When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
The following message in italics below is from the Diocese of Raleigh and Charlotte. As you read it, please ask yourself: why would Governor Perdue NOT want a woman to know who is growing within her womb before making a decision to abort? It is no coincidence that she is a Democrat, and a member of the Episcopalian Church which is commanded by a female "Bishop" and which has sanctified active, practicing homosexuals as clergy, and homosexual unions as "marriage." But praise the Lord, what she wanted this time has been overturned. It is a rare moment of sanity from the State Legislature.
July 28, 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
After many months of work, including your prayers, hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails, we are pleased to share the great news that the General Assembly has successfully overridden Governor Beverly Perdue’s veto of the Woman’s Right to Know act. This legislation will now become the law in North Carolina.
We would like to thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of life and we would like to thank the legislators who originally voted in favor of this important act and those legislators who supported the override.
This new law affords protection to the lives of many innocent unborn children. It also respects the dignity of women.
Thank you again for your support and efforts on behalf of the unborn. May God bless you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis
Bishop of Charlotte
The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge
Bishop of Raleigh
Michael Voris video "No Kidding!" is a sobering reminder that the culture of contraception has led to the culture of abortion, and that culture is now leading to a culture of disgust and disdain for children in general. Apparently to the worshippers of goddess Gaia and the believers in Anthropogenic Global Warming, children are emitters of green house gases and thus destructive of the planet's ecosystem. This is simply so incredible that it dwarfs anything George Orwell foresaw in his novel, 1984. I suspect it won't be long before children are murdered under full consent and encouragement of the State. People may say that cannot happen here in these United States, yet this kind of disbelief existed when Hitler took power: "He won't do that - the Reichstag will hold him in check." Whether Caligula, Robespierre, Hilter or Obama, these people are always the same.
While I was on vacation this last week, Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV issued the following video about the problems with certain renegade, apostate clergy in the Catholic Church:
Coincidentally Tom Peters of the American Papist blog site had another article about the support that Bishop Hubbard (the head of the USCCB's Social Justice arm) of Albany, NY renders to unrepentant, active homosexuals:
As Mr. Peters describes in his blog post, this is the same bishop who authorized the distribution of injection needles to Albany's population of heroin users last year, and the same bishop who gave a rousing homily for pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion Andy Cuomo at his Gubernatorial Inaugural Mass while he sat beside his co-habitating concubine Sandra Lee. Of course Bishop Hubbard distributed Holy Communion to them. This alone sabotaged every effort that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of NYC tried to make to persuade Governor Cuomo NOT to sign the gay marriage bill in the NY State Legislature into law.
So when Michael Voris comes out with a video about apostate, renegade clergy, one may rely on the truth with which he speaks. Bishop Hubbard's apparent support of the homosexual agenda is simply another example of the sad continuation away from the Gospel of conversion and repentance. The quote cited by Michael Voris from Ezekiel 34:2-4 is ever so appropriate:
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, in these words prophesy to them (to the shepherds): Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.
It is no wonder that many people leave the Catholic Church for Baptist or Pentecostal denominations - the sheep need to be fed. In Matthew 3:7-12, St. John the Baptist spoke quite correctly about shepherds of his day who failed in their duties, and his words are equally applicable today:
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
The following excerpt on nuclear energy for electricity in italics below is copied from Archbishop Chullikatt's Address on the Nuclear Question at the Zenit News Agency. The bottom line is this: when man worships the work of his hands, then he commits idolatry and God's response will be the same as it was at the Tower of Babel. While I certainly support nuclear energy as the best means of generating electricity, the Archbishop is correct when he states that the nuclear renaissance could (and will) be reduced to an illusion without a cultural and moral renaissance. That means no abortion, no homosexual marriage, no contraception, no murder, no thievery, no lying, and no idolatry. Until we repent, no amount of nuclear energy can save us, and if we fail to repent, then our wickedness will inevitably result in more nuclear mishaps. Why? Because an immoral and idolatrous people are inherently incapable of putting safety and security first, that's why.
The recent experience in Fukishima, Japan, has refocused attention on the inherent dangers and indiscriminate nature of radiation. As a founding Member State of the IAEA, the Holy See actively participated last week in the IAEA Ministerial Conference on nuclear security which took place in Vienna, Austria. The concerns and observations made there by the Holy See bear repeating.
Is it legitimate to construct or to maintain operational nuclear reactors on territories that are exposed to serious seismic risks? Does nuclear fission technology, or the construction of new atomic power plants, or the continued operation of existing ones exclude human error in its phases of design, normal and emergency operation?
Besides the above questions, there are others concerning political will, technical capacity and necessary finances in order to proceed to the dismantling of old nuclear reactors and the handling of radioactive material or waste. With regard to standards of safety and security, the Holy See asks: Are States willing to adopt new safety and security standards? If so, who will monitor them? However, one fact remains: without transparency, safety and security cannot be pursued with absolute diligence.
Understanding that enhanced safety standards are only part of the solution, the Holy See also observed that threats to security come from attitudes and actions hostile to human nature. It is, therefore, on the human level that one must act – on the cultural and ethical level.... What is absolutely necessary are programs of formation for the diffusion of a "culture of safety and security" both in the nuclear sector and in the public conscience in general.... Security depends upon the State, but also on the sense of responsibility of each person....
As a result of the nuclear crisis in Fukishima, one point emerges with ever greater clarity. A shared and co-responsible management of nuclear research and safety and security, of energy and water supplies and of the environmental protection of the planet call for one or more international authorities with true and effective powers.
The nuclear sector can represent a great opportunity for the future. This explains the "nuclear renaissance" at the world level. This renaissance seems to offer horizons of development and prosperity. At the same time, it could be reduced to an illusion without a "cultural and moral renaissance." Energy policies are to be viewed in the perspective of the "integral development of the human being" (Declaration on the Right to Development of 1986, 5), which includes not only material development, but, above all, the cultural and moral development of each and every person and of all peoples. All are involved in this ambitious and indispensable project, both inside and outside of the nuclear and energy sector, both in the public and private sector, and both on a governmental and non-governmental level. In this way, a common commitment to security and peace will lead not only to a just distribution of the earth's resources, but above all to the building of a "social and international order in which the rights and freedoms" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 28) of all human persons can be fully realized.
As terrible as the Fukishima disaster has been - let us not forget what happened in Chernobyl in 1986 - its impact would be dwarfed by the effects of a nuclear weapon explosion, which may account for Germany having decided just recently to close all of its nuclear reactors by 2022. So, the Church's condemnation of any use of nuclear weapons remains as unequivocal today as it was nearly 50 years ago when the Second Vatican Council expressed that condemnation so clearly.
