By
San Antonio Express-News
March 21, 2011
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/religion/2011/03/popular-priest-father-corapi-defends-claim-against-him/
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Father John Corapi alluded to the failures of jumping to conclusions when priests are accused of sexual misconduct in the pedophile scandal of the Catholic Church when he spoke here at the AT&T Center last August to an estimated audience of more than 10,000.
He said he was not dismissing the true accusations, which he said rightly should yield justice. But he said there's a knee-jerk response to pile on once an accusation is made.
He gave as an example a young priest he knew who was accused of sexual misconduct with a girl only a few years younger than the priest. Critics seem to lump in such nuanced cases with pedophile priests who molest children. Pedophile priests are rightly to be prosecuted, he said, but he lamented how easily innocent priests can be destroyed with a single, baseless accusation.
Such is the case he says he finds himself in now. He announced on his own web site that an adult woman who used to work for him accuses him falsely of broad misconduct from "sexual exploits" with her and other adult women to drug addiction. He's been put on administrative leave — presumeably by his religious superior since he belongs to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity based in Robstown. And he vigorously and across the board denies any wrongdoing.
His criticism of such false claims is narrowly focused on the Catholic Church for not vetting accusations first before making them public. Consequently, he says, the priest is assumed guilty and never recovers even though he may be exonerated later.
Corapi has built a stellar base of loyal fans who see him as a no-nonsense leader protecting the orthodox heritage of the Catholic faith and filling a void created by priests too worried about being politically correct to speak the truth. He's frank and unapologetic in his inspirational talks on Catholic TV's EWTN and in forums such as the one in San Antonio last fall.
Here's a blog by Pat Archbold in National Catholic Register about the situation.
Love or hate him, there's no denying Corapi is a starkly different priest than you'll find in an average parish these days. And his prodigal son story before joining the priesthood gives him an appealing dimension missing in many priests whose clerical lives lack aspects of relatability for lay people.
By announcing this accusation himself, he got out front on it. It's a smart, tactical move whether you suspect he's guilty or innocent. The spotlight turns on to the accuser and time to see how credible the accusation is. And it also raises the question he raises about the fairness of the Catholic Church in its process of vetting these type of claims.
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