Reading the news can be hazardous to one’s sense of hope for us as a species or as a just and vibrant culture. This past couple of weeks offered a perfect illustration of this with two stories. One dealing an imprisoned priest fighting to clear his name while the other deals with two chimpanzees named Hercules and Leo . Fr. Gordon MacRae has been in prison in the United States for the past 20 years. The crimes for which he was accused and convicted are claimed to have occurred when he was between 25 and 30 years old. Brought with no evidence or corroboration whatsoever, the claims were accompanied by lawsuits settled by his Diocese for hundreds of thousands of dollars despite evidence of fraud. Father MacRae maintains his innocence of these crimes, and could have left prison 16 years ago had he accepted any of the “plea deals” presented to him before trial. In the years since the panic-driven and selective release of files and other accumulated claims and demands for money – but n...
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.