Your blog meister here at Commentarius de Prognosticis is on vacation, visiting his children. Please accept my apologies. Regular commentary on the state of the Church and the Nation will return within a week. In the meantime, pray for:
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI
Our Bishops, Priests, and Deacons
Our President, Congress and Supreme Court Justices
Our Governors, State Legislatures, City Executives and Councils, and State and City Judges
Their failures in pulpit and political office are because we do not pray enough. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Indeed, they all are in dire need of spiritual guidance and direction, and if they lack that, then that is because of our failure to bend our knees before the Throne of Grace.
Pray as though your life depends on it, because really, your life does depend on it (mine too, of course).
As Michael Voris points out in yesterday's video, Society of the Damned, the one point of the Doctrine of the Faith that is rarely if ever discussed in Church nowadays is that of Hell. So let us review what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say in articles 1033 through 1037 about what modernist clergy are to afraid to preach on:
1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."
1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna," of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"
1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.
1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."
1037 God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":
Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.
A friend on Facebook with whom I had once worked at a pressurized water reactor sometime ago made the following observation today:
I was going to complain about how hot it is, then I realized, it isn't 109 degrees, I'm not 5,700 miles from home, I'm not dressed in full BTU uniform and helmet, and carrying 70+ lbs of gear, and there is very little chance that anyone will shoot at me or that I might drive over a bomb in the road today! Thanks to all who serve!! Repost so they all know how thankful we are for our freedom!
Around May of last year I posted a few entries on how the Knights of Columbus simply won't deal with pro-abortion, pro-homosexual "marriage" politicians who are Knights. Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV discusses this sad situation again:
Apparently the government-permitted business of insurance (actually, the resulting profits - Supreme Knight Carl Anderson makes more than $1.2 million per year according to Mr. Voris) is more important to the national leadership of the Knights of Columbus than standing up to politicians who support the bloody murder of the unborn and the filthy perversion of homosexual "marriage." The only way to stem the tide of godless liberalism and progressivism in the Church is to abandon the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price, and return to the true Gospel of repentance and conversion. And to all those who want to turn the Church into some sort of social service agency, that's NOT what Jesus said in John 6:24-27. He told us NOT to seek the bread that perishes, but the Bread of eternal life. The Gospel is NOT about filled bellies; it's about saving souls from sin, a fact that the national leadership of the Knights of Columbus would do well to recall.
Just this evening some homosexual pervert came to the comment boxes of two entries at this blog site, decrying the Church for not feeding the poor (a false accusation) and interfering in the political life of the nation (the US is still a Constitutional Republic where the authority of the State over the Church is limited, and the Church may participate in the public square). This pervert's whole argument is that the Church should serve the needs of the poor and nothing else. He forgets this is the exact same argument used by Judas Iscariot in the event recorded in John 12:4-8.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
The betrayer of Jesus is the quintessential liberal progressive Democrat who never cares one iota for the poor and always steals the revenue from the public coffers. Unfortunately, the national leadership of the Knights of Columbus places the insurance money ahead of dealing with such betrayers within its midst. I'll say again: one cannot be a member of the Democratic Party and be authentically Catholic, let alone a Knight. One may be Republican (which is increasingly hard to do) or Constitutionalist, but one cannot be Democrat. Furthermore, Jesus' Kingdom is NOT of this world. Our allegiance belongs NOT to Caesar (or insurance profit), but to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The parent company of Fox News — News Corp. — paid the U.S. government $4.8 billion in taxes over the last four tax years (2007-2010).
GE, which owned most of MSNBC until late last year, paid zero taxes in 2010.
In fact, GE received a $3.2 billion welfare check from Uncle Sam.
Think about this the next time you buy a GE product. By the way, how much of that $3.2 billion dollar corporate welfare check went to the GE-Hitachi part of General Electric to build a new ABWR or ESBWR nuclear power plant? ZERO! And why is that? Because to do so would create real wealth and that is not in the interests of either Jeff Immelt (GEO CEO) or Barack Hussein Obama, both supporters of the murder of the unborn and the filth of homosexual sodomy. Unless they repent, God has a special place for people like that. To save their souls, let us pray that they repent.
Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV again hits a home run in his latest video, Little by Little. A small town clerk in NY State, by virtue of religious conscience, cannot sign homosexual "marriage" certificates, so Governor Andy Cuomo declares that no one gets to support one law in the State and not another; thus, the offending clerk must leave. At the same time, his buddy in the Oval Office, that godless man of sin Barack Hussein Obama, refuses to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act because it is contrary to his belief in the filth of homosexual "marriage."
Democrats always want to have things both ways. They are incapable of behaving with integrity and acting consistent with principle, unless that principle is sexual depravity (homosexuality) and bloody murder (abortion). In the meantime an innocent woman loses her job because she must choose between Caesar and Christ in a nation that had been founded on Christian principles.
The next presentation from the Black SheepDog is described within his most recent post Onward! He promises to cover in four segments:
1. The Dark Origins of Abortion
2. Roe vs. Wade: What Were They Thinking?
3. The Social and Political Fallout of Abortion
4. Hope for the Future: Is There Any?
I will post web links to these presentations as they become available. Some may question me for doing that, given the controversy between SOLT and the Black SheepDog. I have said what needed to be said on that controversy. I am now interested in hearing or seeing these future presentations. If the reader is not interested or thinks I violate some sort of standard protocol, then the reader is free to ignore such posts.
Regardless of the imperfections of the Black SheepDog and the questionable tactics used by SOLT in this situation, it is more important now for us to defeat that godless man of sin in the Oval Office than to fight amongst ourselves over this scandal.
The Pro-Life Corner web site reports, "Last year seven Catholic Priests gathered around the Rockford abortion mill and prayed prayers of exorcism. On that day two mothers choose life; the number of abortions fell by two thirds, and the abortion mill landlord was so unsettled that he stayed outside his abortion mill while the Priests were praying. This year the powers that be inside the mill were taking no chances. Instead of trying to remain open in the face of such spiritual power, they found it easier to close their doors for the day." The full article may be found at the hyperlinked texted below:
From this article I am convinced that the one sure-fire way to defeat the godless liberal progressive Democrats in November of 2012 to have qualified priests pray the prayers of exorcism. Without a doubt the Democratic Party, with its promotion of the infanticide of the unborn and the sanctification of homosexual filth, is thoroughly infiltrated by demonic spirits and controlled by their king, Satan. To ensure successful remove of his minion of darkness, depravity and murder from the Oval Office, the Rite of Exorcism should be performed. Jesus Christ promised that the gates of hell shall NOT prevail against His Church.
