Father John Corapi was just a smidgeon (and a very small smidgeon, at that) this side of Jesus to a lot of people.
I liked himself myself for quite a while. Then, one day, I was watching him on EWTN. He was talking about his escapades from his past and it occurred to me, “He’s not confessing. He’s bragging.” I noticed the way he almost leered when he talked about himself from what he was pretending he thought were his bad old days, and I realized, they weren’t bad old days to him. Not at all.
In short, I realized that this was a man in love with his sins and in love with himself. He was not the great priest he was pretending to be. He was something else, altogether.
I stopped watching him after that. A few months later, when the story broke that he had been credibly accused of all sorts of things, I wasn’t surprised. I’d seen it in his face that night.
I went to a meeting later in the week with a group of devout pro life Catholics. We were planning a pro life event. The talk was all about Father Corapi and the “lies” that were being told about him. The focus was on his accusers and what morally bankrupt people they were.
I listened for a while, then said, “I’m going to wait and see how it turns out.”
I didn’t say anything one way or the other about Father Corapi, just, “… wait and see how it turns out.”
There was a stunned silence and then one lady in particular fell to glaring at me. She glared throughout the meeting, and, so far as I can remember, has never spoken to me since. In fact, she still gets a case of the glares when she sees me.
Despite the silence and the glares, what I said was good advice, born of many years in the public eye and having been lied about over and over again by lying pros.
That was going to be my message about the wild story concerning the bodies of children that were found in Ireland a while back. Don’t believe the things the press is throwing around, and don’t disbelieve them, either. Just … wait and see.
My colleague, Frank Weathers, wrote a sterling post Saturday in which he gave us a few calming facts about that story to juxtapose with the hysteria in the larger press. You can read it here.
I am also going to suggest the same attitude toward the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Sgt Bergdahl was the last American prisoner of war from the war in Afghanistan. He was ransomed from captivity in a prisoner trade a few days ago.
He’s being trashed by all sorts of people. I don’t know him or them. I do believe that at least some of the trashing is a tactic in the partisan political wars. I take everything that is said in that context with about 20 pounds of salt. When it involves attacking someone who can’t fight back to score points against one political party by the other political party, I add another 50 pounds of salt to go with it.
These people — and I’m not talking about Sgt Bergdahl — are absolutely ruthless. They’ll destroy anybody to get what they want. Destroying the life and reputation of one soldier to gain a few points would be like snapping a toothpick to them.
It does not matter whether you are talking about the Rs or the Ds. Their only concern is getting and keeping power. Everything else they say is a lie.
A good deal of the press has become aligned — primarily through the interests that own them — with one side of the partisan wars or the other. They’re not trying to inform you. They’re trying to persuade you. And the persuasion is aimed at concentrating power in the hands of one side or the other of this political divide for purposes of making money for those same interests that own the media outlets.
So, my advice about Sergeant Bergdahl is the same advice I would give about the bodies in Ireland, which is based on the same thought I had when John Corapi was accused. Wait and see how it turns out.
I’m not trying to persuade anyone as to whether they should be an R or a D. I’m convinced we need Christians in both parties. What I am saying is don’t be too quick to join the lynch mob for this soldier. He’s a person, not a political opportunity.
I’ve seen cattle get run all over a field by a German Shepherd dog who was just having fun. The dog would send them one way, then the other. The cattle ran and the dog had the time of its life.
Don’t be like those cattle. Stop letting yourself get tossed around by a media that’s mis-using its power. Wait and see how it turns out. Give the facts on this story and all the others like it time to sift themselves to the top.
Don’t let yourself be herded from one outrage to the other by gossip that’s posing as facts, propaganda and sensationalist lies. If you know a news outlet is literally owned by a set of interests, remember that when considering the news they cover.
Trust God, and Him only.
And wait and see what happens when the facts sift themselves to the top.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In
I had the same experience with Fr. Corapi. I really enjoyed him but I did sense a unChristian bragging at times. Still I was surprised what he did. But he was a fine speaker and evangelist. We need more with his abilities.
