Jul 13 

News Articles Allege That Detective James McLaughlin Falsified Reports and/or Evidence but This Was Kept Hidden From the Jury in the 1994 Trial of Fr. Gordon MacRae.

July 13, 2022 by Charlene C. Duline

Editor’s Note:  The following is a guest post by noted author, Charlene C. Duline.  Retired from a distinguished career as a diplomat and Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department, Ms. Duline served the United States in several nations across the African Continent, in East Pakistan and Panama, and at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  She holds degrees in journalism and political science from Indiana University and a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

                                                              +  + +

"For 28 years Fr. Gordon MacRae said that NH Detective James McLaughlin falsified police reports.  It turns out that he has been on a secret list for doing just that."

                                                                                                                          Ryan MacDonald

I am outraged at the State of New Hampshire!  Every citizen in the State should be!  Recent news articles by Damien Fisher and Nancy West at InDepthNH.org  have pulled the shroud of secrecy from a grave injustice.  Few people in that State knew about a list formally called the “Exculpatory Evidence Schedule,” now better known as the “Laurie List.”  The list was revealed in December 2021 by the New Hampshire Attorney General as a result of litigation filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism which remains a litigant seeking the full publication of that list.

The court-ordered release of the list of compromised police is based on a Supreme Court decision holding that if  favorable exculpatory evidence has been knowingly withheld by the prosecution in a criminal case, the burden shifts to the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the undisclosed evidence would not have affected the outcome of a trial.  If such a violation occurred and the State failed to meet its burden, a defendant has been denied his right to present all favorable proofs and is entitled to a new trial or to have his convictions vacated altogether.

Former NH detective James McLaughlin, the shady detective who was instrumental in pursuing lie after lie about Fr. Gordon MacRae sending him to a long prison term in 1994, was prominent on the Laurie List for “Falsification of Records” and/or evidence.  Over 28 years of wrongful imprisonment in the New Hampshire State Prison, MacRae has consistently asserted that the case against him was built on lies, cheating and distortions aided and abetted by a dishonest police officer.

Just as Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck predicted in his 2003 book, Actual Innocence, those assertions have since been ignored or explained away at higher levels of the justice system by judges with a clear bias in favor of police and against defendants — and this defendant in particular.  Judge Arthur Brennan, the first New Hampshire judge to hear this case, told jurors to “disregard inconsistencies” in accuser Thomas Grover’s testimony.  As The Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote in The Trials of Father MacRae, they had much to disregard.

In addition to new evidence and witnesses that other judges declined to hear, much of MacRae’s failed 2012 Habeas Corpus petition was about Keene, New Hampshire sex crimes detective James McLaughlin and the shady tactics he employed to generate claims, prosecute, and convict MacRae in 1994 paving a path to lucrative settlement deals from the Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Now it turns out that McLaughlin was sanctioned on a secret Attorney General’s list for “falsification of records” in 1985, nine years before the trial of Father MacRae.  Under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors were required to reveal that fact to Defendant MacRae and his legal counsel.  They did not.  This was especially egregious because a central issue in this case has been the falsification of police reports and witness tampering.

Since there were no consequences, McLaughlin continued what he did best.  The record in this case is filled with post-trial witness statements that he threatened, intimidated, coerced and lied to witnesses, and falsified records.  At least one witness today claims that this detective attempted to suborn his perjury with a monetary bribe.  Judge Joseph Laplante, the New Hampshire federal judge who heard MacRae’s Habeas Corpus petition, ignored all of this and allowed none of these witnesses to testify under oath.

Few people know that Fr. MacRae was offered two plea deals before his trial and one during trial.  He was told that if he would plead guilty he would receive only one year in prison.  This honest man turned down the plea deals.  The lengthy criminal rap sheet of 27-year-old accuser Thomas Grover includes multiple arrests for forgery, theft, burglary, drugs, and assault.  He broke his future ex-wife’s nose when she questioned his perjury.

The jury never heard any of this.  Neither did they hear that Thomas Grover several times received financial payments from his personal injury lawyer, advances on his expected windfall in his accompanying civil lawsuit — a practice that is forbidden by the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.  Grover was awarded almost $200,000 for crimes that never took place.  There are photos of him dancing with stacks of $50 bills.

At the trial, Judge Arthur Brennan warned MacRae that if he took the stand in his own defense, the judge would open the door for Thomas Grover’s brothers to testify to their own false claims in related civil lawsuits.  Gordon MacRae was the only person never heard from in this trial.  In a flimsy 1996 appeal represented by a public defender (because MacRae’s diocese refused to help him), MacRae was not even allowed to be present.  At three attempts at a Habeas Corpus appeal before state and federal courts since this trial, neither MacRae nor any witness for his defense were permitted to give testimony.  At no time has any court official allowed a single word from this defendant.