We are not priests qualified to engage in the Rite of Exorcism, but we can pray to end the Devil's domination in the country:
Sáncte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in proélio, cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium. Ímperet ílli Déus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Ámen
The Vatican News Agency reports "Archbishop Chaput to lead Philadelphia Archdiocese." The Archbishop headed the Archdiocese of Denver before this appointment. He is orthodox, conservative, and intolerant of abortion and gay marriage. This should send the Philadelphia Democrats who call themselves Catholic into fits of apoplexy. I couldn't be happier.
"No faithful Catholic can cast a vote for Obama. Despite the support he has among liberal Catholic laity, priests and bishops, he advances a a social agenda totally contrary to Catholic Church teaching on intrinsic evils."
Barack Hussein Obama is by far the worst man to yet occupy the White House. From his support for abortion and the filth of homosexual marriage to his failed Marxist economic policies, he has shown us the fruits of his labor. To be liberal or progressive or Democratic is to support this godless man of sin. How otherwise reasonably intelligent and well educated people cannot see this is beyond credulity. One can only suspect that it is Satan who coats the lenses of their eyes and filters the sound into their ears, for Obama's ascendency is nothing if not demonic.
Last Thursday, the 14th of July, was the anniversary of Bastille Day, the official beginning of the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were murdered, and thousands of Roman Catholic priests and bishops martyred for the Faith. This was when modern atheism and liberal democracy first threatened the Church, and its cry of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" has many parallels with the liberal democracy that has grown roots in these United States.
In our educational system we are programmed to think the French Revolution was a good thing. It was not. French national debt spiralled out of control (just as the US debt of today spirals out of control). Tens if not hundreds of thousands were heinously murdered at the guillotine or otherwise imprisoned in horrid, squalid conditions (just as 60 million unborn babies have been murdered in the US since the Roe v Wade decision in 1972). Christians were harassed and denied the right to worship back then (and those days will return as devout Christian clergy refuse to marry filthy, perverted homosexuals). The Feast of Nature was observed in August and the Cult of Reason was celebrated at Paris' Civic Temple, formerly the Cathedral of Notre Dame - how like today's neo-pagan society that elevates environmentalism to godhead and science to divinity. Regulation of marriages were taken over by the State just as today the State negates Christian marriage by sanctifying godless homosexual marriage. The days of the week were changed from seven to ten and the weeks of the month from four to three for no other reason than to prevent the celebration of Christian Holy Days such as Christmas and Easter. This is much as it is today where Christmas is "Xmas", a day for shopping binges, and Easter is Happy Bunny Rabbit Day where the President of these United States can't be bothered to recognize this nation's Christian heritage while he makes obeisance to any Muslim holiday he can.
What brought all these things to mind was at article at the Catholic Education Resource Center by George C. Marlin entitled, The French Revolution and the Church. The French Revolution is an extreme example of atheism and liberal democracy out of control. And the only difference between its hero, Maximilien Robespierre, and Barack Hussein Obama is that Obama hasn't yet broken out the guillotine (though he does authroize baby-murdering with nary a thought). But the parallel remains: America's liberal progressive Democrats will not stop till they have repeated every single thing that the French revolutionaries acheived in murder and mayhem. And just as the French Revolution ended in unyielding dictatorship, so will today's social revolution of the liberal progressive Democrats.
Dialogue does not and cannot work with today's liberal progressive Democrats just as it didn't and couldn't work with Robespierre's demonic hordes of blood and perversion. But as the writer of the aforementioned essay concludes, "The French ideologues learned, as did their barbaric heirs in the twentieth century, that every effort to destroy the Church and eliminate the faithful fails. As Christ Himself promised: 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'"
There is only one place for liberalism and that is exactly where it will eventually be consigned.
Just left click your mouse cursor on the aforementioned hyperlinked text. Now first, the ICCEC has nothing to do with the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). Unlike the ECUSA with its "ordination" of female priests and bishops, and its sanctification of homosexual "unions", the ICCEC is rather orthodox and quite Catholic in most of its teachings and beliefs. I state that as a compliment to the ICCEC and I have nothing but respect for those of its clergy, scholars and laity whom I have met.
That being said, what brings up the topic of infant baptism is another visit to this blog site by a Baptist Successionist denying the consistent practice of Sacred Scripture and 2000 years of Sacred Tradition in baptizing infants into the New Covenant just as God commanded Abraham to circumcise eight day old infants into the Old Covenant. Patriarch Bates does a much better job in explaining this than I can, and points out that even the so-called Reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther practiced infant baptism, NOT a "baptism of believers" that began with the Anabaptist heresy in the 1500s and continues to this day among our separated Evangelical brethren. So please do take the time to read Patriarch Bates' insightful essay; it will provide the information that is often needed when a Baptist or Pentecostal confronts one with objections to this millennial-old very Catholic practice of the Faithful. In circumstances like this, I have found that it isn't that certain (not all) Baptists or Pentecostals have valid arguments against infant baptism, but rather an ingrained prejudice against anything that seems even remotely Catholic. That is sad, because if they actually understood what the Catholic Faith is all about, then they would find that they have so much more in common with devout, traditional Catholics than they do with certain Protestant Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Methodists whose parent denominations have often embraced abortion and homosexual marriage in direct contravention with Sacred Scripture.
I have decided to delete most of this post because there really isn't anything wrong with Cardinals dancing at an SOLT parish festival. As many already know who having been following the Corapi-SOLT situation, The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT for short) is holding its General Assembly from July 4th to the 23rd. There is now a recent entry part way down the SOLT home web page entitled:
In this entry a photograph is provided, ostensibly of clerics in apparent procession dancing to a song being played on a flute by Fr. Tony Blout (who is newly elected to the SOLT General Priest Council) and sung by the congregation.
Initially I thought this was a Mass procession. I have since been been corrected, and accused of calumny and distraction. So let the reader judge for himself.
Did Fr. Corapi do wrong things? Being a human being, yes, he did.
And are Cardinals dancing at an SOLT festival (however unrelated it is)? At least one is dancing, but I've been assured it's harmless and I am the one guilty of calumny.
