After Eight Years in Exile Fr William Graham Is Credibly Innocent

Fr William Graham of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota was falsely accused and cast out in 2016 after his bishop deemed a nearly 40-year-old claim to be “credible.”

May 1, 2024 by Fr William Graham with an Introduction by Fr Gordon MacRae.

“Now have salvation and power come … for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accused them day and night before God. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

— Revelation 12:10-11

From Fr Gordon MacRae: Some of our readers might have passed over my recent post, “Pop Stars and Priests: Michael Jackson and the Credible Standard.” Much more than the strange story of Michael Jackson, that post was really about the much stranger story of Catholic priests falsely accused. Commenter James Anderson wrote of it, “This article is the best ever on your false conviction.” The matter of falsely accused Catholic priests has received some increased attention of late, but not nearly enough to counter the vast media bias that grew and festered through news of the scandal of sexual abuse in the Catholic priesthood since the moral panic of 2002.

In my post linked above, I wrote of a development in my diocese, the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire. A press release from the diocese has indicated that more names of long deceased priests have been added to a published list of the merely accused. The previous standard of “credibly accused” has now evolved to include everyone accused with no apparent investigation whatsoever. We published about the grave injustice posed by this practice in another post, “In the Diocese of Manchester, Transparency and a Hit List.”

Also in recent years, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has published a good deal about the rights of priests and why those rights must be defended within the Church. Another excellent source of commentary built upon justice is The Media Report hosted by writer David F. Pierre, Jr. Back in 2019, he sent a title and link into our Inbox: Two Falsely Accused Priests Fight Back and Win! In the matter of one priest in the Diocese of Duluth, MN, Dave Pierre summarized a development that caught my attention back then:

We are pleased to report that a Minnesota appeals court recently upheld a $13,500 jury award to Rev. William C. Graham after the jury found that an accuser had falsely accused him.

As we reported last year, the accuser was represented by the notorious law firm of Jeff Anderson, and Anderson's sleazy lawyer, Mike Finnegan, lied to the media that there was somehow a "split verdict" in the jury's decision.

But a woman on the jury wrote a letter blasting Finnegan's characterization of the verdict and added that there was "no proof" that any abuse occurred. Good for her.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new trend. When folks lie to courts claiming they were abused by priests, the priests should countersue, naming names. Justice demands it.

The slowly evolving matter of justice for Father William Graham finally came to a conclusion just days ago when Father Graham’s removal from ministry was overturned by the Vatican for lack of any credible evidence. Father Graham has been restored as pastor to the very parish from which he was removed unjustly eight years ago, and exiled from any priestly ministry, barred from even identifying himself as a priest. It comes as a great and triumphant irony that Father William Graham is now restored as pastor of Saint Michael the Archangel Parish, a parish named to honor the Patron Saint of Justice. Here is Father Graham’s first homily upon his return sent to me just days ago.

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Father William Graham on the Road to Emmaus

Well, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted ... Thank you. I’ve been working on that line for the last 95 months.

The old gospel hymn describes what I see here today: “When all God’s children get together, what a time, what a time, what a time!” And what a wonderful sight this is to me: all of us together again around book and table, thanking God for the gift of Christ, remembering and celebrating that the Church makes the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes the Church. Vatican II teaches us that: “the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the Paschal Mystery: reading those things ‘which were in all the scriptures concerning Him’ (Luke 24:27), celebrating the Eucharist in which ‘the victory and triumph of His death are again made present,’ and at the same time giving thanks ‘to God for His unspeakable gift’ (2 Cor. 9:15) in Christ Jesus, ‘in praise of His glory’ (Eph. 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit. To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations.’

We are much like those disciples who, on the road to Emmaus, met Jesus. He was made known to them as He is made known to us: in the telling of the stories and in the breaking of the bread. Those disciples shared the agony of the passion and death of Jesus. We, too, have suffered as the Body of Christ, broken, but called to new life and renewed hope.

You and I have been through a terrible, traumatizing experience. I was falsely accused and denied both justice and mercy by our local Church. A number of folks have asked why I didn’t just quit and go away. That is not how justice is accomplished; it is not how we seek the Truth, who is Christ, and who will set us free. Doing the right thing is a demanding task. You know that. I have found the path to justice exhausting and worrisome and, let me say, very, very, very expensive. All that we have is our human dignity, and it is our obligation to assert and defend that dignity as we seek the face of God. Pope St. Leo the Great told us of that duty of ours when he said in the fifth century, “Christian: remember your dignity!”