The man who actually controlled the Diocese of Manchester during much of MacRae’s sentence was Monsignor Edward J. Arsenault, now known as Edward J. Bolognini.  He violated Church law regarding Father MacRae who was never told, despite repeated requests, what the Diocese conveyed to the Holy See in Rome about this matter.  Arsenault was later dismissed from the priesthood after pleading guilty to stealing almost $300,000 from the Diocese and the estate of a deceased priest.  He reportedly spent the stolen money in the company of a much younger gay musician.

At the time of his nearly $300,000 embezzlement, Arsenault held a $170,000 per year position as Executive Director of the St. Luke Institute for troubled priests in Maryland.  He served only two years of a 20-year prison sentence before being released and his sentence vacated when an unnamed third party paid his entire restitution.  Now a convicted felon with a new name, he today administers a lucrative contract for the City of New York.

I believe that Father MacRae’s bishop and diocese owe him apologies for their abandonment of him, their presumptions of guilt, their refusals to visit or even correspond with him for 28 years in prison where Father Gordon MacRae remains a priest.  He offers Mass in his cell each week, and has been instrumental in saving lives and souls.  One of them is the life and soul of my Godson, Pornchai Moontri, a conversion story beautifully told by Marian Helper Editor, Felix Carroll in the great Divine Mercy book, Loved, Lost, Found.

+  +  +

Editor’s Note: Charlene Duline’s Godson, Pornchai Moontri, now residing in Bangkok, Thailand, was the subject of a stunning investigative report by Father Gordon MacRae: 

“Getting Away with Murder on the Island of Guam”.  

For additional information on Charlene Duline’s article, see the following:

G Hides Some ‘Laurie List’ Names Hours After Release By Damien Fisher, InDepthNH.org

Famed Keene Cop Called Out for Federal Entrapment By Damien Fisher, InDepthNH.org

A Grievous Error in Judge Joseph Laplante’s Court By Ryan A. MacDonald

The Trial of Father MacRae: A Conspiracy of Fraud by Ryan A. MacDonald

PLEASE NOTE THE COMMENTS ON THIS POST AT THE VERY END. YOU WILL FIND THE NAMES OF THE BASTARDS WHO ARE KEEPING FR. GORDON J. MACRAE IN PRISON! 

Dying in Prison in the ‘Live Free or Die’ State

July 13, 2022

Written By Charlene C. Duline

 I am outraged at the State of New Hampshire!  Every citizen in the State should be!  Recent news articles by Damien Fisher and Nancy West at InDepthNH.org  have pulled the shroud of secrecy from a grave injustice.  Few people in that State knew about a list formally called the “Exculpatory Evidence Schedule,” now better known as the “Laurie List.”  The list was revealed in December 2021 by the New Hampshire Attorney General as a result of litigation filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism which remains a litigant seeking the full publication of that list

The court-ordered release of the list of compromised police is based on a Supreme Court decision holding that if  favorable exculpatory evidence has been knowingly withheld by the prosecution in a criminal case, the burden shifts to the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the undisclosed evidence would not have affected the outcome of a trial.  If such a violation occurred and the State failed to meet its burden, a defendant has been denied his right to present all favorable proofs and is entitled to a new trial or to have his convictions vacated altogether.

Former NH detective James McLaughlin, the shady detective who was instrumental in pursuing lie after lie about Fr. Gordon MacRae sending him to a long prison term in 1994, was prominent on the Laurie List for “Falsification of Records” and/or evidence.  Over 28 years of wrongful imprisonment in the New Hampshire State Prison, MacRae has consistently asserted that the case against him was built on lies, cheating and distortions aided and abetted by a dishonest police officer.

Just as Innocence Project founder Barry Scheck predicted in his 2003 book, Actual Innocence, those assertions have since been ignored or explained away at higher levels of the justice system by judges with a clear bias in favor of police and against defendants — and this defendant in particular.  Judge Arthur Brennan, the first New Hampshire judge to hear this case, told jurors to “disregard inconsistencies” in accuser Thomas Grover’s testimony.  As The Wall Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote in The Trials of Father MacRae, they had much to disregard.

