesus tells us not to remove the weeds until harvest.

I know a young man who converted when he was 22 three years ago who is currently discerning a vocation to the priesthood and has chosen SOLT. I met him through CAF and I have great admiration and affection for him.

I guess we will always have weeds in our midst and we need to identify them, pray for them and not judge them.

Cinette*

i like the parable about the wheat and the weeds also. i think many of us have prayed for john corapi and continue to pray for him. however, i think we also need to use good judgment regarding john corapi and what he is undertaking.

 

[Jack_Bauer]

WELCOME, MONICA! i don’t know for sure that he has been silenced by his order.
i have not followed some of what has occurred too closely. so i can’t really answer
if buying the book would be contributing to his disobedience or not. however, i, personally,
do not plan to buy anything until i learn more of what is going on and what has happened.

I’m waiting for the action movies series. I’m certain that I’ll have a part in there.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I’m waiting for the action movies series. I’m certain that I’ll have a part in there.

perhaps, Jack, you can play a young john corapi before he became a priest?
maybe not quite as exciting as 24.

 

[Jack_Bauer]

perhaps, Jack, you can play a young john corapi before he became a priest?
maybe not quite as exciting as 24.

From what I’ve heard about his life as a young man, I’d we willing to bet it was very colorful.

 

[ElisabethM]

*I have been affected by the parable about the wheat and the weeds and how Jesus tells us not to remove the weeds until harvest.
. . .

I guess we will always have weeds in our midst and we need to identify them, pray for them and not judge them.

I read an interpretation of this parable in In Conversation With God that likened the tares to false doctrine, not people. The enemy sows the bad seed amidst the good seed and even a trained eye cannot distinguish one from the other until they have matured and show either good or bad fruit.

We cannot rely on ourselves to make such distinctions, but we have the Church to do so for us. If an individual, whether Martin Luther or John Corapi, refuses to obey the Church, their judgment cannot be trusted. Luther’s weeds have matured so now we can plainly see his was used by the enemy to sow the bad seed of false doctrine. As long as John Corapi “calls his own shots” and refuses obedience to the Church, his words cannot be trusted.

God is not finished with John Corapi yet. I pray for his repentance and look for the day when his return will make the devil wish he had never tampered with this priest.

em

 

[trials]

Skull Church? Says it all. God help us and God help Fr. Corapi.

 

[J_Katherine]

I have a question. Since Fr Corapi has been silenced by his order (solt) does that mean that we should not purchase his new book on abortion? Would purchasing the book be considered supporting him in his “disobedience” to the directives of SOLT?

My understanding is that he is not publishing a book on abortion. The book he promises is his autobiography, in which he says he will tell the whole story of these events. If that is the case, I doubt it will be available any time soon.

The audio CDs on abortion he is promoting as the first product of The Black SheepDog’s ministry for profit may very well be reedited from his old Fr Corapi talks, with any specifically Catholic references either deleted or downplayed. So if you have, or have heard, his old talks, you will probably not be getting anything new. Unfortunately, there will be no way to preview these tapes to determine whether they are recycled or not; you will have to purchase them at full price, and most likely with the previous Santa Cruz no refunds under any circumstances policy in effect. There may be brief sound bites posted at his website as a promotion.

Various opinions on whether it would be prudent to purchase his old materials (you have till 5pm Eastern today to do that, based on the countdown clock) or new TBSD products have been shared on this and other threads and Facebook pages. Whatever he says about his new era, he is in disobedience and has been found by his superiors to be unfit for ministry. I would take that as an absolute No on purchasing materials, because that money will only go to promoting that disobedience. There are many, many worthy sources of materials promoting the Gospel of Life, a good many of them nonprofits who donate proceeds to actual anti-abortion action.

On the question of whether there is still some grace to be gained by reviewing his old materials, advisors are split. It is true that he did not teach heresy–but if he did not live it while he was preaching, he most certainly is now. If you can separate the message from the man–who, we are learning to some degree of certainty, was not just a flawed instrument as we all are, but a deliberate liar–that’s between you and your conscience.

If you want to support his soul as he moves forward, prayer is the best (and to my mind, only) way to go.

 

[J_Katherine]

Skull Church? Says it all. God help us and God help Fr. Corapi.

To be fair, I think it’s a leap to assume that The Black SheepDog will be taking the pulpit at Skull Church. The present preacher seems happy to be the only one, and his young audience probably prefers him to that older wannabe. The countdown clock similarity is almost certainly because Justin Meccia runs both websites–the clock on the old Fr Corapi site is a countdown to today’s 5 pm deadline on selling off the inventory, and the one on the Skull Church site is a regular feature counting down to their next worship gathering.