I am deeply sorry that the pursuit of justice was so long and difficult for you here, and for me, and for all who were involved. Those who stood for justice will enjoy what the psalmist promises, that the Lord does wonders for his faithful ones, and hears us when we call upon him. Further, the light of the Lord will shine on us, and he will put gladness into our hearts (Psalm 4).

The Vatican official who made the last determination of my case spoke out on March 25. He is Archbishop Charles Scicluna, adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He told Vatican Media that “The pope very often repeats this phrase: ‘When one of us suffers, we all suffer.’” Scicluna added, “If there is this attitude of solidarity, if there is the thirst for justice of which Jesus speaks, but also the will to do good, then the law becomes a living instrument, otherwise, like all laws, it could remain a dead letter.”

I am grateful for the Church’s laws and courts. I received no justice, no comfort and no word of mercy from the Diocese of Duluth during my long ordeal, and often told the bishop, and the previous bishop, that Psalm 31 speaks to my pain: “I am like a dead man, forgotten, like a thing thrown away.”

Pope Paul VI told us that if we want peace, we must work for justice. We who seek Christ among us must understand that justice is the first virtue of both Church and civilization. Without justice, we have no future or no hope. I am grateful to the Vatican, my legal team, my family and friends, and many of the members of this parish, and many former members, who insisted that justice be done. We cannot walk away from injustice and hope that the universe will fix it. Our mission is to build the Reign of God among us; we cannot do so if we ignore the demands of justice. Justice is first and obligatory; we are bound to seek justice; we are called to do charity. Jesus Himself tells us in today’s Gospel passage why we pursue justice, no matter the cost. Remember that the two disciples who had encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus were telling the others about their experience. “While they were still speaking about this, [Jesus] stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” They were terrified, thinking He was a ghost. When they recognized Jesus, He ate with them, and said:

“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”

Christ “claims dominion over all creation,
that He may present to [the] almighty Father,
an eternal and universal kingdom:
a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.”
— Preface of Christ the King

We, you and I, are called to be men and women of peace, in imitation of Jesus, with whom we are on the road, and whose Spirit gathers us to Himself. Here at St. Michael’s, our immediate task will be to pray together and listen to each other with the ears of our hearts. After that, we will ask each other, Where do we go from here? We can’t have a plan or an agenda yet, but we will move to healing and peace, reconciliation, cooperation with grace, “Proclaiming the Gospel in Word, Sacrament, and Service” (Parish Mission Statement 2015).

I have heard that some say that this is a time for mourning, or grief or grieving. I do not say that. I say that this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it.

May The One who began this good work in us bring it to completion in the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

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Note from Father Gordon MacRae: Thank you for reading and sharing this landmark post. You may also like these related posts from Beyond These Stone Walls:

Saint Joseph: Guardian of the Redeemer and Fatherhood Redeemed

Casting the First Stone: What Did Jesus Write on the Ground?

Priests in Crisis: The Catholic University of America Study

The Eucharistic Adoration Chapel established by Saint Maximilian Kolbe was inaugurated at the outbreak of World War II. It was restored as a Chapel of Adoration in September, 2018, the commemoration of the date that the war began. It is now part of the World Center of Prayer for Peace. The live internet feed of the Adoration Chapel at Niepokalanow — sponsored by EWTN — was established just a few weeks before we discovered it and began to include in at Beyond These Stone Walls. Click “Watch on YouTube” in the lower left corner to see how many people around the world are present there with you. The number appears below the symbol for EWTN.

Click or tap here to proceed to the Adoration Chapel.

The following is a translation from the Polish in the image above: “Eighth Star in the Crown of Mary Queen of Peace” “Chapel of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at Niepokalanow. World Center of Prayer for Peace.” “On September 1, 2018, the World Center of Prayer for Peace in Niepokalanow was opened. It would be difficult to find a more expressive reference to the need for constant prayer for peace than the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.”

For the Catholic theology behind this image, visit my post, “The Ark of the Covenant and the Mother of God.”

Falsely Accused by Facebook: Like Déjà vu All Over Again

Wrongly accused of violating Facebook Community Standards my page was restored on appeal with an apology. Then Facebook warned me to never again do what I never did.

