Update on Fr. John Corapi

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thereselittleflower

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I thought that too, at first. Then I read his answer, and it made sense.

What specifically did he say that was a lie? Please support your impression with some form of reasoning.

Joab . . for starters, he was accused of having sexual relations with more than one woman. The SOLT affirms this to be true. His response deals with only one for starters and so is an obfuscation, as if denying one he denies all.

He was accused of illegal drug use. The SOLT reveals they have proof he has been using drugs. He claims he has not.


That makes him a liar.
 
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thereselittleflower

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Yes, the daily Gospel and the office of readings are part of my waking holy hour.

They never fail to speak in the spirit to every aspect of life, from recent days, to dreams, to current events. ;)

You know, the one thing I find most disturbing about this whole situation, is even if it does turn out that Corapi is fallen, (which is how it looks because it appears SOLT believes its so) there are way to many already condemning or chomping at the bit to condemn the man. No one has a right to cast stones and condemn anyone for sin. We are all in the same boat.

Lest we forget, there but for the grace of God, go I.

The noon reading:

Baruch 4:28-29
As by your will you first strayed away from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times as hard; for as he brought down those disasters on you, so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy.

I don't think such a false characterization of those who want to get at the truth of the matter, because of his character assassinations against the leaders of his order and bishops of the Church, and his very strange behavior, which only got stranger as more information became available, is helpful or beneficial for this thread or its participants.

No one judges his heart before God, but we are called to discern one's actions and behavior.

Let's not muddy the waters further by accusing people of judging another.
 
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isshinwhat

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Joab . . for starters, he was accused of having sexual relations with more than one woman. The SOLT affirms this to be true. His response deals with only one for starters and so is an obfuscation, as if denying one he denies all.

He was accused of illegal drug use. The SOLT reveals they have proof he has been using drugs. He claims he has not.


That makes him a liar.

No, that means someone is... There is a difference, and right now we don't know who that is. One good thing to come of all of this, though, is the civil repercussions that come into play because the civil suit Fr. Corapi has filed. It is evident that someone is lying, and Fr. Corapi was very up front in his filing that the claims made against him are false. Whoever is lying will now have civil penalties to pay in addition to the Canonical penalties that will probably be levied.
 
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Davidnic

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Catholic Culture has a good article on it: link

A quote that shows how things were askew:

Father Sam Medley, webmaster of the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity, attributed the scandal to a lack of fidelity to the society’s charism. “This whole Corapi conundrum would have never happened if we would have been faithful to our SOLT Charism of ecclesial teams-communion,” he said.

Father Medley added:
“I was asked years ago by my superiors if John Corapi could come and work in the community life of the media apostolate I was running at the time,” Father Medley recounted. “YES, I cried! Please bring him back to community life! Canon law tells us that no one from a community should live outside for an extended period of time. This would have also meant the regulation of his bank account and other violations would have been remedied. Sadly this didn't happen.”
SOLT has mentioned that they have asked Fr. Corapi in the past to return to community and did so as suggestions. The most recent however is a direct invoking of his vow of obedience.

A very good post on the blog of the SOLT webmaster: link

A quote:

The grace of certain charisma must always be subject to hierarchical grace of the Church. I used to tell my nieces and nephews when they tried to impress their mother with good deeds that nothing they could do would ever compare with obedience. Obedience will always be the mark of holiness, as rebellion, even by a gifted genius, will always be a mark of the devil. Obey. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.". What is implied is if you don't love me, don't keep them. If someone stops obeying the legitimate authority of the Church, it is at that moment that I stop following them.
 
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isshinwhat

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And it is really odd that he refers to the direct call to obedience as a "suggestion".

Originally it was an invitation, it was not until their last letter that obedience was invoked, which is odd because they said, "SOLT will do all within its power to assist Fr. Corapi if he desires to seek a dispensation from his rights and obligations as a priest and as a professed member of the SOLT..." If they know he wants, "to end his ministry as a priest and a member of the SOLT," and say he is unfit and will help him get out, why the change now?
 