What is it Patheos Catholic that more and more bloggers are not accepting comments? I wanted to thank Frank Weathers for that post. It turned the story all around for me and restore a bit of faith. (Perhaps that’s a bad word choice, I didn’t lose my faith but it did restore something and I can’t find the right word.) His comments are turned off and I’m finding more and more of that over here. I don’t regularly frequent blogs that don’t allow for response.
I think it’s because it takes so much time to monitor the blog comments — and it can get you down, reading some of the things people say — but if they don’t monitor, it heads right down to the gutter, especially on blogs that talk about current issues. So, some people just turn them off. Also, bloggers sometimes turn comments off for a specific post for one reason or another.
I get flak for moderating comments, but it’s the only way I know to keep Public Catholic from being drug down to the bottom of the bay and still allow discussion. I think discussion is important. It forms community and we all learn from it, including me.
Regarding Sgt Bergdahl, I think his battle buddies are credible sources. That the story is being ginned up by one side or the other is par for the course. I agree to wait and see with respect to Sgt Bergdahl. The military can take care of this issue. However I think much of the rage over Bergdahl is with respect to the ridiculous Rose Garden ceremony, the failure to inform Congress about the prisoner swap, the enhanced reputation of the Taliban which now negotiates with the United States, bypassing the Afghan government. That Sgt Bergdahl seemed a particularly UNSYMPATHETIC character made the egregious actions of the Obama Administration, their incredible lawlessness, dishonesty, and reckless disregard for the impact of the release of these evil murderers even more outrageous.
I have had a great deal of direct contact with troops in Afghanistan including with some who served at the same outpost. That Bergdahl walked away from his post unnecessarily put his battle buddies in danger at the time and subsequently. We used to hang traitors…that he’s simply being pilloried in the news is minor in comparison.
Rebecca,
Another outstanding post highlighting our demagogic, dysfunctional, and (potentially) destructive political system. You correctly present the situation surrounding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl as a “case study” of what happens with almost any issue today where one party sees the possibility of political advantage or a chance to appeal to their political base.
It seems to me that this is one issue (I;m sure there are others) where you have something that is both timely and extremely important to say and it is something that Catholics and all Americans needs to hear. Below I have excerpted (accurately, I believe) several of your points that I think bear repeating:
“These people… are absolutely ruthless. They’ll destroy anybody to get what they want… It does not matter whether you are talking about the Rs or the Ds. Their only concern is getting and keeping power. Everything else they say is a lie. A good deal of the press has become aligned — primarily through the interests that own them — with one side of the partisan wars or the other. They’re not trying to inform you. They’re trying to persuade you… I’m not trying to persuade anyone as to whether they should be an R or a D. I’m convinced we need Christians in both parties… Don’t let yourself be herded from one outrage to the other by gossip that’s posing as facts, propaganda and sensationalist lies. If you know a news outlet is literally owned by a set of interests, remember that when considering the news they cover. Trust God, and Him only. And wait and see what happens when the facts sift themselves to the top.”
And I would take it a step further. These same ruthless people are not above misusing the Word of God or preaching a false gospel to get what they want and to keep power, often in the name of being Christian.
As a Catholic I firmly believe, “”Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason…Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God.” (Catechism of Catholic Church 159). Or, in the words of St. Augustine wrote, “”I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe.” We are called to apply all the gifts that God has given us (e.g., wisdom, knowledge, understanding, reason, curiosity) as we act as stewards of God’s creation. We must seek God’s will as we pursue ideas and not blindly follow the ideologies (or, more correctly, idols) of man.
Rebecca, if you determine that continuing to address this issue is a fruitful area for your future work, I would be pleased to follow along.
Ray
Thank you Ray. There is a lot of thoughtful analysis in this comment. It is appreciated.
I’m going to allow this for the purpose of discussion and illustration.
Labeling Sergeant Bergdahl a traitor and talking about hanging is exactly what I am asking that people avoid. I will not tolerate any other comments that attack Sgt Bergdahl.
It’s ok to criticize the actions of the president. It is certainly ok to discuss if this was the best way to get our prisoner of war back. I do agree with President Obama when he said that America does not leave its soldiers behind. But methods of freeing our remaining prisoner of war are certainly open for discussion.
However, Sergeant Bergdahl is not fair game, at least not on this blog.
