The real victim

This heartbreaking and revealing post, from These Stone Walls is a must read. There, but for the grace of God, go you or I.

Stone Walls and the Falsely Accused

“There is no segment of the American population with less civil liberties protection than the average American Catholic priest.” Bill Donohue, Catholic League President

Psalm 141:7 Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. [8] Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me.

Before I happened upon the blog, These Stone Walls, it never occurred to me that there were priests in prison who had been falsely accused of sexual abuse. Who knew? (That's a rhetorical question!)

It is utterly unthinkable that people would "cash in" on the Church's misery of the sex abuse scandal by laying claim to hundreds of thousands of dollars by lying about being sexually abused by a priest. But that's exactly what happened to Father Gordon MacRrae. His story has been well documented in the sixteen years Father has spent in prison. Had he confessed to guilt, he would have been out in less than three years. But Father MacRae maintains his innocence, doing penance in prison since 1994 for crimes he did not commit.

I urge you to read this post. I urge you to read These Stone Walls. It is authored by Father MacRae from his prison cell, though he has never seen his own blog. He types the posts on a typewriter from his prison cell, and sends them by mail to a friend who scans the posts to send on to Australia for publishing, complete with graphics. Father MacRae only gets to see the posts after his friends print them out and mail them to him.

Please pray for the falsely accused. Please pray for Father Gordon MacRae.