George Weigel at National Review Online has written a great article entitled, No Homophobia, on the absurdity of State-sponsored homosexual marriage and its spiritual forerunner in the former USSR's civil marriage scheme. Please left click your mouse cursor on the aforementioned hyperlinked text to read this very relevant and timely essay. We are progressing ever more rapidly to become what we once feared the most: the Soviet Union. I predict that this time the Satanic supporters of sexual immorality will surrender neither abortion nor gay marriage without bloodshed and civil war (which I neither support nor advocate). There will sadly be Christian martyrs because the liberal left cannot stand to be told that the eternal fires of hell await the unrepentent, but the eternal bliss of Heaven awaits the repentent.
Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV offers two important videos on homosexuality. One video, entitled Homosexual Adoption, describes how the filth of homosexual behavior injures and demeans children just as the "right to chose" of abortion murders them. As a side note, I have never been able to understand why all the liberal decry the Catholic Church for a underwhelming minority of priests who are homosexual pedophiles; after all, these men are simply doing what liberal progressive Democrats want legalized. And now with gay marriage in New York, children can be adopted into "gay families" of pedophiles.
The other video, entitled A Real 'Gay' Man, describes how a homosexual can actually be a chaste and holy man of God, refusing to surrender to the Satanic temptations of sexual perversion. And it is this very kind of man for whom the liberal progressive left has the most hatred.
Now some will object to me picking on Democrats. But that's the political party advancing the genocide of the unborn through the "right to choose" and the spread of AIDS through "homosexual marriage." Here's the thing. These Democrats say they believe in science and logic. Yet they (hetero and homosexual) can't manage to keep their pants zipped up. Like mindless baboons, they want it legal to rut in heat and not have to take any responsibility for the consequences. And if a baby is involved, their choice is to murder the infant because they aren't ready for a baby (but they sure as heck were ready to wallow in fornication and adultery or homosexual filth). Then they say that Christians are anti-science for affirming what is a physical fact: heterosexual intercourse means a Mommy and a Daddy and babies, and homosexual intercourse means performing an activity with one's genitals for which they were not designed. In the case of the former, they murder children. In the case of the latter, they teach what children escaped abortion to be the filthy perverts that they themselves are.
Now Republicans are hardly guiltless in this, for we have pro-abortion RINOs like Rudy Guiliani and George Pataki, both pseudo-Catholics whom their Bishops should reign in as St. Paul did to Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1st Timothy 1:19-20. But this whole free-fall promotion of baby murdering and sexual perversion comes from the godless Democrat Party, the pseudo-Catholic politicians who command it (Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, etc.), and the apostate Catholic Bishops who aid and abet it. So when I read someone say that he is proud to be a Democrat (at a pro-nuclear power blog site), and these things have been demonstrated to him, then it must be concluded that he is willingly submissive to his chosen master and that master isn't God.
Lastly, let's be clear about one thing. No homosexual deserves to be harrassed, mistreated, denied work or medical care, or otherwise demeaned or defamed simply because his "orientation" is homosexual. Furthermore, it is possible to remain celibate when a man choses not to marry a woman, or a woman a man. But if a man wants to put his genitals into another man's orifice (or a woman do with another woman wicked, unseemly things) regardless of what God has to say about that, then let him (or her) go back into the closet with his (or her) "partner" where he (or she) belongs and stop polluting society with his (or her) dirty, filthy, disease spreading "life style", and infecting children with sexual idolatry. And to the active homosexual or abortionist, and to any godless liberal progressive Democrat (or RINO), don't tell me that you revere science and reason when you can't even control what you do with your genitals. What are you? A baboon?
I am most assuredly pro-nuclear power, but remain opposed to using the junk science of anthropogenic global warming merely to promote my favorite source of generating electricity. Such integrity, however, is apparently beyond the ability of the "really cool" sun glass wearing blog meister at Atomic Insights to understand, let alone emulate, in his July 5th post entitled, "Green Nukes" – Important Climate Change Mitigation Tools. But I would expect nothing less out of a liberal, progressive Democrat to whose kind the end always justifies the means and objective truth is non-existent. Thus does Dr. Pournelle at his Chaos Manor web site raise very important objections to the fiction of anthropogenic global warming in his July 16th post entitled, Energy, Global Warming, and Data Accuracy Mail 20110716-1. The following graph is enough to dispel the false notion of man-made global warming:
As the reader can easily see, arctic air temperature deviation generally follows solar irradiance, and has remained independent of the billions of metric tons of fossil fuel that have been burned for energy, particularly since about 1940 or so. Now this doesn't mean that we should use the atmosphere as our sewer by continuing to burn fossil fuel. Rather, what it means is that bloggers like the one at Atomic Insights should have a little more scientific and moral integrity instead of jumping onto the atheist humanist bandwagon of anthropogenic global warming. He is correct that nuclear energy is superior to fossil energy. He is dishonest in using anthropogenic global warming to advance that tenet. But by his own admission he is a liberal progressive Democrat, and he does precisely what I would always expect a liberal progressive Democrat to do.
One other thing needs to be explained: Earth is NOT a goddess. In fact, there is NO goddess Gaia and there is NO "Mother Nature". The Lord God outside of time and space, matter and energy created all the universe, including Earth, over which He gave man dominion (i.e., stewardship). Earth and its resources are for us to husband with care, consideration and loving kindness for the benefit of humanity. Furthermore, there is enough uranium and thorium on this planet to fuel a population of nine, perhaps even twelve billion people at the consumption level of the average American for tens if not hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of years into the future. We do NOT have an overpopulation problem. We do NOT have a energy crisis problem. We have a SIN problem that includes greed ("I don't want children because they interfere with my life style"), murder ("it's my body and I'll do what I want with it") and sexual filth ("I'm hurting no one with my gay sex"). No amount of nuclear energy will therefore help us as long as we refuse to repent of our wickedness, idolatry and sexual promiscuity. Indeed, as long as we vote for men of evil like Barack Hussein Obama, we can expect God to keep His holy hand of protection removed from us while we choke on the fumes of fossil fuel energy while climbing out of the rubble of cities and towns hit by earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes and war. This isn't anthropogenic global warming. This is what we reap from the whirlwind of sin and disobedience - the death and destruction that we have sown from our prideful rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He doesn't cause these things to happen. Rather, because we reject Him, He (being a "Gentle-Man") removes His hand of protection. He knows when He is not wanted.