There’s been a lot made of the connection, which I initially pointed out here, but my sense is that it’s really just the fact that Corapi has hired Justin Meccia to fill in after Bobbi Ruffatto left. He may have met Justin through the biker community in Kalispell–Bobbi is also a biker, so maybe she recommended him. Justin appears to share many of The Black SheepDog’s possible political sympathies, and he’s certainly lent a goth sort of touch to the BSD brand, but I don’t expect he’s prepping Corapi to be the new Skull Church pastor.

Actually, I would be less concerned if Corapi were simply moving into Protestant evangelism. We’ve had a number of orthodox Catholics come the other way, so it would be sad but not unheard of to see someone swim the Tiber in the other direction. My fear is that he’s moving past religion entirely, except as it provides an audience for his political commentaries–which might mean his devotion was never what he wanted us to think it was.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

My understanding is that he is not publishing a book on abortion. The book he promises is his autobiography, in which he says he will tell the whole story of these events. If that is the case, I doubt it will be available any time soon.

The audio CDs on abortion he is promoting as the first product of The Black SheepDog’s ministry for profit may very well be reedited from his old Fr Corapi talks, with any specifically Catholic references either deleted or downplayed. So if you have, or have heard, his old talks, you will probably not be getting anything new. Unfortunately, there will be no way to preview these tapes to determine whether they are recycled or not; you will have to purchase them at full price, and most likely with the previous Santa Cruz no refunds under any circumstances policy in effect. There may be brief sound bites posted at his website as a promotion.

Various opinions on whether it would be prudent to purchase his old materials (you have till 5pm Eastern today to do that, based on the countdown clock) or new TBSD products have been shared on this and other threads and Facebook pages. Whatever he says about his new era, he is in disobedience and has been found by his superiors to be unfit for ministry. I would take that as an absolute No on purchasing materials, because that money will only go to promoting that disobedience. There are many, many worthy sources of materials promoting the Gospel of Life, a good many of them nonprofits who donate proceeds to actual anti-abortion action.

On the question of whether there is still some grace to be gained by reviewing his old materials, advisors are split. It is true that he did not teach heresy–but if he did not live it while he was preaching, he most certainly is now. If you can separate the message from the man–who, we are learning to some degree of certainty, was not just a flawed instrument as we all are, but a deliberate liar–that’s between you and your conscience.

If you want to support his soul as he moves forward, prayer is the best (and to my mind, only) way to go.

As for the topic of abortion, if you want to know anything, go to Fr. Frank Pavone. He’s been working against abortion for a long time, and doing a fine job of it. I don’t believe there is anything Fr. Corapi could add to Fr. Pavone’s efforts.

priestsforlife.org/

 

[Netty313]

I have a question. Since Fr Corapi has been silenced by his order (solt) does that mean that we should not purchase his new book on abortion? Would purchasing the book be considered supporting him in his “disobedience” to the directives of SOLT?

I grabbed this from Crying for Corapi:

I’m not sure if SOLT would say that you were “officially” supporting him in his disobedience, but at very least it seems like a bad idea, that you’re giving tacit consent to his BS-Dog lifestyle by supporting him financially. For all I know his new abortion series could be completely orthodox, but if you’re buying something for edification rather than curiosity, there must be other series or tapes that would be a better purchase. The one exception might be the devout Catholic writer who buys them to write (and warn) others, but even if SOLT doesn’t offer an official statement, I would be wary. --Tom O’Toole, Crying for Corapi

 

[Netty313]

The present preacher [at Skull Church] seems happy to be the only one, and his young audience probably prefers him to that older wannabe.

Chuckles at “happy to be the only one.” I told my better half that if Corapi has any plans of speaking at The Skull Church, he’d have to first lock Levi “the venti man?” Lusko in a closet. Can you spell e-n-e-r-g-y / e-g-o?

One Catholic journalist I spoke to suggested that Corapi may be the “financier” of The Skull Church. There’s a connection there somewhere, I believe, and hopefully we won’t have to buy anything to find out what it is …

 

[Shoshana]

Much leaping and speculating here…Lord have mercy! Confessions are on Sat…

 

[wynnejj]

I wonder if this discussion thread would interest those who buy their gossip at the supermarket checkout line… we could call the magazine “Celebrity Catholic”.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Much leaping and speculating here…Lord have mercy! Confessions are on Sat…

Confession is always available, thanks be to God. We simply need to call our parish or the neighboring one to make an appointment. However, I don’t think people trying to understand and make connections is sinful. Those who are more skilled at research, and who bring in new, *substantiated *information are helpful. Certainly wondering whether to buy new or old materials by Fr Corpai is not sinful.