New SOLT Statement re: Father Corapi

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Unlike some others, I have not made a decision as to his culpability, because he has not yet presented his case, in any jurisdiction.
Since this has been mentioned multiple times, I would like to point out that Fr. Corapi has declined to cooperate with the canonical investigation and has, in fact, impeded it. In any case, any civil matter will concern an entirely different matter, namely, whether a contract was broken and libel committed. The decision of his fitness for ministry at this time has been made, pending appeal. As to the depth of any sin, that is actual up to a much higher court and a much higher judge, for Fr. Copapi and for us all.
 
I, for one, am greatly saddened, but not alltogether surprised. I really appreciated hearing a priest who “told it like it is” with great directness. However, when I first found out that his tapes, etc. were so expensive, much more expensive than similar material available from other R.C. oganizations, and that they were available only from a private company,I became a little suspicious. It is one thing for Catholic religious orders and organizations to benefit financially from the sale of religious tapes, discs, etc.,
but I feel quite strongly against any individual or lay organization profiting from Catholic evangelization.
Fr. Corapi’s whole reaction in this affair has been more like a business executive trying to save a business, than a an unfairly accused Catholic Priest. And, as one who is very familiar to substance abusers, many of his recent pronouncements on line sounded like those made by someone “under the influence”.
Lastly, I do believe the latest pronouncement of the S.O.L.T. authorities. I really feel sorry for them to have been put in their current position.
There were always people or comments who had “red flags” about him, I never judged him as I felt, “well it’s good what he says” especially when he went after things like homosexuality and abortion and he had some good words.

I am an admirer of Fulton Sheen, so I never was really too impressed with Fr. Corapi, I preferred listening to Sheen tapes. I also noticed Corapi, would kind of cheat or lift a lot of Sheen’s talks derivatively, he would credit Sheen from time to time, but other times the delivery, came off almost like crib notes rather than inspiration. I think that’s why lots of people liked him, because Corapi brought back the refreshing candor, that were reflected from Sheen’s tapes and telecasts to people who may have not known Sheen. Sheen got his inspiration from hourly devotion to the blessed sacraments…

While a priest is good to talk about their experiences encounters with people, Sheen did it, and he had his own weaknesses with Vanity, but he also suffered from it too, in a contrite manner. But he talked a lot about his friends too.

Corapi’s “straight talk was refreshing” and he would kind of tap into an appeal because he would address things people were yearning for from the watered down homilies. However, in the details, perhaps he always had a certain angle.



In context of his egocentric blog posts on Black Sheep Dog, Corapi did talk about himself too much. And some people who’ve met him said he wasn’t very attentive or humble.

Then again, God only knows how sincere he was throughout the twenty years. When he was ordained he probably was a faithful repentant Catholic. But I do wonder about certain passages. I’m not the judge, but God gives us his word, and he always tells us DO NOT be deceived, we are supposed to be able to spot these things as his children.

1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; 10 if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
Proverbs 26:11
As the dog returns to his vomit, so the fool repeats his folly.
2 Peter 20-22
For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (our) Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them. What is expressed in the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A bathed sow returns to wallowing in the mire.”
The “prostitute” revelation isn’t troubling to me, (because we know Fr. Euteneur fell due to pride and I think he was sincere in his vocation before that, but I did notice Euteneur on Hannity did not act like a humble man either) but his marketing blogs, in light of the fact that he had such an operation going. I wonder if he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Now we kind of know why he panicked and was worried about losing his ability to “preach” , in a weird manner not as if he was going to “lose his calling” but he was going to lose some sort ‘vanity idol’
He even dismissed the blessed sacrament, and as an admirer of Sheen, he should not have said that. He also never would offer many masses, he would just give talks. This is truly sad.

Father Sheehan I heard may actually be a good priest.

Let us remember, not to be so scandalized by these imperfect men. If we know these quotes, we won’t be able to become deceived or disheartened…We can’t be scandalized or shaken the closer we cling to the Truth.
“It is certain that few are saved” - St. Agustine
“The greater part of men choose to be damned, rather than to love ALmighty God”
  • St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori
""I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many priests are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous. "
  • St. John Chrysotom
Although we do become more sober. :eek:
 
