Update I: The press release is now up on the S.O.L.T. website. Thanks to reader Wellington for alerting us to that.
Update II: Read the Catholic Blogosphere’s reactions to the S.O.L.T. Bombshell on ThePulp.it here.
Update III: Fr. Corapi has responded. Let’s just say that I find the response less than convincing.
[Editor’s Note: I have just gotten off the phone with the editors of the National Catholic Register and they have confirmed that this is a genuine press release from Father Gerard Sheehan of S.O.L.T. They, S.O.L.T., are unable to take phone calls or respond to emails because they have General Chapter meetings until July 21, ie, reclused.]
Jimmy Akin links to a press release from Fr. Gerard Sheehan, who was Fr. Corapi’s religious superior in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT). It rehashes some of the things we’ve already heard about the investigation of Fr. Corapi, but then concludes with this:
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.
SOLT has contemporaneously, with the issuance of this press release, directed Father John Corapi, under obedience, to return home to the society’s regional office and take up residence there. It has also ordered him, again under obedience, to dismiss the lawsuit he has filed against his accuser.
SOLT’s prior direction to Father John Corapi not to engage in any preaching or teaching, the celebration of the sacraments or other public ministry continues. Catholics should understand that SOLT does not consider Father John Corapi as fit for ministry.
Wow. I’m sure this is far from the last we will hear about this.
In his latest video, Fr. Corapi says he’s pretty much done speaking about the controversy/scandal. If I were falsely accused of something, I would not back down from declaring my innocence and the falsity of the charges. But Fr. Corapi’s not doing that — his denial was very reserved and incomplete. I can’t be sure, but it seems to me like he’s deciding not to say anything more on the matter because he doesn’t want to lie (and deny things that are true) or admit to wrongdoing.
At best, it’s a battle of who said what.
As difficult as this may sound, he should of waited for the SOLT investigation to end to prove his innocence. In the end, it’s Gods will.
I saw the video – this isn’t the same man wtih whose preaching I fell in love.
🙁
It’s disappointing to see this happen, he was a great speaker. The comments on that thread are seemingly endless. I scrolled through about 50 of them before I realized I scrolled down about 3% of the page 😯
I thought that a great many of the comments at “The Black Sheep Dog” blog site were in favor of Fr. Corapi’s return to obedience. He’s not listening.
One commenter described himself as a cop – retired or not I don’t recall – and said that Fr. Corapi’s abnormal jaw movements were something he had seen before. I am not certain what this means. Whatever the case, the man in the video isn’t the man I saw preaching all these years.
The bigger scandal news is of Fr. Corapi’s self-demolition derby. He makes Jim Bakker look like a piker, a raw recruit in the pleasures of the flesh. There’s a sense of having been played by a master con man, one so good that you have to admire the sheer effrontery and skill of his fraud. I was totally fooled, that’s for sure. I thought no one rails against sin as much as the former sinner and so I took him for an Augustine. Someone too enthusiastic as a reaction and in repentance for a former self. Well sometimes the sinner rails against sin too. It makes me wish he was still on the air since I’d like to see how I could so colossally misread him. I’d want to look for clues in his talks.
Ah but the pleasure of the flesh. They return, ‘eh? He always said he had a terrible past, but it was hard to believe given how he seemed to come through the drugs and everything and still was articulate as hell. Turns out he was on them and still articulate as hell! Reminds me of HK, how she went through years of incredible bodily abuse and here, on the other end, can write rings around me.
Certainly we’ve all recently got an education in how perceived holiness in others can be pure facade. The scandals in the clergy, to Bud Macfarlane leaving his wife, to the spy Robert Hanssen, to Fr. Corapi, it’s been eye-opening and even breathtaking. It gives me a little bit more insight into just how difficult it must be to be holy – even when given the advantages of the sacraments. Perhaps it’s a replay of St. Paul’s riveting verse in Romans 11: “God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.”
Sorry, meant to edit that. It’s a cut and paste from an email to a friend!
Oh boy… Paul you are so correct he is not the same guy. And What is up with the look? One of the accusations was that he bought a motorcycle and he is wearing a harley jacket. Sheesh it is sad to watch. Lord help this man receive humility.
I think T is right… I have my reasons… but I believed He con us for at least 10 good years if not more… but God was merciful – to us and him and he got caught.
Humility is Christianity. Obviously Corapi is not…Christian.
What jumps out at me is this startling sentence fragment: “…the process used by the Church is grossly unjust, and, hence, immoral. ”
Strong language.
In the words of Shakespeare, “He doth protest too much.”