Excellent advise on Sgt. Bergdahl and the situation that continues. It is easy to form an opinion based on news broadcasts, and I’ve tried to stay neutral regarding his leaving his post, not informing Congress etc. until we actually know all the facts (if that is possible). It isn’t easy to do sometimes. IF the news is accurate, he currently doesn’t want to meet with his parents yet. I found one comment interesting regarding returning POWs to the USA etc. during the Viet Nam era. Cannot remember who brought it up sorry, but she (think it was a woman) said that the VN POWS’ were taken to a hospital for treatment etc. and then within just a few days they were returned to the States. If physically possible for them to leave the hospital overseas, they weren’t kept overseas for as long as Bergdahl has been. This person seemed to think that he is being kept longer than what was the “normal” during the Viet Nam war. Of course he is one man, not the larger number that may have been released during that time. In reference to the dead babies in Ireland? As to the bodies found in Ireland? I would really like truth to come out on that. I know nothing about the priest you discussed so don’t have an opinion on him. 🙂
Thank you for the feedback.
One additional point – St. John Paul II addressed the relationship between faith and reason in his encyclical letter Fides et Ratio. In his book The Teachings of Pope John Paul II, John E. Fagan provides this a helpful summary. A few key excerpts follow:
“Faith without reason withers into myth or superstition. Deprived of reason, faith is left with only feelings and experience. It loses its universality… (n 48) With the rise of rationalism, faith and reason became separated with disastrous consequences. The end result is the nihilism that we are now experiencing. Nihilism contains no hope of meaning and admits of no objective truth (n. 46). It recognizes only the utilitarian ends of power and pleasure (n. 47). Men and women are treated as objects to be manipulated rather than as persons to be honored. Nihilism is reflected in contemporary culture, for example, in art, music, literature and entertainment. As the result of increasing nihilism, a culture of death is replacing a culture of life. (Fagan’s complete summary is found at http://catholiceducation.org/articles/education/ed0294.htm)
Sgt. Bergdahl has been accused of terrible things, and I believe he will face a court martial. And though I believe the accusations, leveled by his contemporaries, I also believe that he deserves the trial. I’m glad I’m not eligible to be a juror, because I’m apt to convict him. I think that the truth should come out to let the public know what is going on. I feel that President Obama was terribly wrong, again in this case.
You can play your control freak games with someone else.
You’re not a good person. At all.
I don’t think his “buddies” are necessarily credible. They like their 15 minutes of fame like other people. Whatever will get them in the public eye, they will do it.
I understand the problem and the reality, but I can tell you my interest in a blog drops when I have no input. That’s a reality on my part too.
I certainly see it the same way. I find the group of his fellow soldiers who knew and served with him to be very credible. It would be impossible for all of them to coordinate a smear that this would entail. I don’t even think they are in contact with each other.
I had the same response with Corapi. Every once in a while he would say something that just caused a red flag to go up in my mind. Something would be said that he would not have said if he was a faithful priest. It’s odd, how you can detect things like that.
The flak only comes from those who should be moderated anyway. Invariably they complain and say “I didn’t do anything wrong” but of course they did.
Bergdahl is being trashed in some quarters, and over-praised in others. We may not have enough hard evidence, or at least, enough publicly-available evidence to conclude that he deserted his post. But we also do not have enough evidence to assert that he is a hero, as he was chacterized by President Obama, Susan Rice, and various administration and State Department spokespeople. We do know some things: we know that there was a DoD investigation after his disappearance from the platoon which is being kept secret, and there are other bits of information which I won’t go into here. We also have the statements of six or seven of his platoon mates, whose reputations are also being trashed in some quarters of the media and blogosphere. If we are going to give Bergdahl the benefit of the doubt, then we should also give them the benefit of the doubt. As Bowe Bergdahl is still a member of the Army, and an investigation has already been done, the best way to resolve the questions about him is a military trial.
Re Fr. Corapi … it was when he started dyeing his beard that gave me the “whut?” experience … he looked just fine with a gray goatee, patrician, even … I think that was not long before his fall from public grace. As far as I know, his actual teaching was always orthodox, though.
I really think that is a terrible idea. When the POWs came back from Viet Nam, there was some concern about one of them having worked with the enemy. When he committed suicide, everybody backed off on pursuing that line of reasoning. I’m not so sure a suicide would move people today, they have become so hard-hearted.