In addition to new evidence and witnesses that other judges declined to hear, much of MacRae’s failed 2012 Habeas Corpus petition was about Keene, New Hampshire sex crimes detective James McLaughlin and the shady tactics he employed to generate claims, prosecute, and convict MacRae in 1994 paving a path to lucrative settlement deals from the Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Now it turns out that McLaughlin was sanctioned on a secret Attorney General’s list for “falsification of records” in 1985, nine years before the trial of Father MacRae.  Under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors were required to reveal that fact to Defendant MacRae and his legal counsel.  They did not.  This was especially egregious because a central issue in this case has been the falsification of police reports and witness tampering.

Since there were no consequences, McLaughlin continued what he did best.  The record in this case is filled with post-trial witness statements that he threatened, intimidated, coerced and lied to witnesses, and falsified records.  At least one witness today claims that this detective attempted to suborn his perjury with a monetary bribe.  Judge Joseph Laplante, the New Hampshire federal judge who heard MacRae’s Habeas Corpus petition, ignored all of this and allowed none of these witnesses to testify under oath.

Few people know that Fr. MacRae was offered two plea deals before his trial and one during trial.  He was told that if he would plead guilty he would receive only one year in prison.  This honest man turned down the plea deals.  The lengthy criminal rap sheet of 27-year-old accuser Thomas Grover includes multiple arrests for forgery, theft, burglary, drugs, and assault.  He broke his future ex-wife’s nose when she questioned his perjury.

The jury never heard any of this.  Neither did they hear that Thomas Grover several times received financial payments from his personal injury lawyer, advances on his expected windfall in his accompanying civil lawsuit — a practice that is forbidden by the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.  Grover was awarded almost $200,000 for crimes that never took place.  There are photos of him dancing with stacks of $50 bills.

The man who actually controlled the Diocese of Manchester during much of MacRae’s sentence was Monsignor Edward J. Arsenault, now known as Edward J. Bolognini.  He violated Church law regarding Father MacRae who was never told, despite repeated requests, what the Diocese conveyed to the Holy See in Rome about this matter.  Arsenault was later dismissed from the priesthood after pleading guilty to stealing almost $300,000 from the Diocese and the estate of a deceased priest.  He reportedly spent the stolen money in the company of a much younger gay musician. At the time of his nearly $300,000 embezzlement, Arsenault held a $170,000 per year position as Executive Director of the St. Luke Institute for troubled priests in Maryland.  He served only two years of a 20-year prison sentence before being released and his sentence vacated when an unnamed third party paid his entire restitution.  Now a convicted felon with a new name, he today administers a lucrative contract for the City of New York.

 

Comments (26)Newest First

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Pigbtin Mad 3 days ago · 0 Likes

I would like to know how EJB aka EJA was able to change his name so quickly and why a convicted felon could get such a good job in NY. Do they know? I had a phone conversation with this guy today and he was so rude and so condescending, it led me to this article. I feel like I hit the blackmail jackpot. Or maybe I will just send this info to the NYT and the Daily News.

Claire Best A day ago · 0 Likes

You did hit the blackmail jackpot and I have been trying to bring attention to the powers that be on this - problem is that many of them are compromised: US Atty for New Hampshire is Jane Young who was assistant AG when Arsenault pled guilty and went to prison where he was quickly transferred to jail and then home confinement and then released with his new name, new job and new companies (plural) and his $300K approx in restitution paid off. Who shook hands with Arsenault in the courtroom when he took the plea? Jane Young. And Geoffrey Ward who was also assistant AG deleted the files of 28 corrupt police officers. He is now federal prosecutor working with Jane Young. Imagine: Geoffrey Ward was in charge of the Public Integrity Unit at the AG office and he deletes corrupt police officer files when they are about to be made public. Meanwhile, James F. McLaughlin, the corrupt police officer who framed Father Gordon, worked in the DA’s office (probably deleting files) while his corruption records were being considered and eventually dropped. Incidentally, Edward Arsenault’s 1999 business “Virtus LLC - Protecting God’s Children” is listed in the Pandora or Paradise Papers. And it’s based at 10 Ferry Street, Concord NH - an address which was reported to Boston FBI in 2016 for suspected child trafficking. It’s also the address where the Diocese of Manchester refers families to re alleged sex abuse. And it’s also the address of Dyncorp which was accused of being involved in trafficking (remember Rep Cynthia McKinney’s grilling of Donald Rumsfeld on this in 2005 (it’s on You Tube))? Ironically (not) NH GAL Kathleen Sternenberg’s daughter was Chief of Staff for Donald Rumsfeld. In 2021 Arsenault opened a company in West Palm Beach Florida call “Da Franz” which claims to trade “all things Italian”. Coincidentally, in December 2021, just as the Senate Ways and Means Committee started probes about the Pandora Papers in the US (NH is home to $932.5 billion in Pandora Papers accounts), Autofair - NH’s largest auto dealer, was sold to an address in West Palm Beach Florida and Andrew H Crews, its CEO stepped down. Crews was also on the board of Children’s Advocacy Centers NH and head of “Granite One Health” which is tied, I believe, to the Catholic Medical Center for which Arsenault was in charge of increasing profits. Last year CMC was fined several million for a kickback scheme and who should step in to represent the whistle blower for his reward but Chuck Douglas III who had filed dozens if not hundreds of suits against the Diocese and described Arsenault as very pleasant to deal with when he went to jail in 2014. The two attorneys who represented the Diocese when Arsenault was there are Gordon MacDonald and David Vicinanzo. They also represented Purdue Pharma when it was sued by NH and managed to block an external audit of millions of documents which presumably showed the company’s knowledge of goals for addiction (perhaps one of the strategies to drive up profits for CMC under Arsenault). Shortly after Arsenault went to jail, David Vicinanzo opened a company called “Worldwide Languages LLC” with a Mary Arsenault. The company shares the same name as another one in PA that was fined $5 million by US under the False Claims Act. And one in Maine that has got some kind of sexual misconduct claims against it or similar. Smells like a racket is going on and I suspect that the reason Father Gordon MacRae has been denied justice is for members of NH Judiciary, local attorneys, police, Arsenault and victim advocacy groups to protect that racket. I followed the money and the relationships and the non-profits. I was staggered.