As for Corapi’s blind defenders, I fully appreciate that we all are sinners to various extents, but I ask only one question: What happened to his vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience? Nobody twisted his arm or otherwise coerced him when he made them!
They are blind. They need to read the quotes of Scripture above as well as St. John Chrysostom’s quote about priests. Especially 1 Corinthians 3-4
For while one saith, I indeed am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollo; are you not men ? What then is Apollo, and what is Paul?
I don’t mean to judge Corapi, unmercifully-- God will deal with him as well as my own words in discerning about Corapi’s actions:eek: – he should be prayed for – but so should Sheehan and all other priests.
Corapi’s actions should be looked at now, with more charity and discernment. I don’t recall him teaching heresy, or anything, but obviously like Jesus warned about he may have been one of those “Do as I say, Not as I do” Pharisee like people. I was shocked by how prideful and worldly his Blog posts were. Maybe he kept this under his vest, as we know he had his autobiography planned for a while as well as Black Sheep Dog so it certainly did not happen over night.

In light of SOLT’s revelation, which it seems unreasonable to doubt especially the way his blog reaction dovetails with their statements, it seems he has betrayed the body and scandalized the little ones, especially when he was possibly seeking to continue to con those willing to keep listening to him :eek: May he repent and be delivered.

Oh Blessed Mother we are foolish children. Pray for us.
 
This is exactly why we should not put human beings on high pedestals and put all our faith in them. We should only put Our Lord Jesus Christ on a high pedestal and follow His example.

The celebrity cult that certain public Catholic figures have often ends up in a double tragedy with those who supported them either losing their faith or blindly following them even though there is astounding evidence that they have not been living a faith-filled life.

Ever since Mr. Corapi underwent a dramatic change in his looks I have had an ill feeling something not good was about to come and I was right.

God bless
Let’s not forget. The apostles though. I think these are important words you say,

But remember God first, THEN Neighbor… There are too many great saints who followed the words of Jesus “be perfect” and his words through St. Paul “imitate me” as I imitate Christ"

It’s not so much that Fr. Corapi, was admired, it seems it was when he put his vehicle first. And so did some of the people crediting Corapi’s tapes as the reason for their conversion. When I was lapsed and return, it wasn’t just one thing that brought me back, but I was pulled back , and it was through the faithfulness of countless others, of the saints and even to people just saying a little profession of their trust in God, it was the Holy Spirit.

I don’t think Corapi’s scandal should deter people from giving Glory and Thanks to God, for others he has put on this Earth for us. I also think it would be sad. We should continue to pray to God to raise up many great saints and holy people in our nation and the world. As well as many holy & faithful families.

St. Francis for instance, was a very Charismatic individual, when he was young before he was called, he had a lot of friends. He could have had bad will, but he had good will. Those who recognized his holiness and cooperation with God, would not be guilty of putting him on a pedestal , in his life time, nor following a “cult of personality”

It would be folly to not be grateful to God and give thanks to him for truly heroic people who use and cooperate with his gifts and the Holy Spirit.
I think we should continue to pray and intercede and pray to Mary, to continue to protect those priests, religious, lay people and public ministries as well as righteous public servants who hear & DO his will even if we don’t know it.
I hope that finally this new evidence will cause those who insist on following him to open their eyes and see that the one they should be following is Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church He founded, the Catholic Church.
Our hearts our restless, until it rests in Christ. I believe anyone who is shaken by Corapi , will understand this, Jesus is such a refuge and sanctuary…
 
The Devil nevers rests.

This, I would imagine, is a particularly sweet victory for him. I pray that Mr. Corapi sees the error of his ways and repents.
 
Wow! He went out in true Fr. Corapi style… with a prostitute none the less. I owe EWTN an apology. I will begin to make EWTN contributions immediately. I guess I was entirely wrong–my bad. Fr. Corapi was a piece of work. At least he fornicated with women–could be worse.
Just a small charitable word of friendly advice. Please don’t slander anybody, especially a priest. Despite everything that has been broached in this thread we all need to be reminding that Father Corapi is still a respected PRIEST
 
Padre Pio and Fr. Corapi were in very different situations. Padre Pio was never suspended. The Provincial Superior took him out of public ministry. His faculties were never suspended. He celebrated mass and heard confessions for the friars and he participated in fraternal life in the community. People keep saying that he was suspended. This is not true. It never happened. The laity got into a fight with the superior. They demanded to have Padre Pio hear their confessions and celebrate mass for them. The superior responded that as the canonical successor of St. Francis he had the right to pull any friar from active ministry, to deny any friar permission to celebrate mass or hear confessions and acccording to the rule of St. Francis, he did not need a reason to do so, because the Franciscan order is not an order of priests. It’s an order of brothers. It became a power struggle. It could have been handled better, but it wasn’t. 🤷

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Brother,

I may be mistaken, but I do not believe that Corapi was suspended either. As you say, suspension is a canonical penalty requiring a specific process in accordance with canon law. Corapi’s faculties were never suspended either. It sounds very much as if Corapi’s superior in SOLT did exactly what you describe above, removing Corapi from public ministry.