That hard-heartedness is the outcome of people being worked up all the time by a press that doesn’t bother to report the news, but that lurches from one mass assault on some hapless soul after another.
Just let the man alone and, if possible, help him get his life together. Haven’t enough lives been destroyed by 9/11 already without us turning on one of our own?
True. 🙂
Manny, you can’t know that, and this is part of my point. The media has gone at this man without mercy. They are perfectly capable of coordinating anything. That said, why do we need this man’s blood? He’s a pawn in a bit of ruthless politics.
Well, you get to have your say around here, even when you disagree with the blog author, as you are often crazy and wrong-headed enough to do. 🙂
That’s my point John. Sgt Bergahl is being used to get at the President. The people doing this are too ruthless and amoral themselves to care what they do him — or anyone else, including you, John. If it became useful for them to destroy you, they would. And I have a feeling you would be astonished by how easily people would believe terrible things about you with no basis.
Leave Sgt Bergdahl alone. If you want to critique the president, have at it. But the easy way people are ready to jump on the complete destruction of this soldier is downright Pavlovian.
Rebecca, I strongly agree with a couple things you said. Things are frequently not the way they are portrayed, people deserve a reserved judgment till facts come out, and people lie, frequently for their own aggrandizement. However, the military works a certain way and there are rules that must be followed. Some of the public information available indicated Bergdahl has some very serious questions to answer. In Viet Nam some of the men who were held in much worse circumstances were censured for collaboration when they returned. This should at least be looked at.
Also, Bergdahl was never designated a POW. He may not be the last POW if the enemies’ intentions are carried out. But, my biggest problem is the way it his release was gained, which I think was totally for political gain.
That’s it Ray. It has so permeated our society that Christians fall in line with it, too.
“Men and women are treated as objects to be manipulated rather than as persons to be honored. Nihilism is reflected in contemporary culture, for example, in art, music, literature and entertainment. As the result of increasing nihilism, a culture of death is replacing a culture of life.”
I have a relative by marriage who did the Bataan Death March and then served out the war in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. When he got home, they gave him his back pay and put him on a bus for Kansas (where his family lived.) It turned out he had serious health problems, including malnutrition and pneumonia.
We were much kinder to the Viet Nam POWS, but it appears we’ve moved it down to the basement with how we’re treating Sgt Bergdahl.
Rebecca, you are aware that there were a few defectors to North Korea in the Korean War, in Viet Nam and in Iraq, right? I can give names and dates if you would like. There is even a Marine who took off in Iraq, came back and deserted again. He is in Lebanon working with Hamas.
Point is, “we don’t leave soldiers behind” is a cliche and not always true.
This is over the top, but I’m going to allow it anyway. If anyone would like to reply, please try to bring the discussion down to normal decibels.
I think we all are doomed if this is the standard that we are individually to be judged. Mark Shea has said the forgiveness of sins is the most controversial of church teaching. I would also add that private confession is one of its greatest gifts.
It seems that you’re giving Sgt. Bergdahl and Presidet Obama a pass on this. You’re throwing Bergdahl aside. You’re taking the evidence away and saying, now got get Obama. It was Obama who staged the sideshow at the White House. The silence would’ve been a buffer for the President, working to his advantage. I suspect you realize that the resultant agrandizement, much as in the beginning would’ve worked in the Presidert’s favor. The whole affair is dastardly. Let it play out.
Near as we can tell from the death certificates, it was 0 children. There is no factual violence or neglect at Taum Home, zero evidence of anything happening other than children dying of common illnesses at a rate LOWER than that of the city in which they lived.
You’re just underscoring what I’ve been saying. Sgt Bergdahl is being used as a pawn in a vicious political game.
Are you capable of talking about the issues here, which revolved around the President’s handling of the situation, without trashing this soldier?
I know there were a few defectors, some of them quite famous.
Address the concerns you have about the way he was released Anne. Don’t trash the Sergeant. As for political gain, that may be true. The way Sgt Bergdahl has been attacked seems the same thing, with the same motivations. Both sides of the political spectrum are ruthless.
Please tell me how I “trashed” him. I said he has some questions to answer which I believe he does.