I met this handsome fellow over Christmas vacation at the end of 2010. My sister lives in the same area as he, whereas I live down south, so she sent me this photograph which I now share with you the reader. I wish I could wrap my arms around his great big neck and give him a great big hug again. He never lied to me. He never turned his back on me (except to eat from his feed pail). He never rejected me. And he sure as heck hasn't got a liberal bone in his body! But he does love to roll in the dirt. Yet unlike our politicians, he rolls in clean dirt.
Since March many negative things have been written about Fr. Corapi on the Catholic blogosphere and even here at this blog site. The truth is that we cannot judge Fr. Corapi. Yes, he is a mortal man and like all mortal men, has done wrong. Who among us hasn't? Yes, as a priest he should be held to a higher standard, and God will indeed hold him to such a standard. But his preaching as a priest has been ultra-orthodox and that alone made him hated by the liberal progressive pseudo-Catholic Democrats controlling far too many parish councils and rectories, and far too many diocesan chanceries in these United States. Yes, Fr. Corapi was given to much story-telling and perhaps too much "poetic license" (as it were) in his preaching. But he always taught the Truth. Thus, I want to remember Fr. Corapi as God's man on the firing line who stood as a real man when too many of the rest were wringing their hands and spouting nonsense about the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price.
Did Fr. Corapi have a slip and drink or drug again, just as that DWI report from Sacramento, CA in November, 1999 indicated? Maybe, and it is only by God's grace that I didn't. Did Fr. Corapi commit a sexual indiscretion (or multiple indiscretions)? Maybe, but we don't know for certain. King David certainly did and he was a man after God's own heart. King Solomon also slipped in this way, yet gave us the Book of Ecclesiastes at the end of his life to tell us the futility of such a style of life. Does Fr. Corapi have a great deal of wealth? It seems that way, and thus do the sharks and alligators come out of sea and swamp respectively to take from him what he has left.
I think we need some perspective here. Fr. Corapi is a good man, and like all good men, he isn't evil but he is awfully imperfect. Furthermore, more than most other men he has openly and unabashedly faced the corruption in the Church and thus incurred the wrath of many highly placed people who don't like their godless liberal apostasy and heresy dragged out into the open for all to see. He preached the message few are ever willing to hear: repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Yes, while I recognize that Fr. Corapi has every intention of making a buck or two off his latest endeavor - the Black Sheepdog moniker - I am convinced (black Harley Davidson jacket, false orange tan and black dyed goatee notwithstanding) that he does NOT intend evil, but good. We can debate whether or not good will result, and time will certainly tell. But even if all the accusations against Fr. Corapi were true, the one thing I still admire the most about him is that he isn't backing down to either effeminate clergy incapable of real manliness or liberal progressive Democrat nit wits who call themselves Catholic while denying the doctrine and dogma of the Faith once delivered unto the Saints.
I don't agree with the direction Fr. Corapi is taking, but it pleases me no end that he has aroused such discomfort among the liberal progressive pseudo-Catholics. So I am going to pray for him, and for the utter, total and complete defeat of liberal progressive humanism both within and without the Church - hence his new battle cry: "ONWARD!"
Apparently the Northeast, like California, is overrun by godless liberalism because parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston openly support the filth of homosexual sodomy. Please watch Michael Voris latest video, Going Nuts in Beantown. Truthfully, I just cannot understand why the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley and his priests lend credence to the rainbow agenda of the homosexual perverts. These sexual deviants are evil and to support them is to support their evil.
Without stating what Fr. Corapi's current condition is (we really don't know that), from what I have seen over the past two and half decades, two things are absolutely indispensable to attaining and retaining quality sobriety: both Alcoholics Anonymous, and the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. When one is a very sick person, then one needs all the help that one can get. And whenever one neglects either of those things, then one is on his or her way to a S-L-I-P: Sobriety Losing Its Priority. Here is a very simple rule:
A Catholic who is an alcoholic CANNOT attain the authentic spirituality within the Church without AA,
NOR can he or she keep sober in AA without the authentic spirituality of the Church.
Sooner or later the Catholic who is alcoholic and who does NOT go to AA meetings WILL almost inevitably drink or drug again, just as a Catholic who is alcoholic and who does not avail himself or herself of the Sacraments within the Church will lose mental and emotional sobriety (if not already lost), and we know where that leads. "Our sobriety is a daily reprieve contingent on our spiritual condition," as it says in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The situation is NOT an "either / or"; the situation is a "both / and".
I subscribe to Google Analytics which allows me to monitor places in the country from which visits are made to my blog site. It will not give me the identity of the visitor, but it will tell me the approximate location to within a city, town or village. So imagine my surprise when:
(1) I discovered 13 visits from Kalispell, Montana since March 11th, the approximate time that the scandal over Fr. Corapi broke in the news, and
(2) A simple Google search reveals that this is the location where Fr. Corapi apparently lives, at least according to:
Now maybe Fr. Corapi really doesn't live there, or maybe others at that location are doing the monitoring. Indeed, my blog site is not important enough to merit a look-see by such a reknown priest as Fr. Corapi, yet this circumstantial evidence would seem to indicate otherwise. If that is the case, then this is a more serious scandal.
May the Lord protect and help Fr. Corapi, and return him to the priesthood where he belongs. And may the Lord work a miracle in SOLT and the Diocese of Corpus Christi to purge them both of the putrid sickness of Ecclesial corruption.
In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devasted Japan this past March, the US NRC set up a Japan Task Force to address the resulting destruction of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
The report delineates the following eleven recommendations for implementation at US nuclear power facilities:
Requiring plants to reevaluate and upgrade as necessary their design-basis seismic and flooding protection of structures, systems and components for each operating reactor and reconfirm that design basis every 10 years;
Strengthening Station Black Out (SBO) mitigation capability for existing and new reactors for design-basis and beyond-design-basis natural events – such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or tsunamis – with a rule to set minimum coping time without offsite or onsite AC power at 8 hours; establishing equipment, procedures and training to keep the core and spent fuel pool cool at least 72 hours; and preplanning and pre-staging offsite resources to be delivered to the site to support uninterrupted core and pool cooling and coolant system and containment integrity as needed;
Requiring that facility emergency plans address prolonged station blackouts and events involving multiple reactors;
Requiring additional instrumentation and seismically protected systems to provide additional cooling water to spent fuel pools if necessary; and requiring at least one system of electrical power to operate spent fuel pool instrumentation and pumps at all times. The Task Force noted it will take some time for a full understanding of the sequence of events and condition of the spent fuel pools. The report said based on information available to date the two most cogent insights related to the availability of pool instrumentation and the plant’s capability for cooling and water inventory management;
Requiring reliable hardened vent designs in boiling water reactors (BWRs) with Mark I and Mark II containments;
Strengthening and integrating onsite emergency response capabilities such as emergency operating procedures, severe accident management guidelines and extensive damage mitigation guidelines;
Identifying, as part of the longer term review, insights about hydrogen control and mitigation inside containment or in other buildings as more is learned about the Fukushima accident;
Evaluating, as part of the longer term review, potential enhancements to prevent or mitigate seismically induced fires or floods;
Pursuing, as part of the longer term review, additional emergency preparedness topics related to SBO and multiunit events;
Pursuing, as part of the longer term review, emergency preparedness topics on decision making, radiation monitoring and public education;
Strengthened regulatory oversight of plant safety performance – the NRC’s Reactor Oversight Process by which plants are monitored on a daily basis – by focusing more attention on defense-in-depth requirements.
