More Fallout At EWTN

Fr. Corapi in the old days before the solid black goatee.

First it was Fr. Thomas Eutenuer, and now it's Fr. John Corapi.  EWTN is having it's share of trouble with it's radioactive satan fighting corps of priests.  The following is taken from Fr. Corpapi's personal blog:

On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women. There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that, but it seems, once again, that they now don’t have to deem the complaint to be credible or not, and it is being applied broadly to respond to all complaints. I have been placed on “administrative leave” as the result of this. (One, he is not the first  priest by any means who was put on administrative leave for alleged violations of celibacy with adults, and two, his notoriety places him in a unique spotlight.)

I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”, then through the process determining if he is innocent. The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers and civil and criminal attorneys have stated publicly that the procedure does grave damage to the accused from the outset, regardless of rhetoric denying this, and has little regard for any form of meaningful due process.

         All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned.

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First off I think Fr. Corapi should have let himself cool down a little before he wrote the above statement since it's loaded with I, me, myself statements.  Especially since he recognizes in his statement, "for someone like myself, since I am so well known."  Notoriety certainly does bring it's own issues.  I would have thought he would be even more sensitive to this kind of thing since it follows so closely on the heels of Fr. Thomas Euteneur's scandal whose own statement was loaded with I, me, and myself statements.  Rather than arguing for mitigation of the abuse protocols, Corapi's celebrity status argues the opposite in his case.  That he can't see that is pretty freaking amazing.

Unlike Euteneur, Corpapi is maintaining the allegations are false.  This is entirely possible, but as a trained psychotherapist, as well as priest, he has to be aware of the fact these kinds of allegations are part and parcel of the territory. Transference is a powerful defense mechanism and it exists whether one is a therapist or an employer.  The fact his home diocese is taking these allegations seriously enough to put him on administrative leave leads me to believe Corapi put himself in a position in which defending himself is going to be difficult, and that was either a function of idiocy or hubris on his part.  Or maybe he really did think his reputation was such that he could operate way differently than most folks in spiritual counseling or mental health.  It's pretty obvious Fr Euteneur fell to that kind of that kind of I'm  invincible thinking.  Perhaps it's only coincidental that the two were pretty close and linked with same kind of spiritual warfare theology.

It's been interesting to read the blogs of the right, even the centrist right.  The same kinds of excuses are coming out for Corapi as they did for Euteneur.  Corapi is under Satanic attack because he teaches spiritual warfare and the devil fears him, the woman accuser is an agent of Satan and why does she get to remain anonymous, Corapi is one of the few voices of true Catholicism so of course he must be discredited, and my personal favorite:  "even if it's true at least is was with a woman.  He's no gay pedophile."  


In the meantime inquiring minds want to know if EWTN is going to continue to broadcast Corapi's shows.  His program is still listed on their schedule but one never knows if anything a given bishop does about one of EWTN's talking heads applies to EWTN.  Fr. Corapi could be listed today and gone tomorrow--or not.

I'm beginning to feel some empathy for the righteous right.  Their faith has taken quite the beating lately from their cultic heroes.  Maybe EWTN should run a series on why it's very risky and a sign of serious spiritual immaturity to put so much of one's faith in the hands and teachings of celebrities with more than a touch of narcissism.  In any case, EWTN seems to have it's own version of a spent fuel pond irradiating all the other rods in the neighborhood which then periodically blow off radioactive steam.  True believers call this process sure evidence of Satanic attack.  I call it what is, a culture of narcissists attracting other narcissists who then make a habit of playing up the fears of their followers in order to fleece them. But then I do consider that kind of thing pretty Satanic in it's own right.