A RAM IN THE THICKET: The Prisoner-Priest Behind These Stone Walls

Ryan MacDonald on Father Gordon MacRae

For those of you who have not followed any of my previous commentaries on priests who have been bludgeoned by their bishops in the interests of being politically correct on the issue of sexual abuse of minors by priests, you have missed the real scandal that has gone on.  That scandal is the denial of the human rights we all take for granted in our North American Society, one of which is the right to a fair trial, and to justice in our court system.

A not insignificant number of Catholic clergy committed grievous sexual sins against youth.  Surprisingly, the statistics of how much of this went on, and the proportion of priests involved almost mirrors the instance of sexual abuse in the rest of society.  The suprise is two fold.  First, that men who were and who have chosen to take on the mantle of alter christus engaged in such sinful behaviour is more shock than surprise, but surprising none the less, and ample evidence that the devil is active in our society and works hard to corrupt those whose corruption will support his agenda of destruction of God's beloved.  The second surprise is that society has taken to believing, against real evidence, not just media reports, that the sexual abuse scandal was a priest and celibacy problem, and not a broader society one.  Now, as we see reports surfacing, if you dig hard enough, that scout masters and teachers committed more than their fair share of abuse of the young entrusted to their care, it is no longer a driving issue, evidence once again that the devil had his filthy hand in not only the sins perpetrated against youth by Catholic clergy, but in the blowing up of the statistics and reportage that made perceptions overcome the reality.

Even worse, in my personal opinion, is the abandonment of the priests in their care by their Bishops, where such things as the Dallas Charter, which was meant to appease those who had been abused, or at least those who reported on those who had been abused, or litigated on their behalf, came into being, denying priests accused of due process, and a presumption of innocence. 

In the midst of this all stands Father Gordon MacRae, a priest that I have no doubt was railroaded with false accusations first by those who claimed he abused them, and worst of all by his father in the Church, his Bishop, who denied him proper counsel, and abandoned him to a court system that was not interested in his possible innocence, but bent on sending some kind of message to somebody about something, all of which gets lost when justice is denied.

Ryan MacDonald has written much and often about Father Gordon, and his article linked below is worthy of your time reading it and digesting its content.  You will find other links down and to the left of this article on my blog page, about 25 others to be more precise, about Father Gordon.

Father Gordon MacRae is a hero of the Catholic Faith.  Midst persecution and abandonment by those whose duty it is to love him unconditionally, and support him in his need, he has remained a beacon of Christ's teaching to love one another.  His witness from prison is stronger than the witness of any alleged "free man" that I know. 

A RAM IN THE THICKET: The Prisoner-Priest Behind These Stone Walls: By Ryan A. MacDonald A wrongly convicted priest fights back from his prison cell, and teaches a lesson in fidelity and Catholi...