Contraception is the Cause for the decline of Western Civilization, as Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV points out this evening. Here is the way it works. No human being has the authority to decide when life starts and when life ends. That authority resides with God Almighty alone. And anytime we usurp God's authority, then we can expect the inevitable: death and hell. Let us recall now the account of what transpired in the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3:1-7:
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Contraception is that forbidden fruit. It is the power to decide whether or not to create new life in the sexual act. It divorces the procreative from the unitive aspect within sexual intercourse. It makes sexual intercourse something that gives fun without responsibility or accountability. It reduces sexual intercourse to a drug like heroin, cocaine or alcohol. It empowers man to think he that "will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." For this reason does Genesis 3:22-24 state:
Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Now with modern science and technology we can not only prevent conception while allowing sexual intercourse, we can genetically modify ourselves, and we can clone ourselves. What is even worse is what Michael Voris points out: if sexual intercourse is all about feeling good and not about procreation, then what is wrong with homosexual behavior? In fact, what is wrong with one husband and two wives, or one wife and two husbands, or multiple wives and husbands? And if man has the power of God to start and prevent new life in whatever fashion he chooses, then why should man not have the power to stop life in whatever manner he chooses?
One may excuse the Protestants for believing that contraception is acceptable. After all, they inherit through no fault of their own the false reasoning implicit in the heresy of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwigli, John Smythe, John Knox, and all the rest. But there is NO excuse for a Roman Catholic.
This is very, very basic. We are human beings, NOT God. We have NO right to decide to start or stop life. (I am not going to here deal with the exception of the authority that God gave the State in Romans 13:1-7 - that is an entirely different issue.) If we engage in sexual intercourse, then we should expect the inevitable: new life. If we don't want to create new life, then we must abstain from sexual intercourse. As I have repeatedly asked on previous occasions, what are we? Wild, non-sentient baboons given to the lust of moment, unable to use our God-given brains to control our passions that we simply have got to "get our rocks off" and not take any responsibility? That sounds exactly like drug addiction and alcohol-ISM - the I, Self and Me of Satan's temptation: "You will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."
What is even more ironic is that the very people who support contraceptive sex are those who revel in man's knowledge, placing science and technology on the pedestal of divinity, but unable themselves to use the powers of reasoning (that they say they revere) to control their lustful passions. They would rather act like baboons. They just can't keep their pants zipped. They are unable (or more likely, unwilling) to use their God-given brains to master their emotions. Then they tell us science and reason will answer all our problems, and Christians are the unreasonable ones. Reason says, however, that if we divorce the procreative from the unitive aspect within the conjugal act, then we will destroy the family and from that our society, and no amount of science, technology or engineering will be able to save us.
Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand - and its arrival "ain't a'gonna be pretty."
SOLT in conjunction with the Diocese of Corpus Christi has just shelled out 1.96 million dollars to a young man who a priest in SOLT raped and then contracted a murder on. Bishop Mulvey then conveniently receives a letter of accusation of everything from sex to drugs - from a pair of down on their luck losers, who for two years were quietly content to live off the departure money they accepted -who are now in financial straits, whose very house is about to be foreclosed while the head of SOLT then orders Father Corapi to "come home" and give his fortune and be a good little priest. It's inexplicable. It's improbable. It's unbelievable. There is something in this for everyone except Father Corapi and we have not seen one shred of evidence to back up SOLT's nameless investigation trio's sweeping claims. Father John has done nothing but maintain his innocence and told the people who have been touched by his ministry to be faithful to the church and to follow Jesus Christ. Frankly, if I were Father, I would tell Mulvey and Sheehan to go climb a tree.
As I replied:
Both SOLT and Fr. Corapi are in questionable straits right now. When a robber robs a robber, a robbery has still taken place. SOLT let Fr. Corapi have free reign for years because of all the money he brought in. Now SOLT has every reason to get its hands on the rest of Fr. Corapi's money. This doesn't mean Fr. Corapi isn't guilty of the charges levied against him (nor does it constitute confirmation). But something certainly stinks in Denmark. Before this is all over we'll see feces on both sides of the issue.
The love of money is the root of all evil - St. Paul penned those words as I recall.
Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV is quite prophetic tonight: The Coming Persecution. "When the faith is weakened to such a point that a majority of Catholics willingly surrender it...then history tells us that persecution isn't that far behind." In 2005, Archbishop Raymond Burke warned about this:
The godless liberal progressive Democrats will not rest until there is full-scale civil war, and we will see martyrdom as it has never been seen before in this country. Jesus Himself said this in Matthew 24:9-13:
Then they will hand you over to persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. And then many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because of the increase of evildoing, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
Better for scandal to be borne than truth to suffer.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:26-27:
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
This is not the Fr. Corapi whose preaching I had fallen in love with. So at least for now I am going to stop reporting about him. I "hear" whispers through the internet about escapades with a former employee and with his physical trainer. I see with my own eyes how this is now purely a business to Fr. Corapi. I will therefore heed the advice with which he concludes his video: I shall follow Jesus Christ and His Church. I am not going to follow a man in a Harley Davidson jacket. Period. And I can't keep watching what Steve Ray at Defenders of the Catholic Faith has called "a slow motion train wreck." But I am going to Eucharistic Adoration tonight to pray for Fr. Corapi before the Blessed Sacrament. May the Lord have mercy.
