Commenting on Comments

I don't usually post about comments received in my combox but I thought this one (in regard to my post on Fr. Gordon MacRae) should be read by as many people as possible. Ryan A MacDonald is the author of two of the articles I linked to in my previous post and is also the author of the blog A Ram In the Thicket (which I highly recommend). In response to my post he remarked (I omitted a small portion but here is the part that caught my eye):
"As the author of two of the links mentioned in this post, I would like to comment further.... But it's even worse than the writer knows. The mother of this priest's accusers had a career as a child sex abuse investigator for New Hampshire's Child Protective Services. She had worked for years with the detective who choreographed this case. She had also testified many times as a State's witness in child sex abuse cases that came before Father MacRae's judge. By the time she appeared as the aggrieved mother of three men who stood to gain in excess of $650,000 in this case, she was already well-known to the judge. From day one in this trial the judge referred to the priest as "the defendant" and the accuser as "the victim." But there is a lot more. The accusers' mother and the police detective both had awareness of other cases involving other accused priests that had never gone to trial and had been quietly settled. So they lifted elements of those other cases and injected them into the case against Father Gordon MacRae. This had the Kafkaesque effect of causing Father MacRae's Diocese to distance itself from him from day one. Before trial, the Diocese tried to control this information by declaring MacRae guilty before he ever set foot in a courtroom. The levels of betrayal go on and on, but what was betrayed more than anything is the "justice" that we all presume takes place in a modern American court of law."

This fits in with a portion of the police report  I read that I couldn't quite follow as many of the names were blocked out and the report became quite confusing at times because of this. The officer referred a few times to a woman he worked with but I simply assumed that this was a fellow officer or someone employed by the police department. I didn't realize that this was an investigator for N.H. Child Protective Services. This "missing" piece of information casts even more dark shadows on a case that is drawing the attention of people around globe.  It also sheds light on areas of the case that reminded me of "copy cat" crimes (false accusations are certainly crimes) in that other priests were accused of the same exact crime, in the same exact place and even the details of the abuse were exactly the same.  What are the odds of this happening? The same exact scenario? The odds are slim at best.

I'd also like to recommend the post Called as Heralds of Truth written by Karinann at Daughter of the King. In this post she speaks about the clergy abuse scandal, Fr. MacRae, and the organization SNAP. In her comment section she remarks, "In the name of helping victims, organizations like SNAP have begun abuse of another kind." I couldn't help but be struck by the truth in this statement. What began as a group reaching out their hands to survivors of sexual abuse by priests has evolved into something else altogether. This is what happens when the cause itself becomes more important than truth. It's not hard to understand how this may come about when it concerns an issue as sensitive as child abuse but when a group gets carried away by their cause it no longer serves justice but, as Karinann says, it becomes abuse of another kind.

Father Gordon MacRae - Balancing the Scales of Justice

Last week I published my first post regarding the bizarre case of Gordon MacRae and in this second post I continue to express my concern over the very high possibility that an innocent man is spending his life in prison for a crime he did not commit.

"You can't possibly know for certain that he is innocent."

No, I can't. No one can give 100% guarantee of a man's innocence or guilt when there is absolutely no physical evidence in a case. None. No DNA, no videos, no tangible evidence of any kind.  I don't consider  snapshots (taken by the pd)  of the inside of a rectory physical evidence. This simply tells me that a rectory exists. Many of us can describe the inside of a rectory, myself included...all three floors of one in fact. Does this mean I've been abused there? Of course not. It simply says that I've been in one. So has my little girl for that matter. What the lack of evidence DOES tell me is that the odds of a man possibly being innocent of the charges against him begin to rise at this point. Doesn't mean he is innocent but there's already something pointing to this possibility.

"Okay, but the police did a thorough investigation you know."

 Yes, indeed they (excuse me, he) did. In fact, I've never seen anything quite like it. Zealous, fanatical, AND thoroughly misleading. It seemed as if the police officer in charge made sure that every teenager who had ever met Fr. MacRae at some point was asked their opinion on his sexual orientation. He also asked a number of teenagers over and over again in various ways if they were SURE that they didn't have any sexual incidents to report and even after being assured was unconvinced by these assurances and suggested they think about it for a time.

 God forbid a priest hug a troubled teen. Trust me, they don't these days. They are afraid to even touch their arms on accident. Don't believe me? Ask a priest.

