Put not your trust in princes,

Fr Corapi

I can't find the post which Terry Nelson put up which first alerted me to his dramatically altered appearance.
But when I saw it I was stunned and couldn't believe that so few people seemed bothered by it.
I couldn't have been more shocked if Mother Angelica had had a boob job and botox.

After reading Terry's post I saw this one which gives a composite picture of his changing appearance over the last 10 years.

Maybe, behind the scenes, his superiors were frantically worried about him and trying to help.
Who knows, but I hope they were.
Aa a commenter  on the Fumare blog calling himself "Warning Signs" presciently opined:

When ministers and priests are into their looks and themselves, trouble is ahead. Sad, sad, very sad.

So when the news broke that he had been suspended I was not surprised.
What surprised me more, was the tenacious defensiveness of those who Fr. Corapi refers to as his "fans".
How could anyone liken a priest with a California tan, a dyed goatee and a personal trainer to St Pio of Pietrelcina?
Fr Corapi was the darling of conservative catholics.
I observed a double standard in the blogosphere among some who are routinely, sharply critical of ecclesiastical  authorities and normally happy to name and shame woolly liberal prelates for liturgical infractions.
A great deal more benefit of the doubt was extended to Fr Corapi, even when the evidence was becoming overwhelming.

I don't know what happened to Fr Corapi, but I don't believe "the devil did it" .
At least not in such a simplistic way.
We are free moral agents.
We co operate in our fall from grace.
And this is what clutches at my guts like a cold hand when I consider it.
Every day brings a thousand different ways in which I chose to conform myself to Christ,or the world.
And I cannot say with confidence, that at the end of each day the balance is tipped in my favour.

I am sincerely praying for John Corapi tonight. Perhaps this humbling is the mercy of God towards him.
I hope, for the sake of his soul,  that he accepts this mortification from Gods hand and throws himself on the mercy of Christ while he still has time.
I'm praying for priests . They need our prayers and I am sorry that I neglect to pray for them as I should.
I intend to remedy that and make them, along with my children, my priority.
We need holy priests.
More than ever I appreciate the quiet and hidden sacrifice of the ordinary and outwardly unexceptional priest.


And I am praying for myself too, that I am able to throw off every encumbrance and run the race that has been marked out for me.
It scares me how quickly I become lazy and satisfied.