Erie, Pennsylvania
Priest reconciled with website he called ‘from the devil’
A priest has apologised to the media organisation Church Militant for making untrue allegations. Fr Larry Richards had criticised the website, saying it was “from the devil”. He later claimed: “They threatened to kill me ... Literally, I got death threats from a good Catholic organisation that wants me dead in God’s name.”
But last week, Fr Richards made a video offering a “long-overdue apology”. The death threat was not from Church Militant, he said. He added that he had shown “hypocrisy” by “demonising” Church Militant. Fr Richards said he needed to practise what he preached better, and asked for prayers. Church Militant’s chief of staff, Simon Rafe, accepted the apology and praised Fr Richards’s witness, adding: “The primary quality of the Christian is not ‘goodness’ or moral perfection – it is contrition.”