It is very difficult for me to see Father this way. He appears to be a broken man. My heart goes out to him. I am still trying to hope that all of this untrue and somehow Our Lady will intervene and help this poor man. My prayers go out to him. God still loves Father; so do I. Just because one priest (if true) has fallen astray, that does not mean the Church is not where Catholics ought to be. Indeed, remain closer to the Church. On another note, why can’t this go to Pope Benedict? Wouldn’t he set the record straight?
“On another note, why can’t this go to Pope Benedict? Wouldn’t he set the record straight?”
If this goes to the Pope and the Pope does anything publicly about it, then that will only feed Fr. Corapi’s ego – his predicament and hence he himself are so important that this matter went to the Pope. That’s the last thing he needs right now.
I’m a convert of 25+ years. I knew who Fr Corapi was but was not particularly a fan of his preaching style. However…
The nastiness of Catholics in general gets to me on an occasional basis, but it’s been hitting the ceiling the last few weeks. I’ve never heard such a pile of self-righteous rule-mongering craziness in my life as I’ve heard over the John Corapi thing. There are a hell of a lot of Catholics who aren’t Christian–that’s the only conclusion I can come to. Listen: We are all sinners from the get-go; we all hypocrites. So lay off the man. Pray for your own salvation and get with the program. It’s time my fellow Catholics heard that from someone.
“rule-mongering craziness”
Expecting a priest, especially one as prominent in the public eye as Corapi, to not shack up with a prostitute, use illegal drugs or engage in any of the other sins he appears to have been quite fond of, is not “rule-mongering” but rather holding someone to a fairly minimal standard of behavior that should be expected of a priest of Christ. Saint Paul in his epistles was quite willing to call a spade a spade in regard to the bad behavior of the clergy and laity of his day. Somehow in our day the one unforgivable sin in the eyes of many appears to be calling someone who is engaging in wretched behavior to task for it.
I never really saw or heard Fr. Corapi on EWTN – so this is the first time. What a difference from the glimpse I had of him once…I kept wondering why he was looking off to the side as he spoke…the whole situation is sad. SOLT should have brought him home a long time ago. Was there no one with the discernment to see that Fr. Corapi was straying? That he needed help? Having a powerful ‘charism/charisma’ is a dangerous thing – one can use it for God’s glory or one’s own – sometimes, it’s a bit of both but hopefully we have others who can challenge us to get back to the center -Christ. Looking at and listening to Fr. Corapi’s talk today made me think that he knows he will not have the following he had before, as a practicing Priest…and now, what excited him before will only lead to emptiness and misery – and that, hopefully, will lead him back to his community and his vocation. And so we have to pray for him and for all Priests ….
Donald,
But all this business about religious orders & expectations and peoples’ private prejudices running rampant, and faulty beliefs about religious life etc is. Catholics have weird and crazy expectations of each other, you know that? It’s warped about 90% of the time. Weird.
SOLT isn’t a religious order. It’s a little organization of the faithful someplace in Texas.
I’m always shocked about how many Catholics don’t also seem to be Christian, but I guess I shouldn’t be after 25+ years as a convert. What a mess.
T says:
He always said he had a terrible past, but it was hard to believe given how he seemed to come through the drugs and everything and still was articulate as hell..
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You obviously haven’t heard Fr. Don Calloway’s story. Zowie! Lucky to be alive. Now he would understand!
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midwestlady says:
I’m always shocked about how many Catholics don’t also seem to be Christian, but I guess I shouldn’t be after 25+ years as a convert. What a mess.
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Yeah, looks like it takes other sinners to bring out the sins of the self anointed elitists!
Something that is obviously missing here is comprehension of or experience with addicts. You can tell by the total lack of compassion. The guy appears to be (and historically was) an addict. Once an addict, well, you should know the rest. Not surprising since that kind of chemistry and behavior to model was also in his father. Heard of that before o ye lacking of street smarts and knowledge of genetically transferred weaknesses? And guess what else….when habit is involved the complete involvement of the will isn’t.
I’m shocked that with all the superior knowledge of the rubrics of the Faith that fact hasn’t been mentioned. I guess that might interfere with the jealousy of such a weak person who was still able to get to the main points of the faith better than most today. Yes the Church (all of us) is being purified, using her own – sinners – to awaken the fears and pharisaical type of correctness in the comfortable and obviousy proud!
Father needs prayers. A lot of them.
To those who decry what they preceive as “judging” Fr. Corapi, please consider:
http://www.catholicthinker.net/its-un-christian-not-to-judge/
As that blog points out:
“In John 7:24, Christ says, ‘Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'”
“Paul’s words from 1 Cor 5:9-13: ‘I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you.'”