Editor’s Note:  The following is a guest post by noted author, Charlene C. Duline.  Retired from a distinguished career as a diplomat and Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department, Ms. Duline served the United States in several nations across the African Continent, in East Pakistan and Panama, and at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  She holds degrees in journalism and political science from Indiana University and a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

             

2018 TOP TEN AWARD

                 AN EMBARRASSING EVENING BY CHARLENE CECILIA DULINE
                                     Apr 1, 2020 | Non-Fiction | ***** 

               Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
                                                                                                               -Anon

What I am recounting here is definitely the most embarrassing evening of my life. When I lived in Tanzania, one of my good friends was one of two female Tanzanian legislators. There was none other like Mboni who was a delight and completely non-traditional. One evening when she and I were out to dinner, we ran into an Indian friend of hers. Mboni introduced me as an official with the U.S. Embassy and after chatting for a few minutes the woman invited us to drop by her home the next Thursday evening.

When I came in from work that Thursday, I had forgotten about dropping by her friend’s house, and I proceeded to sit down and roll up my hair. That is such a tedious process that I did it as soon as I got home if I was not going out that evening. In the U.S. I rolled my hair while watching television, but since Dar es Salaam had no television, I rolled my hair as soon as I got home, or else I spent the evening dreading the time that I had to do it.

I had just finished rolling my hair when Mboni called to remind me that we were supposed to drop by her friend’s that evening. I protested that my hair was in rollers and there was no way I was going to take those rollers out and have to re-roll later. Mboni told me to throw a scarf over my rollers. She insisted that Indians didn’t know anything about Black people, and would assume it was some Black hair style. She usually wore a scarf over her short hair, so we would both simply be wearing scarves. I did not point out that my scarf would have rollers under it, rollers that would be very obvious. I think we both thought it would just be us and the Indian woman. Mboni pointed out that it was a very informal invitation and I didn’t have to arrive looking like Mrs. Astor’s pet horse, as my Aunt Bess used to say frequently when gossiping about somebody.

Nobody ever described Mrs. Astor’s pet horse to me, but I knew exactly what it would look like. I knew that Mrs. Astor had to be wealthy to have a pet horse. I pictured the horse as being decorated in ribbons and bells, with her tail braided and her mane done up in a lot of bows. So, when Aunt Bess returned from church and said so-and-so was dressed like Mrs. Astor’s pet horse, I knew that so-and-so looked like dammit to hell!

I will never know why I let Mboni convince me to appear at her friend’s home with my hair in rollers covered with a scarf. The rollers were very evident underneath the scarf. But off I went hoping that they would indeed think it was some new Black style. We arrived in the neighborhood and found a lot of cars parked everywhere We finally found a parking space and walked back to the house where we discovered a party in progress. I nearly fainted, but Mboni insisted that we pretend we were the height of fashion and brazen it out.

There were about 50 or 60 guests at the party and we were introduced to each and every one of them. I, of course, was introduced as the “American Cultural Attaché with the U.S. Embassy.” Everybody was suitably impressed. I must have had the reddest Black face those people had ever seen. The Indian women were ultra-chic in their exquisite silk saris and Black hair sleeked back into perfect buns. Mboni and I looked anything but elegant. In fact, Mboni and I looked rather like the wrath of God, but since we were the only Blacks there, and probably the only ones known to our hostess or her guests, we had no one to be compared with.

