John Corapi's Religious Superior Speaks Out ---The Story Gets Even Stranger

This is not John Corapi.  It's Anton Lavey founder of the Church of Satan.  Why would John Corapi emulate this look?

Levay resemblance aside, the Corapi thing is really getting under my skin.  I sense there is quite a bit more to this story than any of us know.  Today I read this article from Corpus Christi's retired Bishop Gracida. Gracida is a right wing nut  who graced the Diocese of Corpus Christi with Corapi and the religious association, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, to which Corapi is ostensibly attached.  In it Gracida waxes way too eloquently about Corapi and throws Corapi's accuser to the dogs.  He also mentions a civil action Corapi has initiated.  I knew this would flush out more information.  What follows is an excerpt which includes the thoughts of a SOLT spokesman.  It was posted on the National Catholic Register.  This publication was owned by the Legion, but now it's owned by EWTN.

.....Posted on YouTube and on the website of Santa Cruz Media, the company led by Father Corapi that distributes his bestselling catechetical materials, the announcement shocked his many supporters, some of whom had vented their anger at the priest’s religious superiors and at EWTN and other media outlets, which suspended his programs after the allegations against him became public. The Register is a service of EWTN.
Raising more questions than it answered, the message did not state the precise reason why Father Corapi chose to resign from the priesthood, rather than waiting for the outcome of SOLT’s investigation of the alleged misconduct.

However, Father Gerard Sheehan, regional priest-servant of SOLT and Father Corapi’s religious superior in the U.S., confirmed June 19 that the order’s investigation faced complications created by a civil suit filed by Father Corapi against the former employee who had accused him of sexual misconduct.


“When she left the company, she signed a contract that she would not reveal anything that happened to her while she was at Santa Cruz Media. Father Corapi paid her for this. Father was suing her for a breach of contract,” said Father Sheehan, though he did not specify why Father Corapi had initiated the non-disclosure agreement. (Isn't this interesting.  Why would Corapi need such an agreement?)

The civil suit against the former employee created a problem for SOLT investigators.
“In canon law, there can’t be any pressure on witnesses; they have to be completely free to speak. The investigation was compromised because of the pressure on the witnesses. There were other witnesses that also had signed non-disclosure agreements,” said Father Sheehan.  (Seems dear old ex Fr. Corapi was being very pro active for some reason.)

“The canon lawyers were in a difficult situation, and Father does have his civil rights and he decided to follow his legal counsel, which he had a right to do,” he said. “We tried to continue the investigation without speaking to the principal witnesses.” (That would be quite difficult.)

The investigation was halted after Father Corapi “sent us a letter resigning from active ministry and religious life. I have written him a letter asking him to confirm that decision. If so, we will help him with this process of leaving religious life,” said Father Sheehan.

He expressed disappointment that Father Corapi chose not to remain in SOLT and to refuse the order’s invitation for him to live in community, leaving his Montana home. Father Sheehan said he had tried to arrange a meeting with Father Corapi before any final decision was announced, but had not heard back from him. Father Sheehan said that SOLT would issue a statement shortly.

“We wanted him to come back to the community, and that would have meant leaving everything he has. It would have been a drastic change for him,” Father Sheehan said. “We will continue to move pastorally and charitably, taking steps to protect his good name.”  (Yea I'm sure leaving his White Fish, MT residence for dear old dusty Texas would be hard.)

Father Corapi’s YouTube message did not address his relationship with SOLT religious authorities. Though his statement reads “I love the Catholic Church and accept what has transpired,” it offered a conflicted message on the respect due the Catholic hierarchy.


On the one hand, Father Corapi affirmed the right of the bishops to implement new guidelines for addressing clerical misconduct. Yet, he persistently attacked the logic and integrity of those guidelines, and sharply criticized Bishop William Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Texas, for taking action to forcibly remove him from active ministry. (Poor Bishop Mulvey got stuck with Gracida's problem child.)

Speaking of Gracida, his post assumes Corapi will wait until the suspension is lifted and come back as a full time priest. Ahemmmm.  But, in the meantime Corapi can, well, do this:

......Now, until his suspension is lifted, he is free from the Church’s prohibition on clerics participating in the political life of the nation.  Given his past outspoken criticism of the current slide of our government to become more and more like the socialist governments of Europe, I think that we can expect to hear The Black Sheep Dog speak out more openly on the burning issues we will face in the election year of 2012.  I know from my own experience that God sometimes “writes straight with crooked lines” as the Portuguese put it, and so perhaps God is using this new (unwanted) freedom from ecclesiastical restraint to permit The Black Sheep Dog to say some important things in the next 16 months on those burning issues.

Ooohh, I think I see the plan.  Forget little ole EWTN, Fox News is calling.  Take that Glen Beck.  This is just a guess, I don't have any inside information.  So to speak.

There is however, a couple of other things I find quite interesting.  Corapi applied for trademark rights to the name 'Black Sheep Dog' in April of 2010.  That's over a year ago.  Hmmm. Well maybe it's just because he knew the name of his forthcoming autobiography was going to be Black Sheep Dog and he wanted to protect movie and souvenir rights--or something.  We do know when the embattled Fr Eutenuer visited Corapi up in White Fish last July, right before Euteneur resigned from Human Life International--in disgraceful circumstances--that Corapi more or less left him to fend for himself.  So much for being a spiritual advisor to a priest who was in serious trouble in his guise as a 'spiritual warrior' and exorcist.  

The similarities between these two priests is uncanny.  Both exaggerated their military careers, both became EWTN talking heads, both have accusations of sexual impropriety with women, and one was the other's spiritual advisor.  Makes one wonder if there are other connections between the two erstwhile spiritual warriors that we know nothing about.  

Whatever Corapi intends, whether it's just plain ole American commercialism or something else, you can not take the anti social personality out of the anti social person.  Corapi's history seems not to be the exception to this rule, his ordination by JPII not withstanding.  There was no miracle that day.  I feel really bad for conservative Catholics who bought in to the shtick these guys gave them on EWTN.  There is a difference between acting and being.  I just think Roman Catholicism is going to be paying a huge price for a long time because of the fact too many people can't seem to get this difference.  There really is a huge difference between acting and being and good actors make that difference hard to see--that's why they are good actors.