Does this mean you don’t wish me well? 🙂
I apologize Anne. I didn’t meant that you had trashed him. I was speaking journalistically, to everyone. That kind of misspeak sometimes happens when I type faster than my brain works. Again, apologies.
I respectfully disagree with you. I do not know the circumstances of the POW who committed suicide, but the same tragedy sometimes happens in the civilian world when someone fears being indicted and tried for a crime. It doesn’t stop civilian authorities from pursuing other prosecutions for the same crime. If there is substantial evidence that he deserted, then he should be tried.
I have not served in the military, but I have had many friends who have served, and still serve. Desertion is one of the most serious offenses in the military code of justice, and everyone who joins the service learns that. It is considered to be a violation of the trust that one service member must have for another. Deserting is not like deciding that you don’t like a job, or you hate your boss, and so you’re going to quit without notice. Not trying him (that is, if there is enough evidence to try him) may be kind-hearted to him, but it is unfair to all those who he served with, and particularly, those who had to go out looking for him. Because they were doing their duty.
Thank you. Now I understand what you said. Btw did you read the Michael Hastings article from Rolling Stone on Bowe Bergdahl? His picture is a little different. Also, just because one of us “little, unimportant” people is being used politically does not mean we don’t have to be responsible for our behavior.
From what I understand the reintegration process is longer now than in Viet Nam. They think time to decompress is necessary to allay and prevent PTSD. They are also doing some of the Army’s investigation, probably. The guy who defected to Hamas was in treatment for more than a month, I think two.
My Dad served in WWII, but by a quirk of fate, he didn’t see combat even though he was overseas. I think that perhaps we as a country have finally learned that those serving in the military in combat have problems not just physically but mentally, now called PTSD, but in other times different names—shell shock, etc. were used and the thought is that “men” could handle things even though they had been in horrible circumstances. I’m sorry your relative was discharged so quickly without proper medical attention. That is awful. He certainly went through hell. My Dad really never talked about his experiences, nor did my uncle who was wounded and was discharged early. My nephew was in Iraq, 2 tours, and left the military after his time was up. He doesn’t talk about his experiences either, which were awful, seeing things that most of us never will see. He is now gainfully employed and has a wife and 2 children. I’m just glad that we now seem to recognize that combat causes damage to not just the body but mind. At this point we have no idea what Bergdahl went through and as hard as it can be, this needs to be played out slowly and carefully. The politics involved in this is sad.
I know two former soldiers, one a Marine who served in Afghanistan, and another a Navy Seal who did Iraq and elsewhere. They both saw combat and were injured. They have long-term problems because of the experiences they had.
Mary, you’re assuming a lot about Sgt Bergdahl here.
I’m basing this on my experience. When the politicos start using some hapless someone as a way to attack one another, the truth isn’t in them. Attacking Sgt Bergdahl is a cold-blooded method to get at the president. I don’t think it’s possible to believe any of the things being said about him. I’ve seen too many of these deals and been on the receiving end of a few of them. The truth is not important to the people who do these things. They’ll lie when the truth would do them better.
My son was a marine with two tours in Iraq. A friend’s two sons have also served there. Some people handle things differently, but they were not injured. One of my son’s classmates from the Citadel was one of the first killed there. Some of these guy handle it like the WWII soldiers did, some well, some with more difficulty. Life is hard, harder for some who sacrifice for all of us.
I think he’s guilty. The trashing I’ve seen is of the several soldiers in his outfit, and from the company sent to look for him. You say: “If it became useful for them to destroy you, they would. And I have a feeling you would be astonished by how easily people would believe terrible things about you with no basis.” You criticize an entire class of people, with no justification. You’d be surprised at the number of people who’ve set about my destruction. I defend the people who criticize Sgt. Bergdahl, and though I wish to learn the truth, I wish that Fox, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC would limit their coverage. It’s getting boring. Just like when they cover a car chase. It’s boring, and there’s much more to cover: Benghazi, and 4 dead soldiers, the VA scandal, et c,
I’m sorry, but what am I assuming? I didn’t say Sgt. Bergdahl was guilty, nor did I say that he should be convicted. I said that if there is evidence that he deserted, then he should be tried. I’ll rephrase that. If the reports from the members of his unit and some other sources are found to have merit–and that is not a decision to be made by the general public–then he should be tried for desertion. I honestly don’t see where the assumptions are.