Fortunately, there was no one there from the American embassy. I wonder what the U.S. ambassador would have said had he seen me at this ultra-chic Indian party looking the way I looked. For a second, I even wished that I had dressed to resemble Mrs. Astor’s pet horse.

As Mboni later pointed out, it was doubtful if any of the Indians had ever attended a social affair with Blacks. For all they knew, she said, all Black women wore scarves with lumps under them when attending social events. Nobody batted an eyelash and we had a great time.

On the way home, I was still embarrassed and protested that we should have turned around and gone back to our homes. Mboni said, “Indians don’t know anything about Black people. They probably thought we looked the height of fashion.”

I said, “Right! Especially with those lumps under a scarf that could be nothing except rollers in plain sight barely hiding underneath a scarf.”

She said, “Listen, nothing we do surprises them. Indians think Blacks are crazy anyway.”

I replied, “We certainly confirmed that tonight!”



Charlene Cecilia Duline has published, “Drinking from the Saucer: A Memoir,” about being a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, a UN secretary in East Pakistan, and a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency.

WE ARE CAREER PROFESSIONALS SERVING OUR COUNTRY

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL > OCTOBER 2019 > 

President’s Views

BY ERIC RUBIN

This is not an easy time to be a member of the U.S. Foreign Service. Nor an easy time to be involved in efforts to advance our country’s interests and the primary objectives of our profession: ensuring America’s security and prosperity and promoting peaceful resolution of disputes and the negotiated settlement of conflicts.

Our new governing board at AFSA is determined to support our members in the face of what is probably the most significant set of challenges our Service and our institution have ever faced.

Let me start out with an appeal to all Foreign Service members: Please stay. A significant percentage of our Service is eligible for immediate retirement. Others may be debating whether they are able to stay under current circumstances. My earnest request is that you stay if you can. The Foreign Service needs you. Your country needs you.

Just as the United States needs experienced professional air traffic controllers, food inspectors, forest rangers and FBI agents, it needs experienced career diplomats. That means us. America’s role in the world remains pivotal. Without U.S. leadership, almost everything will be worse. I believe that, sincerely. I hope you do as well.

We serve under difficult circumstances and take our families to tough places. At times we risk our lives. What do we ask in return? We ask to be treated with respect and to be recognized and valued for our dedication to our country and for the sacrifices that we and our family members have made.

Unfortunately, some of our colleagues have not experienced that respect in recent months. The clear politicization of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, as documented by the State Department Inspector General, is one glaring example. To date, there have been no consequences for those responsible.

The lack of senior Foreign Service jobs is not just an issue for the Foreign Service; it is an issue for American diplomacy. We currently have no active-duty Foreign Service officers serving in any assistant secretary of State positions. This is an unprecedented situation with no equivalent since the Second World War.

And the number of career officers serving as ambassador is at one of the lowest points since records have been kept. This is not just about jobs for our colleagues. It is about ensuring that our country has experienced career professionals serving in critical positions around the world.

A word about AFSA. We have nearly 100 years of experience representing the Foreign Service, and we do so with passion and commitment. But we can only do this with your help. We welcome and we need ideas and contributions from our members. Please share your suggestions and thoughts with us on our social media pages and, if you wish, through direct email communication to our board members. All of us can be reached via the links on the AFSA website.

While we certainly recognize the seriousness of current challenges, we are pressing ahead with efforts to get more positions established—or reestablished— overseas; to ensure adequate funding for our agencies and operations; and to support recruitment of a diverse, representative workforce. Let’s all keep working together to advance these objectives.

A special request to our colleagues from the other foreign affairs agencies: please keep in touch with AFSA, and share your suggestions and input.

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you, and I thank you for your commitment and dedication to serving our country and the ideals that it represents. Tough times require even stronger commitment and engagement. At this very difficult time, let’s demonstrate who we are and what we can do. That is the meaning of the oath to the Constitution that we all have taken.

Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.

{Note:  I simply wanted to share with you the thinking of our Foreign Service Officers representing you and our country during these troubling times.  Many are leaving because they cannot explain to a foreign audience what is happening to our country when they don’t understand either. They have no one in the Department of State who is working with them.These career officers are sorely needed. Please keep them in prayer.
Charlene C. Duline}

"Drinking From the Saucer" by Father Gordon J. MacRae. (August 12, 2009)

                                                   DRINKING FROM THE SAUCER

 You may not know it, but if you are reading These Stone Walls, you owe a debt of thanks, in part — or blame, as the case may be — to Charlene C. Duline.