I think the situations are quite analogous, though not identical.
 
It would seem that the most “heroic” thing that Fr. Corapi could do right now is to shut down his web site, cancel the release of his autobiography and submit in obedience to the request of SOLT.

Thinking of him kneeling before Pope John Paul II at his ordination and pledging his obedience to him and and any bishop that will be over him makes me hope that he also will reflect back on this moment. I pray for him to be heroic.
 
Whoa. Those who defend him are “blind”? No one is defending sin, sir. But you don’t know that he has “sinned.” You have a statement of an Order, a statement which relies on material we do not have corroboration of as to its accuracy, truth, validity. They are apparently content with their statement, but he has a right to present his side of the story as well, and he has not yet provided those particulars.

Some of us believe we have a Christian duty to suspend judgment of “sin” until a more complete airing of facts, from both sides, has been presented.
I don’t know. Maybe you are right that no one is defending sin but when people doubt the truth as spoken by his community and his superiors it seems that they are at least ignoring the authority that is over Fr Corapi and rather than defending sin they are denying it. So the blinders comment seems a bit valid, at least on the surface.
 
I think this press release is pretty disturbing.

First, my observation is that churches and religious orders don’t comment at all on cases like this unless there is very solid, hard to refute evidance.

The way it sounds there are several witnesses, more that cannot speak because Corapi paid them in excess of $100k and signed contract to keep them quiet.

I knew from the moment that he came out with this BSD stuff that there was something much more dark going on here and it seems like that may be true.

There has to be a significant amount of reliable info for SOLT to make a statement about it.

This just goes to show you about greed. Apparently he had millions, was doing drugs, living/sleeping with women, one of which may have been a prostitute.

I’ll pray for Mr. Corapi, it seems that perhaps he has lost his struggle with addiction which may be leading to these other transgressions.
 
Just a small charitable word of friendly advice. Please don’t slander anybody, especially a priest. Despite everything that has been broached in this thread we all need to be reminding that Father Corapi is still a respected PRIEST
Actually this is no longer the reality. Mr. Corapi is a priest, he is no longer respected and has been instructed by his superior to return. Respected??? For apparently violating his vows of poverty, sexting, etc. He will definitely be in my prayers but he will not be respected until he fully submits to his superiors, addresses all the aspects of the investigation under the rules to which he is subjected and he might want to consider stop accusing Bishops of conspiring against him.
 
Father John Corapi has submitted his resignation from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), the Register has learned.

Father Gerard Sheehan, regional priest servant of SOLT, said in a press release dated July 5 that the popular priest and speaker has inspired countless thousands of Catholics, “many of whom continue to express their support of him.”

However, Father Sheehan added, “SOLT also recognizes that Father Corapi is now misleading these individuals through his false statements and characterizations. It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight.”

SOLT’s fact-finding team has acquired information from Father Corapi’s emails, various witnesses and public sources that, together, state that, during his years of public ministry:
— He did have sexual relations and years of cohabitation (in California and Montana) with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute.

— He repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs.

— He has recently engaged in “sexting” activity with one or more women in Montana.

— He holds legal title to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats, which is a serious violation of his promise of poverty as a perpetually professed member of the society

Read more: ncregister.com/daily-news/father-john-corapi-resigns-from-solt/#ixzz1RFVzmVx9
Let’s not forget that one is INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty.

This is all very strange stuff indeed.

Let me get this straight. Fr. Corapi is an OLD MAN, with heart problems. Yet I am supposed to believe that he gets up in the morning, hops on his motorcycle, and puts on his Harley emblems and gear and speeds around town on this thing. Then he comes home, hops on his 4 wheel ATV and does some mudrunning through the forest. Then he gets back and jumps into his brand new speedboat and races around the lake.

Then in the evening he gets drunk, does some drugs, and hops into bed with a prostitute. Then he gets up at 3:00 am and flys out of state to give an awesomely inspring sermon about the truth of Jesus???

YA RIGHT!!! Figure the odds. Even a 26 year old would have a problem with this schedule let alone an OLD MAN with heart problems.