Barbara, I think what you said is as bad as not waiting for judgment on Bergdahl and you don’t mention if you have any personal experience to back up what you say. Those guys were with him in Afghanistan.
hamiltonr, they were supportive of him until…
I, too, became leery of Fr. Corapi after a while…and it was a relatively short while at that. Rebecca, you nailed it with your recognition of the face of a braggart. That’s what caught me up short as well and it was almost frightening, because I’d heard such glowing reviews of Fr. Corapi’s talks. I caught him on EWTN and it was, perhaps, the 3rd time I’d seen him speaking and that’s when it struck me that he was taking pleasure in remembering his past.
That said, I sort of feel sorry for him because of what his potential promised…and what ultimately he was brought to. And I find myself more and more skeptical all the time, which isn’t always a good thing. I keep waiting “for the other shoe to drop” with many of the men and women I have admired, wondering when they, too, will reveal feet of slippery clay. It’s not pleasant and I don’t want to cross the line to cynicism.
I know whereof I speak John; and I’m not referring to a class of people at all. I’m not criticizing. I’m saying it as a fact.
“You say: “If it became useful for them to destroy you, they would. And I have a feeling you would be astonished by how easily people would believe terrible things about you with no basis.” You criticize an entire class of people, with no justification. “
Wait a second. The administration made him out to be a hero before the crap hit the fan. For a deserter to be held up as a hero just smacks of injustice. This is why his former mates got so riled up. Injustice. Otherwise there is no reason to “smear” him. That’s what drove this: injustice.
Hahaha, love you. 🙂
I think they do that around here too. Or at least some do.
Here is a link to the article. Rolling Stone is a left-leaning publication as was Michael Hastings, so none of the hating on Bergdahl for politics. It is worth the read.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607
Anne, quite a number of people who are commenting here seem to think this is a left vs right argument, or that somehow or other, treating Sgt Bergdahl with kindness is letting President Obama off the hook — whatever hook that might be.
I don’t see it that way. There is no need to attack Sgt Bergdahl to raise questions about the process President Obama used to secure his release. Sgt Bergdahl had nothing to do with that.
So far as I know, I don’t have a way of setting this blog to allow comments without moderation for a specific set of commenters. Before we moved to Disqus, I could set it to allow all comments after I had approved someone once. I did that for a while, but it became problematic — in fact other commenters ASKED me to moderate — because of some of the comments that were getting through.
You just made my day Manny. 🙂
People who’ve been in combat have all sorts of emotions and thoughts. I don’t gainsay any of them. What I’m suggesting is that those of us in the bleachers take a breath and wait and see. We don’t need to judge this Manny. It’s not our charge to judge it. We can, and we should, let the truth sift itself to the top. It will.
Thank you for your sound advice.
well written – thank you
My daughter’s brother-in-law was a Marine and has PTSD after 2 tours in Iraq. He battles everyday to overcome it—and for a while ‘self-medicated” by drinking. He is only 30.
Oh. I could swear Anchoress allowed certain people’s comments to fly through and others she had to confirm. Perhaps she meant she allowed them to fly through without reading them but still had to manually allow it. Perhaps i misunderstood.
Here’s where I think you’re wrong. Those soldiers don’t serve for much money. It’s a paltry thing what soldiers are paid. What they serve for is honor and pride. I’ll put to you that they don’t care whether Bergdahl goes to jail or not. When he was given such an honorable mention it was an injustice to their sense of honor and pride. If a deserter gets the same honor that they do, then what exactly did they serve for? And what did their honor and pride amount to? It was an injustice. This is how soldiers become cynical. And so they care that we judge. Because that’s how honor is attributted, through our judgement of their service.
In prison ministry it was called “Glorifying the High” when former drug addicts would come in and give details of their exploits and conversion
I don’t disagree with anything you said Manny. What I object to is the media-driven politically-motivated destruction of one man who was a POW. I have fairly strong feelings about POWs. I think we should cut them a lot of slack. I am aware that a lot of the media assault has been focused on trying to remove the dignity of being a POW from Sgt Bergdahl, but from the photos of him that I’ve seen, and from what little we know, that’s horrible cruelty. If it should turn out that his POW status was some sort of hoax, then I will revise my thinking about that. However, this mass hate-off on the man, which I repeat is being generated in the most callous way possible for politics, is a terrible thing.