Seven years into a comfortable retirement after an unprecedented career as a diplomat in foreign service for the U.S. State Department, Charlene waded into the midst of the U.S. Catholic sex abuse scandal.

When the loudest “reform” groups were assuming the rhetoric of lynch mobs against priests who were accused, Charlene called for another kind of reform: a courageous and faithful application of the Gospel of mercy and truth to the wound that had been laid bare in our Church.

In 2008, Charlene Duline, a convert to Catholicism, published her memoir, Drinking from the Saucer.

Her’s has been a life of many courageous stands.  Before the Civil Rights movement became part of our national consciousness in 1962, Charlene became the first African-American woman from Indiana to be accepted in the nascent Peace Corps.

After a two-year posting in Peru, Charlene took on successively senior diplomatic posts representing the United States in Haiti, Liberia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Panama, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and finally Washington, DC.

A graduate of the University of Indiana, Charlene holds a Masters degree in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

One would think she had done enough.  Toward the end of Drinking from the Saucer, Charlene described her concern for imprisoned  and discarded priests:

      "After one priest had been killed in prison, I wondered how others were faring.  I searched the
       internet to find out where some were incarcerated . . . I demanded to know why our Church
       officials have never asked for prayers and forgiveness for them."

As I juxtapose, today, Charlene’s decision to reach out to convicted and incarcerated priests, with the more vindictive voices of the self-described “faithful,” I can’t help but consider the well known Gospel Parable of the Good Samaritan. [Luke: 25-37]

A man is left beaten by robbers [yes, from my perspective, the analogy holds.]  A priest and Levite pass by in fear that helping the wounded man will leave them ritually impure under the law.  The Samaritan becomes the only person free to obey the higher law, to be a neighbor to the discarded and stranded.
                                                 

 

In his profound book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI wrote of this same parable:

The Samaritan . . . shows me that I have to learn to be a neighbor deep within, and that I already have the answer in myself.  I have to become someone in love, somone whose heart is open to being shaken up by another’s need.  Then I find my neighbor, or better that I am found by him. (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 197)

Charlene has learned something about the Gospel of Mercy.  The lesson did not come cheap, as her memoir describes.  Only such a wounded healer could call upon the Church’s shepherds with the force of having lived the Gospel of mercy, to refine the voices they are listening to in all this.  “What kind of shepherds,” she wrote. “abandon their sheep when they make a misstep.”

Charlene’s birthday is August 13th, the day before Saint Maximilian Kolbe’s feast day — the date of his execution in prison.  Her memoir concludes, not about herself, but about us, the discarded:

     "May they feel His Presence today, and every day."

                          

Comments

Kathleen Riney says

August 14, 2016 at 6:09 PM
(Edit)
Thank you Charlene! Your acts of Mercy gave Fr. G. a Freedom Few priests in the USA, have.
(Am sure Germany & the EU, are not any better.) You’re a living example of the Grace of God at work, through the intercession of prayers of the Faithful, the Body of Christ.
It’s difficult for some of us, who have been activists in the past 45+ yrs., to Retire to a “Prayerful Intercession”. The trace of Jansenism, that came with many of my Irish Immigrant Great-Grandparents, still nags us to “DO” something!  🙂
Think of the size of Fr. G.’s Parish!! Lowest Operating Cost in the World! Highest # of Converts…. Highest # of Prayer Warriors…….Spiritual Direction for Thousands, from Priests who are “Altar Christi’s”. Wounded Healers themselves! Global Internet Connections volunteered. Life experiences, are freely shared across Boarders of ethnicity, & an Acceptance that transcends “tolerance”, extends even to those who persecute the People of God. ( Although, the latter may take some time for a few of us!)
Thank you Charlene!  🙂


Susan McNair says

July 28, 2010 at 10:46 PM
(Edit)
Dear Father Gordon,

I have read about you Father and I know in my heart you have been falsely accused. It seems that the Church today is so eager to appease the media and the many accusers it is throwing the “baby out with the bath water”.

The Church is not taking the time to see if an accusations are true or not just pay them off and make it go away. What ever happened to justice? Our Savior, St. Paul and St. John the Baptist could answer better than any of us. You are in good company Father but I am sure you know that.

My prayers are with you. I pray for you every night and all those priests who have been unjustly incarcerated for false accusations; I also pray for those fallen angels who rightly belong there for it is the sin I hate not the sinner.

I pray for all our priests and clergy for it is a rough time for all of Gods foot soldiers.
May the blessings of our Blessed Mother keep you safe and your Guardian Angel watch over you and protect you.

