I believe that he is great in spite of the scandal. His talks brought thousands back to the Church. He speaks with power & clarity, and there are almost none as great as him.
If you haven’t heard of him here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1eSA3XvoQ0&t=289s
I don’t remember hearing of him before. According to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Corapi’s order said he lived with a former prostitute, abused alcohol and drugs, and had more than a million dollars worth of property despite his vow of poverty. The Baltimore Archdiocese said that Corapi tried to buy the silence of his accuser.
This reminds me of American Life League, where I worked for years. There was plenty of wrongdoing there, and eventually employees were told to sign a statement that we would give no information about American Life League to anyone. I refused to sign it, and I was fired. American Life League is still making prolife-sounding noises. Matthew 15:8: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Maybe Corapi has drawn thousands to God; maybe he has pushed thousands away too. From what I have just learned about him. I wouldn’t touch him with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole.
I never cared for Corapi but a friend thought he was the answer, the one who would convert the lukewarm and the faithless. The thing about Corapi is anyone who was paying attention could see something wasn’t right.
Losing someone who is a spiritual mentor is unsettling. Learning about Fr Michael Scanlan was a shock to me. My copy of Appointment with God was read to the point it was falling apart, but I can’t look at it now. I will hold anyone who has harmed someone at arms length, and will take my time until I decide if I want to do the hard work of discerning what is still good.
Prior to the scandal, my Aunt really liked Fr. Corapi. She wanted to put one of his talks (on CD) in our Generations of Faith take-home kits, but when we brought this up to our Priest, he said, nope, but would not elaborate on why. I think he knew more of what was going on than most lay people at that time, as the scandal had not yet been publicized.
I was never really a fan of Fr. Corapi, but I did subscribe after the scandal and he began putting out weird video of himself wearing a black leather jacker and referring to himself as “the Black Sheep Dog” or something like that.
For anyone who does not know about the rise and fall of Fr. Corapi; he was a Catholic Priest with a deep (and as Sorrowful pointed out) powerful voice. His catch-phrase was, “Your Mother (referring to Our Blessed Mother) wears combat boots” in a Sean Connery tone. He was touring and doing talks, and making a butt-load of money. He had purchased a beach home (if my memory serves me) in Florida. It was revealed that he was living with a “friend” (prostitute) and doing cocaine (becoming addicted and spending large amounts of money each week on drugs).
We need to Pray for public speakers like Mike Schmitz and Bishop Barron, as they are under spiritual attack and, like most, battle temptation. We sometimes put these men on a pedestal and the higher we build them up, the harder they fall.
Joshua Charles (who is building an amazing resource) shared, in a recent interview, the story from the 13th Century about a Man who went to Rome and saw how corrupt many of the Priests and Bishops had become and later came to the conclusion that if the Church could survive such debauchery, then she must be the Church that Jesus founded.