I do not believe that an accuser (right or wrong) should be shielded by the cloak of anonymity and confidentiality when the accusation isn't something clearly criminal such as pedophilia, murder or theft. Shielding accusers is the road tread by Nazis and Communists alike as they poisoned Europe and Russia in the last century with their neighborhood watches for the good of the Party. Therefore, according to one commenter at the Free Republic:
“...I have recently lost my closest ally and co-worker in the history of my ministry. My God-daughter Tamra traveled well over a million miles with me, worked very hard, and enabled more than 300 events, often the only person working in my office and assisting me. Her husband Matt is mostly responsible for all of the videography and technological growth we have enjoyed. They are moving on to other things, and although my heart is broken at the loss, I can only wish them every blessing for the future. Their hard work and talent blessed millions of souls through the years. Sometimes it is brutally hard to go on, for all of us. Yet, time will go on with us or without us.”
30 posted on Friday, July 01, 2011 8:15:27 AM by iowamark
Accusers in cases like this that don't involve clear criminal conduct (e.g., pedophilia, murder, theft, etc.) who insist on hiding behind a cloak of secrecy often do so out of fear of being discovered as liars. Now I really don't know if the accuser is the person listed above or not, and I don't know if the accusation is correct or not. But evil can flourish only when the light doesn't shine on it, and a simple Google or Yahoo search on this person's name reveal all kinds of interesting links. So the reader is encouraged to do his or her own research.
My friend Catawissa Gazetteer reminds us tonight of the words of the Prophet Hosea, chapter 8, verses 1-8:
Let there be a trumpet in thy throat like an eagle upon the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and have violated my law. They shall call upon me: O my God, we, Israel, know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him.
They have reigned, but not by me: they have been princes, and I knew not: of their silver, and their gold they have made idols to themselves, that they might perish. Thy calf, O Samaria, is cast off, my wrath is kindled against them. How long will they be incapable of being cleansed?
For itself also is the invention of Israel: a workman made it, and it is no god: for the calf of Samaria shall be turned to spiders' webs. For they shall sow wind, and reap a whirlwind, there is no standing stalk in it, the bud shall yield no meal; end if it should yield, strangers shall eat it. Israel is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations like an unclean vessel.
Scandal and rebellion seized Israel and God turned its people over to the King of Assyria. The same happened to Judah and God turned its people over to the King of Babylon. As St. Paul writes in Romans 10:21:
For if God did not spare the natural branches, (perhaps) he will not spare you [or me] either.
Again, as Hebrews 10:31 states:
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Indeed, that particular debacle is but the tip of a mighty iceberg of filth and corruption (no, I am not accusing either Fr. Corapi or his adversaries, but am simply noting the obvious). I am reminded of what Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:8,
Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
I am going to answer in a simple, straight forward way what seem to me the main elements of the action taken against me by the Diocese of Corpus Christi and the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.
Regarding my personal financial situation—From the earliest days (more than twenty years ago) the Founder of the Society of Our Lady, Fr. James Flanagan, encouraged me to support myself and the Church as well. He said they could not afford to support my ministry and me personally because of the unique nature of the mission. At every step of the way, through the entire past twenty years, the Society of Our Lady’s leadership knew of my financial independence. As Fr. Flanagan encouraged, I have supported SOLT and myself from ‘day-one.‘ I have never relied on the Society for shelter, clothing, transportation, medical care, or legal counsel and instead, using my history of success in business, set up my mission as any savvy business man would, meanwhile continuing to support the Society and many other Catholic Charities.
Regarding the charge of sexual impropriety—This song of greed has been sung many times before. I have never had any promiscuous or even inappropriate relations with her. Never.
Regarding the investigation—As standard practice, my legal counsel advised me not to cooperate with the investigation until I was able to determine that the Commission’s process was fair and I had adequate rights to defend myself. Questions that certainly qualify the validity of any legal case have never been answered by the so called “fact finding team.” They refuse to reveal, and therefore utilize, any of the so-called evidence perhaps because if ‘the bad guy’ were truly revealed it may be revealed that he is really not that bad. Clearly, as my legal counsel has portrayed, the evidence supplied by the accused (of which my counsel is not permitted access to) must not have any substance.
Regarding ‘hush money’—I never paid anybody off to remain silent. On two occasions there were standard severance agreements executed with former employees and independent contractors. These agreements contained very common non-disclosure provisions. Any attorney who would not include such provisions in such agreements would rightly be guilty of negligent and actionable conduct.
Regarding my resignation—I resigned because the process used by the Church is grossly unjust, and, hence, immoral. I resigned because I had no chance from the beginning of a fair and just hearing. As I have indicated from the beginning of all this, I am not extinguished! If I were to commit to the suggestion of the Society, then I would essentially crawl under a rock and wait to die. However, I can not deny this desire to share aspects of Truth and Hope with all those willing to hear. This is what I shall continue to fight for! Many are not going to appreciate this decision, and I respect that. For those who can accept it, onward!
There are some folks out there who are still sticking up for John Corapi and saying that the charges have not been proven, that they may not be true, that he never took a vow of poverty, that SOLT superiors are jealous, that this is a freemason plot against Corapi, that this is a plot by the homosexuals against orthodox priests, that the Bishop and SOLT are trying to 'throw Corapi under a bus' etc. etc. etc.
Let me explain how the church works and why I believe the SOLT statement. First of all, the church authorities keep files on their clergy. Every complaint is filed away and not only kept, but kept private. It is kept private for all sorts of good reasons. First of all, no one should be convicted of wrong doing based on a private (and often anonymous complaint) Secondly, no one should be convicted of wrong doing simply because they might have fouled up and made a little mistake. Thirdly, wrong doing for a priest may not be criminal and while he might be a bad priest, he may not have done anything that bad. Catholics may lament what he's done, and he may have hurt people, but it may not be something he can be prosecuted for--or for that matter even disciplined by the church for.
When the church (and other authorities) keep these files they do so to keep an eye on things. Usually there is far more than meets the eye, and far more than they can disclose publicly for legal reasons and for reasons of discretion, fairness to the accused and the desire not to cause scandal and outrage amongst the faithful. I happen to know of several cases where the priest or religious were finally caught and brought to trial or disciplined by the church authorities and the thing they were disciplined for was only the tip of the iceberg. However, due to legal and disciplinary procedures, they were only tried on the particular case. People in the know, however, realized that the particular man had a great fat file back in the offices of all sorts of other complaints, hints, problems and red flags which on their own may not have been criminal or worth disciplining, but taken together made them know the man was guilty.
