The Deacon's Bench
A snip:
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.
UPDATE: The analysis has begun. Elizabeth Scalia is “conflicted,” but clearly underwhelmed. Meantime, Diane over at Te Deum notes that Corapi is declining to do what his superiors had ordered him to do, and she adds:
Over 2000 years ago, there was a Man who was subjected to the most grossly unjust, immoral process known to human kind. It was no accident that a lamb, as opposed to some other creature, would be chosen as a “type” for Christ. Only a lamb will go quietly to it’s death, in complete docility.
Docility is not something practiced by the guilty, but it can be when one’ sinfulness is understood and God’s mercy is sought. Docility is something that is best displayed in those who are innocently accused and persecuted when, after proclaiming their innocence to no avail, they accept the will of God and use the intense emotional pain as redemptive suffering (Col. 1:24). At the very heart of docility, is complete abandonment to God. One has to place their trust in God in such situations.
Mark Shea is more blunt:
I’d hoped he would man up, obey his superiors, and humble himself. Instead, he is choosing to drag this pathetic little Gotterdammerung out to the edge of boredom.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE II: Max Lindenman sums it up:
This is the essence of Corapi’s message: not “I’m through doing good,” but “I can do more good serving myself than I ever could by serving those chowderheads in SOLT.” This will fall flat with most Catholics — excepting those who have traced his problems back to Saul Alinsky — but as Corapi’s said himself, he belongs to the world now.
All things considered, it’s tempting to say the world can jolly well have him.
The Concord Pastor has a few thoughts on what this episode has done to the blogosphere. And Gerard Nadal strikes a compassionate note toward Corapi’s followers — many of whom are confused, angry and feeling understandably let down, if not betrayed.
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