So, yes, I'd have to agree that it was thorough. At one point the officer even tried to connect Fr. MacRae to a crime that took place in Florida and despite clear evidence that this never happened (which I found in an AG document) this wasn't pointed out in the police report....at least not in the one that I found.

You can damn a man by the evidence you leave out you know. At least in the eyes of the public. Which then brings us to another point: trial by media. Let's face it, many a man or woman has been found guilty in the "court of public opinion" based on biased and misleading journalism. All the sordid details of an accusation are quick to come out but you never get to hear any kind of a rebuttal from the accused party. It just doesn't work this way. Therefore, the public only gets to hear one side of the story and in the case of Fr. MacRae this is exactly what happened in newspapers all over the state. I should know, I've read them. Living here in N.H. this information is easy for me to find as I know the names of most of the "major" N.H. and Massachusetts papers. People in both states were still reeling over 2 previous cases of sexual abuse by  members of the clergy in  Massachusetts so you can imagine the climate here when Fr. MacRae's case became known. A fair and impartial jury is not easy to find under these circumstances. I have heard people claim that because Fr. MacRae's trial was one of the first in N.H. that bias was not the issue in his case but let me assure you that this is not true. Most of the news in N.H. comes from the much larger Massachusetts TV stations and newspapers.

"Surely the judge wouldn't have sentenced him to spend thirty-three and a half to sixty-seven years in prison if the man wasn't guilty! No one would do that."

 The judge sentenced him to such a lengthy term because Fr. MacRae showed no remorse. Well, to be honest, I wouldn't have shown any remorse either. Why would someone show remorse for a crime they didn't commit?

"The state must have been convinced that the evidence was very strong or they wouldn't have proceeded with it."

Actually, no... obviously they were not convinced because they offered a plea bargain of one to three years if Fr. MacRae would plead guilty. If you truly believe someone is preying on children and that your case is solid you would go all out. But no, this is not the case, Fr. MacRae was offered plea deals a number of times. Which begs the question:

If you were guilty of a crime wouldn't you accept a plea deal?

If you were not guilty wouldn't you refuse it?

I hope that each of you will take the time to read the links below:
- Truth in Justice (A note here - I have seen Fr. Scruton a few times many years ago. He is a real person and the parishes mentioned in this story are real. The only one I haven't been to is the one in Keene.)
- Should the Case against Father Gordon MacRae be Reviewed? ( A must read - one of the accusers recants his story and sheds new light on the case.)

My hope is that by reading this post (and others) people will dig a bit deeper into the case of Fr. MacRae. I'm writing it because there is a prison thirty minutes away that likely holds an innocent man within its cells and my conscience will not allow me to ignore this any longer.

"What about those of us who already believe this man is innocent?"

That's easy to answer. Make a stink. A big one. The more people who read the other side of the story the better. Write letters, write articles, blog about it. Keeping quiet is not an option if you believe someone may be falsely imprisoned. Every Christian knows the high cost of silence.

And most of all....pray.

Can anger be our friend?

"Passions are morally good when they contribute to a good action, evil in the opposite case."
                                         Catechism of the Catholic Church  # 1768

All human beings get angry, it is part and parcel of being human. Anger, in itself, is not a sin, it is simply an emotion. Unfortunately, because of our fallen nature it often leads us into sin. We have all heard the expressions: blowing our tops, flying off the handle, or hot under the collar. Anger becomes sinful when we dwell on it and get carried away by it; we fail to bridle our tongue and scream ugly things, yell at our children and act in an unloving manner. Road rage, revenge, and murder....these are all things that begin with anger.

Does anger always have to lead to sin? Of course not. Anger can propel us into positive action, also. It can stir us into taking steps to correct an evil and with God's grace can even be turned into a great zeal for justice. Look at Saint Paul. There are situations where we must, as Christians, use our voices; especially when something or someone is causing physical or spiritual harm to others. This is where anger can turn into a powerful force for good in our lives; when it lifts us from apathy and moves us toward justice. By the grace of God, anger can be a useful tool for positive change. Tempered [lol] with love, it can stir us into speaking up firmly in the face of injustice.

" We ought to speak, shout out against injustices, with confidence and without fear. We proclaim the principles of the Church, the reign of love, without forgetting that it is also a reign of justice."
                                                        Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.