If you aren't familiar with Fr. Gordon MacRae's story of persecution, I suggest you study his website, Beyond These Stone Walls. Father's home for almost thirty years has been a prison cell. He could have been out in one or two years if he agreed to "admit" the lie that he was a sex abuser. He refused to play the game and was shuffled off to our own U.S. gulag where he remains today.
False accusations today are legion. We saw it with the Covington kids, with Kyle Rittenhouse, with George Zimmerman, with the January 6th political prisoners, with the pro-lifers charged under FACE. If you kick the hive, aka our godless administration, you can expect a SWAT team at your door.
But wicked politicians aren't the only evildoers who love money and power and Fr. MacRae's story and other clergy sex abuse cases illustrate how greedy lawyers and trauma consultants turn straw into gold with false accusations that result in out of court settlements for bogus claims. When you see one lawyer file dozens of cases for years, many focusing on long dead priests who can't defend themselves, well...you can bet it's a manufactured witch hunt.
Fr. MacRae was approached in jail by a man who wanted the names of dead priests from the past who could be accused. And dioceses often cooperate by rushing to a quick settlement. In Fr. MacRae's case, the diocese in New Hampshire settled with his accuser even before he went to trial. Like the Queen of Hearts, they embraced the guilty verdict before a single piece of evidence was presented. The bishop, through a diocesan press release, claimed they were victims too as they embraced the lie that destroyed a priest's ministry. Boohoo for the diocese; sometimes one man has to "die" for the people.
Here's a piece of advice. Before you assume any accusation is true, get the facts and make sure the evidence is real evidence, not just he said/ she said. I've linked below to a few articles from Father's website to get you started. We live in an age where ethics hardly exist and integrity is a subject for jokes. But I'm not laughing. Pray for Fr. MacRae and all the falsely accused priests whose vocations were destroyed by ambulance chasing lawyers and therapists who couldn't wait to get their hands in the collection basket! Even if exonerated, these men are severely wounded and need our support and prayers.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
I too wonder how many of these accusations against priests are legitimate. I can only relate to you a priest I knew in grade school. We'll call him Fr. X Father X was an assistant priest at a parish in a Northwest suburb of Chicago. Father X was a personable priest. He bowled on the parish league in fact my dad said he was pretty good. He married my sister and brother in law. I took lessons on how to serve mass (This was the 60s the old mass). Many times I was alone with father in his office in the rectory. It was always above board strictly business. There were also never any rumors from the other guys who served mass. My whole family was shocked when a very famous TV network news magazine did a story on him in the 80s accusing him of sexual abuse in a parish he was assigned pastor. It turns out his accuser, an adolescent student at the school made up the accusations for what ever reason. Father X case was then dismissed and Father counter sued the student and his family for defamation of character and won his suit. What good did it do, at this point his reputation was ruined. That is why to this day anytime I hear of sexual abuse of a priest I take it with a grain of salt, yes I know many are true but what about the poor souls being railroaded. To my knowledge this famous TV news magazine never did a retraction of the story. I guess its true what priest once told me, "The catholic church is the one entity that is still politically correct to hate"
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Father James Jackson was falsely accused and then coerced into admitting guilt.
ReplyDeleteThe evidence against Fr. Jackson seems pretty compelling.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting article about Fr. Jackson and his background. We should all pray for fallen priests. The devil sends combat troops against them. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256246/court-documents-reveal-father-james-jackson-testified-he-was-sexually-abused-as-a-child
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