That being said, I think we should all pray for Fr. Corapi, and for all our priests and bishops. Maybe this sad affair would not have happened if we prayed more – a whole lot more. But saying it’s un-Christian NOT to judge is to take Matthew 7:1 out of context, ignoring the last part of 7:5:
“…then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
In my case, however, I don’t think I see all that clearly anyways. This whole affair scared me so much that I have “up’d” my 12 step meeting attendance, because if a man like Fr. Corapi is vulnerable, then what hope do I have? (Speaking rhetorically, of course.)
to be honest,,,I think he may have slipped a cog 😥
Mr Primavera:
AA’s 11th Tradition states:
“Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.”
Your divulging your being a part of 12 step program giving your full name certainly goes against this tradition.
“but I believed He con us for at least 10 good years if not more… but God was merciful – to us and him and he got caught.”
what did he con us into? Becoming Catholic? Following the cathecism?
Anonymous, is quoting from the Big Book at a blog failure to maintain anonymity at press, radio or films?
This is not the press. Nor the radio. Nor films.
Furthermore, I am not and do not promote myself.
Tito or Donald, maybe you had been delete my quoting from the Big Book above. There are always going to be some people that will object because of the 11th Tradition (which doesn’t reference blog sites but if written today could be interpreted to mean blog sites). Can’t please all the people all the time. 🙁
Paul:
This is a public forum and the 11th Tradition clearly encompasses this venue.
Anonymous, you’re right. I screwed up. I’m sorry. I asked for the offending post to be removed. It isn’t. To other readers, the point is that anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all AA’s Tradtions, ever reminding its members to place principles before personalities. I did not do that.
However. in the case of a person like John Corapi who used his recovery from cocaine addiction to restore his business success, and who capitalized on his charismatic personality, an exception may be made. From Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, John Corapi alias John Coradi was convicted of driving while intoxicated in November of 1999:
https://services.saccourt.com/indexsearchnew/CaseNumberList.aspx?SearchValues=CORAPI%2CJOHN%2CANTHONY%2C3634107
If this is the same John Corapi that we all know about, then he has been fooling us for a very long time indeed.
I knew many people in AA in DC back in the ’80’s, because I attended meetings with a friend in the program. Some divulged their full names. It is my understanding that AA does not require that its’ members remain anonymous.
Instead of venting your anger against Paul Primavera, you should instead be upset about Fr. Corapi’s betrayal of his vows.
“One of the accusations was that he bought a motorcycle and he is wearing a harley jacket. ”
Oh, come now, that’s the very least of it. I really don’t care if a priest wears a harley jacket. Consorting with a prostitute and using drugs – well, that’s a bit different, isn’t it?
I can’t believe Catholics have lost the ability to discern differences between degrees of sin.
I admired Fr Corapi. I am still stunned by the difference between the eloquence of his teaching and its orthodoxy, and the seeming reality of his behavior. He often said something along the lines of “When Satan strikes down the shepherd, the sheep will scatter” Clearly Satan worked through Fr Corapi’s weaknesses and dragged him down. Tragic! Personally, I am deeply saddened. I continue to pray for him, but differently now that certain revelations seem undeniable. I pray the accusations are wrong, but know they probably aren’t. I pray the Blessed Mother brings him back.
Well, Paul we all fail at times to put principles before personalities. Thanks be to God you have the humility to own up to it.
I do agree with the thrust of what you say about Corapi. If he is drinking and using again (and it seems to be the case that he is, given his strange behavior) he will be where he would have been if he had drank and used during all the time he was clean and sober. If this is the case, he will probably be dead within a few years.
I think that SOLT shares a lot of the blame for this situation. Given Fr. Corapi’s past, which surely they knew about, he should not have been allowed to live independently, on his own. The temptations out in the world can be quite strong for someone who has had problems with drugs.
Yet he was encouraged to go out on his own, and preach. Not a good idea, in hindsight, anyway. I think that Fr. Corapi has some resentment toward SOLT and others, which I can understand. Still, it seems that SOLT knows that they were in the wrong to let him be out on his own, but they should admit this outright – that they made a big mistake. If they do this, Fr. Corapi might be more willing to be obedient in the matter.
No one said wearing a Harley jacket is a sin. It IS a mistake in a video response to accusations of excessive materialism in the form of a motorcycle. Ugh.
Question: Is it OK to judge people as judgmental? Or is that judgmental too?
I have a hard time blaming SOLT for one man’s sins. I hope the Lord does too.
There is a lot of confusion on both sides of the coin. It is tough to make an honest judgment on the merits of the case.
Y ou should not judge father corapi because he or anyone other catholic wears a leather jacket -or by their dress period.I liked father corapis sermons -he seemed genuine -as if the holy spirit was in his heart and he was simply reciting back what it had told him.But let us not forget what he himself told us “the enemy (satan) is strong always waiting to find our weak points expose them to take us away from the light of the lord.”Pray for father corapi -God will lead him through the forrest like a lost child back to the road of righteousness.
Wow! Did not know about Fr Padre Pio. Thanks for sharing this! 🙂