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thereselittleflower

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No, that means someone is... There is a difference, and right now we don't know who that is. One good thing to come of all of this, though, is the civil repercussions that come into play because the civil suit Fr. Corapi has filed has filed. It is evident that someone is lying, and Fr. Corapi was very up front in his filing that the claims made against him are false. Whoever is lying will now have civil penalties to pay in addition to the Canonical penalties that will probably be levied.

The civil suit is not about lying per se. . . . the civil suit is about breech of contract, a contract in which he paid $100,000 for her silence and tried to take away her right and obligation to go to the Bishops of the Church with his behavior.


That, right there, stinks to high heaven - no one, LET ALONE A PRIEST, pays that kind of money for silence unless they have something to hide.
 
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Davidnic

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Originally it was an invitation, it was not until their last letter that obedience was invoked, which is odd because they said, "SOLT will do all within its power to assist Fr. Corapi if he desires to seek a dispensation from his rights and obligations as a priest and as a professed member of the SOLT..." If he has said he wants out, you say he is unfit and will help him get out, why the change now?

Not sure. But if they do not grant the dispensation he is subject to the vow. I think they did not want to publicly expose him even when he left. But when he started going full black sheep dog and misleading the faithful they felt they needed to do all in their power to stop that.

That is my guess
 
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LinuxUser

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Originally it was an invitation, it was not until their last letter that obedience was invoked, which is odd because they said, "SOLT will do all within its power to assist Fr. Corapi if he desires to seek a dispensation from his rights and obligations as a priest and as a professed member of the SOLT..." If they know he wants, "to end his ministry as a priest and a member of the SOLT," and say he is unfit and will help him get out, why the change now?
Something is definitely fishy in Denmark
 
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thereselittleflower

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Originally it was an invitation, it was not until their last letter that obedience was invoked, which is odd because they said, "SOLT will do all within its power to assist Fr. Corapi if he desires to seek a dispensation from his rights and obligations as a priest and as a professed member of the SOLT..." If they know he wants, "to end his ministry as a priest and a member of the SOLT," and say he is unfit and will help him get out, why the change now?

I think that to characterize previous calls as only an invitation is to whitewash what has been going on.

How do you know it was only an invitation before? How do you know obedience was not invoked before? Putting forth assumptions as fact then arguing based on presumed facts only causes confusion. Where is your evidence that the SOLT has never tried to invoke obedience on him before?

But now that it has been made unambiguously clear for all . . . .where is his obedience?
 
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thereselittleflower

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Not sure. But if they do not grant the dispensation he is subject to the vow. I think they did not want to publicly expose him even when he left. But when he started going full black sheep dog and misleading the faithful they felt they needed to do all in their power to stop that.

That is my guess


Yes and his behavior gave them objective reason to make public their findings thus far, his guilt and the steps they have taken.

He is still subject to his vows to his order.
 
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thereselittleflower

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And it is really odd that he refers to the direct call to obedience as a "suggestion".

Well one caught in a web of lies and deceit has only two choices. . continue weaving the web of lies which only makes the whole thing get bigger and bigger, and entrap themselves further; or come clean.

Calling a direct call to obedience a "suggestion" is simply choosing to go the first route
 
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isshinwhat

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The civil suit is not about lying per se. . . . the civil suit is about breech of contract, a contract in which he paid $100,000 for her silence and tried to take away her right and obligation to go to the Bishops of the Church with his behavior.


That, right there, stinks to high heaven - no one, LET ALONE A PRIEST, pays that kind of money for silence unless they have something to hide.

Have you read it? Count I of the suit is precisely about libel and the damage her alleged lies caused his ministry.

16. All of the alleged events giving rise to the false, malicious and unprivileged statements included in XXXXX Letter allegedly took place during the time that Corapi was an ordained Priest in the Catholic Church.

17. XXXXX's publication of the Letter was unprivileged and made with knowledge of its falsity and with reckless disregard of the truth. These acts constitute actual malice.

18. XXXXX's Letter has caused actual damages to Corapi.

19. As a result of XXXXX's publication of the Letter, the Catholic Church has placed Corapi on adminishative leave from priestly ministry for allegedly behaving in a manner unbecoming of a priest.

20. The SOLT released a statement regarding Corapi being placed on administrative leave from priestly ministry for allegedly behaving in a manner unbecoming of a priest.

21. The SOLT's statement and the Church's placing Corapi on administrative leave has been reported by media outlets across the country.