Something is reallly amiss here with all this mudlsinging going on here.

Innocent until proven guilty — PERIOD!!
 
Let’s not forget that one is INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty.

This is all very strange stuff indeed.

Let me get this straight. Fr. Corapi is an OLD MAN, with heart problems. Yet I am supposed to believe that he gets up in the morning, hops on his motorcycle, and puts on his Harley emblems and gear and speeds around town on this thing. Then he comes home, hops on his 4 wheel ATV and does some mudrunning through the forest. Then he gets back and jumps into his brand new speedboat and races around the lake.

Then in the evening he gets drunk, does some drugs, and hops into bed with a prostitute. Then he gets up at 3:00 am and flys out of state to give an awesomely inspring sermon about the truth of Jesus???

YA RIGHT!!! Figure the odds. Even a 26 year old would have a problem with this schedule let alone an OLD MAN with heart problems.

Something is reallly amiss here with all this mudlsinging going on here.

Innocent until proven guilty — PERIOD!!
You need to go back and read JReductions posts. This isn’t a civil case.

Peace

Tim
 
You need to go back and read JReductions posts. This isn’t a civil case.

Peace

Tim
I don’t have time.

But you are right there is nothing Civil going on here.

Civil or not, explain how an OLD MAN with heart problems can do all that stuff.
 
I don’t have time.

But you are right there is nothing Civil going on here.

Civil or not, explain how an OLD MAN with heart problems can do all that stuff.
He doesn’t have heart problems. That is what his malpractice suit against the doctor was about. And he isn’t particularly old either. I just spent the 4th of july weekend hiking with my 75yo fil. He was up for a 10 mile hike each day, so I’m sure a 60yo man who is also healthy can be busy riding a motorcycle.

However, that is not the issue. His PROMISES of poverty were broken by his amassing of personal wealth. That he apparently chose to spend it on vechicles he may or may not use is not the point.

There is no upside for SOLT in revealing these details. They are trying to ensure that Catholics do not get the message Fr Corapi told confused with the man and leave the church over what they see as unfair treatment of him. He needs our prayers for his soul now, not sympathy for his health.
 
Let’s not forget that one is INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty.

This is all very strange stuff indeed.

Let me get this straight. Fr. Corapi is an OLD MAN, with heart problems. Yet I am supposed to believe that he gets up in the morning, hops on his motorcycle, and puts on his Harley emblems and gear and speeds around town on this thing. Then he comes home, hops on his 4 wheel ATV and does some mudrunning through the forest. Then he gets back and jumps into his brand new speedboat and races around the lake.

Then in the evening he gets drunk, does some drugs, and hops into bed with a prostitute. Then he gets up at 3:00 am and flys out of state to give an awesomely inspring sermon about the truth of Jesus???

YA RIGHT!!! Figure the odds. Even a 26 year old would have a problem with this schedule let alone an OLD MAN with heart problems.

Something is reallly amiss here with all this mudlsinging going on here.

Innocent until proven guilty — PERIOD!!
This isn’t a criminal case! Mr. Corapi is the one that is dodging the procedures that he is subjected to and he’s the one that isn’t doing what needs to be done to clear his name. What is amiss here is why Mr. Corapi is not following the express directive of his superiors, is acting as judge, jury and executioner of the system in place by the Church to clear his name by claiming that he cannot get a fair result, all-the-while having violated his vow of poverty and also claiming that Bishops are conspiring against him. Peace, g.
 
Truly missing the point.

I read JR’s posts. None of them explained how an OLD MAN with heart problems can do all this stuff.’
 
He doesn’t have heart problems. That is what his malpractice suit against the doctor was about. And he isn’t particularly old either. I just spent the 4th of july weekend hiking with my 75yo fil. He was up for a 10 mile hike each day, so I’m sure a 60yo man who is also healthy can be busy riding a motorcycle.

.
Not quite accurate. He was miss diagnosed, but, he still has problems.

SO I guess you are saying that your 70 year old grandfather, is proof that doing drugs, getting drunk, riding around on speedboats/ atv’s and motorcycle, and jumping into bed with prostitutes - is something your grandfather is capable of doing???

Come on!!!
 
MODERATOR NOTICE

Please remember to discuss the issues, not each other.
 
Truly missing the point.

I read JR’s posts. None of them explained how an OLD MAN with heart problems can do all this stuff.’
The heart problems were a mis-diagnosis.
Not even the gov’t would call Fr. Corapi, at 64 yo, an “old” man.
 
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