I dunno. I think she’s had a varied policy. As for being able to selectively allow specific people to post without moderation, it’s not possible that I know of.
OK, but the media just followed the story and the public reaction. My impression is that the public reaction drove the story this time, not the other way around. Couple that with the strange behavior of Bergdahl’s father speaking arabic with Pres Obama and this story was a kettle waiting to explode.
Here is an article from Time magazine. And even though those guys were with him in Afghanistan, they didn’t like him. If someone doesn’t like you, they will say negative things about you. If it gets them some attention, all the better. http://time.com/2809352/bowe-bergdahl-deserter-army-taliban/
If John Corapi, whether he is a priest or not, was really concerned about his supporters, he ought to go public, tell them the truth and not leave them twisting in the wind. It bothers me that some people seem to have gone into schism or heresy over him. At the least, a public statement from Corapi would give these folks some closure. But if he doesn’t, the people who have put so much faith in him need to move on. Corapi, like all sinners, needs our prayers.
To say because John Corapi spoke candidly about his life before his road to Damascus conversion, that ” he is a man in love with his sins” makes me realize why millions of people in recovery seek out other recovering people to confide in. I have heard people romanticizing their old lives as the spoke in meetings. We call it telling war stories. Most people do it not because they are “in love with their sins”, but because addiction and or alcoholism has beat the living hell out of their self esteem. Usually it stops as the person gets more time. I have heard Father Johns personal story and he did not sound like a man in love with his sins or life style. As a matter of fact the details he mentioned about what he did and who he did it with probably in some way brought others to God. In recovery we are told to identify and not compare. Father John’s story had a lot for me to identify with. I think the writer sounds self righteous If you want to criticize the man for something he actually said go for it. But to say you realized he was a man in love with his sins because of the way he sounded makes you seem like your passing your own judgement on the man. I don’t know what he did or didn’t do. It’s none of my business. What I do know is “there but for the grace of God go I”
Consider his subsequent actions ….
A lot of Christian pasters talk of their past ways of living he became a priest gave his life to God. Leave him alone ,the phoenix priest who got killed with his own gun is another topic why have a gun, jus t pray for them and God bless our priest’s.
I have another theory. It COULD be that Corapi’s silence is for legal reasons. IF he was living a duplicitous life that involved illegality, he could be following the advice of an attorney in not issuing any public statements.
He could have been living the life of a saint and his attorney would still advise him to say nothing.
Corapi has been saying nothing for over two years now. I hope that at least some of his fans have decided to move on.
To my knowledge, no one has even come forward and said “Yeah, I knew John Corapi back in the day when he was living the high life”.
“Moving on” is not the point. Father Corapi had a tremendous gift for speaking and used it well to proclaim the teachings of the Catholic Faith. First, as Christians, we should lament every sinner that falls back down, even if we don’t know the circumstances. Second, the Church could use more Father Corapis, including a repentant original. We should never “move on” from our fellow men, only unless they prove unrepentant, and at least then we should still pray for them.
I understand what this author is getting at in a somewhat different sense. I only heard a few of J.C’s lectures but I quickly realized and was bothered that it was too one sided in that it verbalized issues that reflected the view points of one side of the political spectrum and conveniently sidestepped issues that might seem to reflect the positions of the other (and there was a definite bit of bombast in the tone, although that was another matter). A one-sided approach of this kind does make for popularity and indeed he became very popular with that group and developed a bit of a cult following. This and similar cases is likely a lot of the reason many people in this country have been taken aback by some of the issues Pope Francis has asserted concerning social and climactic issues as these stances were generally omitted from the tv discussions people were more familiar with.
It did seem a bit odd that Fr. C’s discussions tended to convey a hardline approach towards the public and church authority but when SOLT intervened in his regard, the response was somewhat less than obedient (and somewhat odd)–at least initially, which seemed contradictory to the previous hardline stance.
A saint would have obeyed his bishop. Corapi did not. Do you think his canon lawyer would have advised him of that?