22. As a result of XXXXX's publication of the Letter, Corapi's regularly scheduled television shows were removed from EWTN television network and Corapi's regularly scheduled radio programs were removed from radio stations across the country.

23. XXXXX's publication of the Letter has caused permanent and irreparable damage to Corapi's good name, reputation and to his ability to perform his occupation.

24. Corapi is entitled to punitive damages due to XXXXX's actual malice in publishing the Letter with knowledge of its falsity and with reckless disregard of the truth.

And as for Fr. Corapi's desired end state for all of this, I find item 35. quite telling:

As a result of XXXXX's breach of the Separation Agreement and Release of Claims, Santa Cruz Media, Inc., is unable to book any Church related speaking engagements for Corapi until such time as Corapi's priestly faculties are restored by the Catholic Church.

Doesn't sound to me like he's giving up hope...
 
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thereselittleflower

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I think this quote deserves repeating to bring home the nature of the beast:

link



3. The grace of certain charisma must always be subject to hierarchical grace of the Church. I used to tell my nieces and nephews when they tried to impress their mother with good deeds that nothing they could do would ever compare with obedience. Obedience will always be the mark of holiness, as rebellion, even by a gifted genius, will always be a mark of the devil. Obey. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.". What is implied is if you don't love me, don't keep them. If someone stops obeying the legitimate authority of the Church, it is at that moment that I stop following them.
 
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isshinwhat

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I think that to characterize previous calls as only an invitation is to whitewash what has been going on.

How do you know it was only an invitation before? How do you know obedience was not invoked before? Putting forth assumptions as fact then arguing based on presumed facts only causes confusion. Where is your evidence that the SOLT has never tried to invoke obedience on him before?

But now that it has been made unambiguously clear for all . . . .where is his obedience?

Fr. Sam Medley, SOLT's webmaster stated it in the comments field of the post David linked to before the comments were closed and deleted. They also match this report:

Corapi’s superior: “We wanted him to come back to the community…” — UPDATED | The Deacon's Bench
He expressed disappointment that Father Corapi chose not to remain in SOLT and to refuse the order’s invitation for him to live in community, leaving his Montana home. Father Sheehan said he had tried to arrange a meeting with Father Corapi before any final decision was announced, but had not heard back from him. Father Sheehan said that SOLT would issue a statement shortly.

“We wanted him to come back to the community, and that would have meant leaving everything he has. It would have been a drastic change for him,” Father Sheehan said. “We will continue to move pastorally and charitably, taking steps to protect his good name.”

That is also the same article which stated that SOLT stopped their investigation when Fr. Corapi sent his letter of resignation.
 
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Virgil the Roman

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"'If you love me, you will keep my commandments.' What is implied is if you don't love me, don't keep them. If someone stops obeying the legitimate authority of the Church, it is at that moment that I stop following them."​

Exactly. :thumbsup:
 
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thereselittleflower

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Have you read it? Count I of the suit is precisely about libel and the damage her alleged lies caused his ministry.

While he may be asserting that, he is also suing for breach of contract - a contract in which he paid what amounts to hush money in an attempt to abridge and take away her rights to talk to his superiors in the Church about his behavior.

And as for Fr. Corapi's desired end state for all of this, I find item 35. quite telling:

Regarding all this becoming public. . . HE HIMSELF MADE IT PUBLIC by announcing it himself on Ash Wed . . and then he takes his actions and the resulting media attention and tries to make her responsible for it being made public when HE did that himself - he did nothing to mitigate the damage .. . he opened himself, by his own actions to the damage he now claims in the lawsuit.

That he claims the accusations to be false and malicious means nothing. . . that is his claim, nothing more, and now we have the leadership of his own order telling us that indeed the claims are true.

Corapi has the burden of proof in his civil case. He has to prove these allegations are not true - an impossibility.

The court case regarding slander and libel is a farce, as Corapi cannot prove the charges are false, and if he cannot prove the charges are false, that part of his proceeding is a joke. . . and now that the SOLT has come out and revealed it has evidence they are true, he is up a creek without a paddle regarding his claims to the contrary.

All that is left to him is the breech of contract which has always been the real court case he has against her.
 
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