Agape Love



Fr. Peter Lechner, s.P. says

October 3, 2009 at 2:00 AM
(Edit)
Being as I am also involved in an apostolate of help to priests — one that Fr. MacRae was also engaged in with me for several years – with many priests being helped by him before he was sentenced to what for all intensive purposes appears to be life imprisonment —

I appreciate the analogy of the Good Samaritan and the man who was robbed and beaten. Many years ago Pope John XXIII used the same analogy to speak of the Paraclete ministry to priests in need of someone to assist them because of being “wounded.”

Interestingly enough the Pope compared the Samaritan to Christ Himself, who has gone to an infinite extent to be with those whom He has sent out on His mission, wherever they may be. The innkeeper(s) are those who provide help until the Lord returns – and for which they will be “paid” for all that has been expended on their behalf.

My own understanding of this part of the parable is that this applies to all who like Charlene are reaching out -often in unpopular circumstances – to be part of ministering to abandoned souls, including abandoned shepherds.


Regina says

August 27, 2009 at 9:10 PM
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Oh, how I am grateful to you, Charlene, and your outright courage in defense of innocent priests falsely accused. I plan to order your book and then pass it on to others so that everyone can know what’s happening…
God bless you.


Rev Anthony Tran Van Kiem says

August 25, 2009 at 4:35 PM
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Dear Charlene,

During the first six months of my ordeal (from Feb to June, 2009, I sat idle most of the time, trusting my Bishop and his Chancellor in particular to protect me, and save my honor. Fortunately the parishioners of Our Lady of Victory where I once served told me to wake up from my torpor and fend for my life.

Suddenly I became superheated and kicked hard left and right. I relaxed only when my accuser retracted his charge (Sorry! A case of mistaken identification!), and my Bishop returned my priestly duties to me on August 15th 2009, the Feast of Assumption.

At the good news my body melted unexpectedly into a jelly and I slept for hours. When I woke up disoriented, feeling no interest in food… Fortunately my daze lasted only a few days. My spirits ( the Holy Spirit?) told me: Move your lazy bones! I did as instructed, I rummaged thru my computer and FOUND YOU! Dear Charlene . You have helped me to find my new vocation!

From now on I will spend the rest of my days comforting PRIESTS ACCUSED falsely or otherwise. They are most pathetic victims of INDIFFERENCE.


Charlene C. Duline says

August 12, 2009 at 10:58 PM
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I am terribly grateful to Fr. Gordon for allowing me the opportunity to work with him, and I thank him for his kind words about me and about my book. Fr. Gordon is foremost and forever a priest, and inside those stone walls he lifts up those sorrowing and inspires those despairing despite his own broken life and abandonment by his Diocese and all but a few priest friends.

He manages to retain the powerful faith that has made him the priest he has always been. He relates to the broken and discarded because of his own life experience. We are told that grace transforms our crosses into instruments and fine tunes them. Fr. Gordon is a perfect example of that. He would never present himself in a glow of holiness, but I would.

Fr. Gordon does not deserve what has happened to him, and no one except an innocent man and one of strong faith would continue to fight for freedom for fifteen years. I am honored to help this saintly man continue his fight against all odds. I ask everyone to storm heaven and beg our Lord for justice for Fr. Gordon MacRae.



 Mary says

August 12, 2009 at 9:25 PM
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Thank you for telling us about this remarkable woman.
Charlene ‘s witness to God’s compassion and mercy is inspiring.
It is a strange thing but the prayer many of us learn early and say often is not fully lived by many of us
“forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”

Yet this is what we must do but our hearts sometimes struggle with this particularly if we have been hurt.

I have found when you find your heart hardening contemplation of Christ’s passion can help soften it because He who was totally innocent suffered so much for us out of pure love and if He could forgive me for my numerous betrayals and hurts who am I to withold forgiveness from a fellow sinner?

In some ways prison is like Calvary -an innocent person in prison is like Christ on Calvary. Christ was innocent but flanked by guilty men. There was a total contrast in their response to Christ- one humble and contrite the other mocking and unrepentant.

May Jesus continue to imbue you heart with His sustaining love Father
God Bless

Reply

The Grinch Meets a Guardian Angel

THE GRINCH MEETS A GUARDIAN ANGEL

by Charlene C. Duline

For the past nine months I have often felt that if it was not for bad luck, I would have had no luck! The Grinch was me and any effort to get rid of him only irritated him more and made him cling to me even more!

