Father Corapi

Wow. What a past few days. I started my new job on Thursday and then last night and today I got to see Fr. Corapi speak in Arlington Heights, IL.

Before Fr. Corapi came out there was a sneak preview of a new DVD coming out in a month or two called Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition. The few minutes that they showed us were incredibly moving. The documentary is talking to various baseball stars about their Catholic faith and how it inspires them. Some big names on there too, you know they have to be if I recognize them and they aren't on the White Sox: Mike Piazza, Jeff Suppan, Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Biggio, Juan Pierre, Mike Sweeney, and my very own AJ Pierzynski and Ozzie Guillen were among some of those interviewed. It was just really touching to see how they make their faith such a part of their life. They were accepting pre-orders there so we ordered two of them, one for Dad and one for me. If you have a baseball fan in the family I highly recommend it, but even if you don't or aren't I still recommend it. Mom is not a baseball fan, but she was really moved by it too.

After the Champions of Faith preview was a quick little plug for the movie Bella, which looks really good. Not much was said about it, but they said that if we wanted Hollywood to change and reflect our Christian values that we would have to support good movies when they come out and Bella is one of these. I already wanted to see Bella whenever it comes out so he was preaching to the choir with me, but I'm glad to see that they are getting it out there.

First off for those who may not be completely familiar with Fr. Corapi here is part of his official biography...

Father John Corapi is what has commonly been called a late vocation. In other words, he came to the priesthood other than a young man. He was 44 years old when he was ordained. His experiences prior to ordination have been termed simply astounding, but that is probably somewhat of an overstatement. They might be called extreme, however. From small town boy to the Vietnam era US Army, from millionaire businessman in Las Vegas and Hollywood to drug addicted and homeless, to religious life and ordination to the priesthood by Pope John Paul II, to a life as a preacher of the Gospel who has reached millions with the simple message that God's Name is Mercy!

I saw Fr. Corapi speak in person once before at St. Thomas More parish in Chicago back in, I want to say, 2004. Fr. Corapi comes out and one of the first things we notice is the amount of security he had. There were these big burly guards all around him that reminded me a lot of the secret service guys when we went and saw President Bush. Sadly, it appears that this is indeed necessary because of the many death threats and false accusations made against him. This is something I have heard of him having to deal with before, but still it was rather shocking to see. And since I was sitting directly in front of one of the security guys it was sort of a part of my evening.

He then gave his lecture about leadership. I suppose there really isn't any point in my trying to resay everything he said, because I could never do it because he's too awesome at speaking and I'm too crappy at speaking and remembering what he said. Suffice to say it was very stirring. One thing that stood out to me both last night and today was how much his speech and his phrasing and comparisons are made using military terms and imagery.

After his lecture there was a concert by Tajči. We actually didn't stay for this. Although her voice was beautiful, we had a long day and were tired and were aware of the long day ahead of us.

Waking at 5:50 this morning we made our way to Arlington Heights again. We were standing in line in the cold again by 6:30 (Fr. Corapi was to speak at 9:00). They let us in by 7:30, 8:30 was the rosary and 9:00 was Fr. Corapi. The format of todays talk was Q&A. He covered just about every topic you can think of; Iraq, terrorism, abortion, euthanasia, the priest abuse scandal, crazy "Catholic" antics, "Catholic" politicians, the lack of response from the bishops, drug abuse, media Jesus controversies (the "finding" of Jesus' bones and Jesus' "wife"), where our nation is going, and many more. All of these were discussed with the humor and ability of Fr. Corapi that many of us have grown to love. There was going to be a mass after Fr. Corapi spoke, but we have to go to mass tomorrow for Dad's RCIA, and since I was really uncomfortable from sitting all day long we decided to leave. Inbetween some of Fr. Corapi's lectures Tatiana (Tajci) came out and told her conversion story and what it was like living under an athiestic communist regieme.

It was a really great day. If you have a chance to see Fr. Corapi in person go if you can. If not he's always on TV and the radio preaching and teaching.