I knew an Anglican priest, for example, who worked as a spiritual director for private boarding schools. He used to turn up and stay overnight and enjoyed spending time with the boys when they were getting ready for bed, showering and changing. He would play tennis with them and shower with them afterward. Everybody knew that old Father so and so liked watching the boys get naked. There were complaints. He hung around the boys too much. People were uncomfortable. The files got fatter and the rumors were rampant. Still, hanging around boys changing at school isn't criminal. It's just not nice. Then he finally fell into further temptation and committed a sex act on a teenager. Then the police prosecuted. They questioned a friend of mine who knew the priest and said, "Father, believe us. We would not be prosecuting on just one accusation. We'd let the priest off with a warning. We're prosecuting because there are so many other stories and rumors and unsavory things happening,
However, they could not go public on any of the other stuff they had on him because it was circumstantial, rumors, complaints or simply not criminal even though it was creepy. I've known dioceses and schools and religious orders that have behaved like this too. They've kept the rumors and complaints under wraps because they honestly can't do much about it until the whole thing explodes. Once it does, they already know enough to take action.
To the public (who don't know all the details, and mustn't know all the details for the sake of fairness of procedure and the reputation of third parties) it sometimes seems like an accusation out of the blue, or an accusation of an innocent party. This is what happens, and if anything, the church has been guilty of holding off too long when there has been wrongdoing. She often did so for very good pastoral reasons, and then was accused of a cover up. Now perhaps the pendulum is swinging the other way and some people who are innocent are being accused.
That may be the case, but in Corapi's case there is just too much that is fishy for him to be innocent. His refusal to co operate with the investigation, his living on his own outside of community or church discipline, his payment of $100,000 to keep the woman (and other employees) quiet, his running a for profit enterprise that has brought him great wealth, his refusal to obey his religious superiors and most of all his public renunciation of his priestly ministry---all this is too much.
One can give the benefit of the doubt only so far. Still, this is not for me to condemn the man. My opinion is that he is guilty as charged, but if I am wrong and he is proved innocent then praise God and I'll eat humble pie. Even if I think he is guilty, I still feel compassion for him and remind myself and everyone that we are all sinners and let's offer up a prayer for him for he is our brother.
UPDATE: Some have asked why SOLT didn't rein in Fr Corapi years ago. Again, we don't know the facts, we don't know what went on behind closed doors. It is very possible that SOLT and the bishops had a file on John Corapi that was getting bigger and bigger every year, but that they really couldn't do very much. Everyone thinks that 'obedience' in the church is a cut and dried military sort of obedience. The religious superior or bishop says, "Jump" and his inferiors say "How high?". I'm afraid in today's church this just ain't so. Instead religious superiors and bishops favor 'consultation' and 'seek to do what is best for each person in their care.' This is admirable and probably pays off in the long run, but what we don't have is instant obedience and the ability to rein someone in if need be. This is especially true if the man in question is canny and aware of the battlefield and ready to fight for his 'rights' and position.
I know of a diocesan priest, for example, who is notoriously bad tempered. He is a bully and an autocrat. He is arbitrary in his judgments, rude and arrogant. He also lives high off the parish. He wields the parish credit card with incredible indulgence. The parish has bought him a posh rectory and he has all the luxuries he wants. Nobody reins him in because nobody can. He's smart enough that he does everything according to the rule book. He never breaks diocesan financial regulations, keeps track of everything, watches his back and says all the right things to all the right people. He's corrupt and venal and disagreeable and there ain't nothin' nobody can do about it. If the Bishop were to command this fellow to give up his big wealthy parish and move to Snotville he'd probably refuse to go and take his case all the way to Rome where (you guessed it) he has some buddies in the right office who will take care of him.
These are the realities and saying that SOLT should have reined in Fr Corapi years ago is easy to say, but hard to do.
"The Church is NOT a social or philanthropic organization." Those who treat it as such do incredible amounts of spiritual damage to souls. Just ask the Pope. See THE CHURCH: PEOPLE OF GOD, BODY OF CHRIST, COMMUNION. He is only repeating what Christ before him has already said:
When the crowd [5000 of whom Jesus had fed on the previous day from the five barley loaves and two fish] saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there [on the next day], they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." John 6:24-27
The Gospel is one of conversion and repentance, not social justice, the common good and peace at any price. Holiness and righteousness come first. Any of those who think otherwise are just like Judas Iscariot, their spiritual forefather:
Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. John 12:4-6
Thus we have liberal, progressive, pseudo-Catholic, Democratic Party apparatchiks consumed with the idolatry of social justice. They are liars, thieves and murderers just like their forefather before them.
BY NOW MOST OF YOU HAVE READ THE STATEMENT ISSUED TODAY BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE SOCIETY OF OUR LADY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY ON THE CASE OF FATHER JOHN CORAPI.
The statement seems to me to be nothing more or less than an effort by the SOLT leadership to ‘throw Father John Corapi under the bus.’ Maybe he deserves it, maybe he does not, I do not know. I have had no direct contact with Father Corapi in many years. But it seems to me that the issuing of the statement is an effort by the SOLT leadership to justify their own mishandling of his case from the beginning. It is a classic example of what psychologists call transference.
As I have previously pointed out, Father Corapi was not charged, as far as I can figure out, with a civil crime. Nor was he accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. Rather, his conduct which resulted in the accusatory letter sent by the woman seems to have been fostered by the lax leadership of SOLT itself. Even though he did not have a vow of poverty he was given freedom to acquire and use wealth which can in itself have a corrupting influence on anyone.
MY CHIEF COMPLAINT AGAINST BOTH THE CHANCERY OF THE DIOCESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI AND THE LEADERSHIP OF SOLT IS THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH IN MIND WHEN THEY ACTED PRECIPITOUSLY TO PUBLICLY SUSPEND FATHER CORAPI.
By rushing to publicly suspend him before any investigation of the facts had been done, these Church officials totally overlooked the impact of their actions on the tens of thousands of innocent people who have been brought into a closer relationship with Our Lord, Jesus Christ, through the TEACHING of Father Corapi. He did not seem to have any other form of ministry.
Instead of rushing to publicly suspend Father Corapi these people should have quietly launched an investigation into the accusations and, if they proved to be credible, they could have quietly removed him from active exercise of his public activities and then after further investigation determined whether or not to take more drastic canonical disciplinary action against him.
INSTEAD OF RUSHING TO PUNISH HIM PUBLICLY, they should have been concerned for the welfare of the thousands and thousands people who have either been brought to the faith or have had their faith strengthened by the man who, in spite of his having clay feet, had been an effective teacher of the Gospel.
THAT WAS MY CHIEF COMPLAINT AND THAT REMAINS MY CHIEF COMPLAINT.
I doubt that I will have much, if anything, further to say about the sad case of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity and Father John Corapi.