Remember in July I was in the hospital and then rehab? I remember it very well.  And I refuse to let my guardian angel forget it! Where was he when I fell? How did he let that happen? I was nearly a paraplegic.  But after several months, I bounced back. Well, bounce is not the right word. Let’s just say that life plodded on.  My dear sister, Dolores, was in and out of the hospital and then hospice, and we lost her on December 5. We knew that her death was inevitable, but it still was a blow to the heart. 

Dee’s nephew charged two of us with giving away her furniture, clothing, food items, etc. A woman who works with the homeless had a field day with clothing, backpacks, bedding, etc.  It was quite a chore, especially with people calling at all hours when they were able to obtain the use of a truck, but we did it out of love. Several friends pitched in and spent days helping us clear the cottage.   Christmas was dreary but we got thorough it. 

For many, many months I have suffered from a painful hammertoe along with a bad bunion. I finally made arrangements to have surgery on February 15, 2019.  It was in and out surgery, but oh the aftermath!!! I was to put no weight on the foot! How the …..do I get to the kitchen, to the bathroom, to where ever I have to go?! The podiatrist said I would manage! And I did, thanks to Mama Gladys who spent many nights with me and during the day was kept busy putting ice on my foot every 20 minutes and off for 30 minutes.  I couldn’t wait to go to bed at night.  Gone were the nights when I read my murder mysteries until 3 a.m. I went to bed at 9 p.m. One week later the foot doctor said my foot was healing nicely, but to stay off of it!

One night I decided to order for delivery two bowls of chili.  I ate one bowl and it was delish as always.  And then I got sick and sicker! The next day I notified the business and said they could test my second bowl to see what caused my illness. They declined, but refunded my money.  Great, except I was still ill!!

I didn’t feel well the following days and I stopped eating.  I drank a lot of water, but I was afraid to eat because my tummy did not feel right.  Mama Gladys fretted because I refused to eat for three days.  On the fourth day I woke up with the room spinning around and I began barfing.  I yelled for Mama Gladys who did not hear me for several minutes. I needed towels to absorb the clear liquid rushing from my stomach. The dizziness came in waves and when it did, I would close my eyes and try to grab something to hang onto.  Mama G called Bernie to come over.  She didn’t know what to do with me. She talked about taking me to the hospital but I vetoed that.  At one point I came out of the bathroom and the two of them were helping me, but I just wanted to lie down on the floor.  I could not make it to the bedroom.  I laid on the floor and wondered what the hell was wrong with me. I asked for a pillow for my head and finally I told them to call an ambulance.  

 I was not taken to St. Vincent’s hospital because they were full. We went to Methodist but Mama G and Bernie had gone to St. Vincent’s looking for me where they waited for almost three hours before finally learning that I was not there. The hospital determined that I was dehydrated, had the flu and pneumonia, and I was dizzy and had a foot that I could not walk on!  I was a wreck!  

Meanwhile Father Gordon MacRae and my godson, Pornchai Moontri thought I had died in my cottage, and asked the police to check. Robin Run would only tell them that I had been taken to an emergency room.  Finally, Father Gordon had someone call my pastor, Father Todd Goodson who had no idea where I was.  But he soon found out and shared the information with Father Gordon.

I kept asking the doctors and nurses to put warm water in my ear to get out the wax. I had that done the last time I was dizzy and it solved the problem. Finally, a nurse removed the wax, but the dizziness persisted! After six days in the hospital, I was released to a rehab center.  I was there for two weeks mainly because of the continued 

dizziness. 

An Indian therapist said she knew maneuvers to get rid of the dizziness. I was reluctant to let her try because I knew I was not going to like the maneuver.   Finally, I reluctantly let her try and it involved jerking my head from side to side. She was delighted to show off her skills, but I just prayed that it would stop. It helped a bit. I came home the next day and I was still dizzy.  My primary care doctor arranged an appointment for me with an ENT specialist, but it was two weeks off! People said I was lucky.  Well, I guess! Plus, the appointment was not even with the specialist, but with his nurse practitioner                   

    

Once at home I thought about how fortunate I was to have friends who looked after me, brought me flowers, cards, items for St. Patrick’s Day, cans of 7-UP and candy, candy, candy! I was so pleased that I had lost about 15 pounds in a month of not eating, and I only ate half or less of the food at the rehab facility. But the Snicker bars in my bedside drawer yelled my name and I could hear them loud and clear.  Friends called and people I barely knew sent cards! I had to thank my guardian angel, but I warned him that if anything else bad happened to me that we were done!

So that’s my story and I guess I will have to stick with it. So, dear ones, that is why you have not heard from me for awhile. To my priests in prison, please forgive the weeks we have not been in touch. You were in my prayers. 

Hugs to all!

C