June 29, 2022 by Fr. Gordon MacRae

Some time ago, I wrote an article for Linkedin Pulse entitled, “Gene Roddenberry and Captain Kirk’s Star Trek Epiphany.” It was an odd blend of science fiction and faith. Linkedin users loved it — even some who were never Star Trek fans. It told the story of my childhood affinity for Star Trek which first entered our collective consciousness when I was 13 years old in 1966.

Actor Wil Wheaton caught my attention recently when he had a terrific essay published in the “Gears & Gadgets” section of The Wall Street Journal. A self-described geek, Mr. Wheaton played a somewhat cooler geek as Ensign Wesley Crusher in the 1980s Star Trek revival series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” My own geekness survived into adulthood so I saw every episode twice.

Since then, several additions to the Star Trek franchise have come and gone. My all-time favorite is the current one, Star Trek Discovery, a streaming series now in its third season. Prisoners do not have access to streaming television, but someone donated the DVDs for seasons one and two for broadcast on this prison’s in-house closed circuit channel.

But I’m off topic already. Wil Wheaton’s WSJ essay was “When Did We Lose the Internet?” (WSJ June 4-5, 2022). It was about how the Internet has evolved from his days as a young blogger in the early 1990s on Greymatter created by and named for Noah Grey. Wheaton wrote of Mr. Grey’s habit of personally assisting users:

“Can you imagine emailing Mark Zuckerberg any time you had a problem with Facebook? Now imagine him immediately fixing it.”

I have actually tried to imagine that. Facebook today boasts of having two billion users worldwide. I am one of them, but a reluctant and atypical one. I have never actually seen Facebook, but there is a page there for me and Beyond These Stone Walls that was created and maintained by our editor. I do not have a cat so readers will never see photos of my cat, but by some miracle my page has thousands of followers.

My entire Facebook experience involves simply posting my weekly post with help from our editor. My posts are then shared to a number of Catholic and prolife Facebook groups around the world. By posting to groups like CatholicismRocks and Catholic News Agency this humble blog reaches tens of thousands of readers.

Beyond These Stone Walls is not at all dependent on Facebook for readers, however. Those who come to the site from Facebook each week constitute less than ten percent of the readers of this blog. The vast majority come with “no referring link,” meaning that they subscribe directly (which is free and something I hope everyone will do).

In early March, 2022, I received an ominous message from Facebook that my account has been suspended and I am henceforth banned from posting, sharing, or commenting due to “violations of Facebook’s Community Standards.” I had no idea how this happened. So again with help, I reviewed the Community Standards and could not find any that I had ever violated.

From there, the story gets a little comical. At least, it would be comical if it were not also so frustrating. It was my first experience of pleading my case before an algorithm instead of a human person. I first wrote of this in another Linkedin article, “Banned by Facebook for a True Story of Anti-Catholic Oppression.”

The Facebook Oversight Board

It turned out that the offending post was one that I had written a decade ago. Facebook had no issue with it then. But when it was linked in another, newer post, it seriously riled Facebook’s Orwellian algorithm. The link was to a true story of anti-Catholic oppression that I had written back in 2011. It has been hiding in plain sight ever since. You may judge it for yourself. My banishment was because of “Catholic Scandal and the Third Reich: Rise and Fall of a Moral Panic.”

That post was an entirely true and fully documented account of false witness in 1939 Germany. Angered over an anti-Nazi document bravely published by Pope Pius XI, Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, falsely accused over 300 German Catholic priests of sexual abuse and arrested them all. It was a demonic effort to silence the Church. In the end, all but three were acquitted and exonerated because the German courts had not yet fallen into lockstep with the Nazi regime. The post opened with a quote from Hitler himself: “The great mass of people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.”

Somehow, Facebook’s algorithm immediately detected this mention of Hitler and his quote, and determined it — and me — to be socially and culturally dangerous. So Facebook froze my account. We appealed that decision in a lengthy process that rivaled any state or federal appeal I have encountered before or since.

Anyone who has ever taken the time to endure a Facebook Oversight Board appeal knows firsthand what I was up against. The aura of suspicion and prejudice was a reminder of all I have witnessed in state or federal courts. With help, I completed a multitude of forms and answered page after page of probing questions such as “What was your motivation in writing this offending material?”

Finally, I was asked what community purpose the questioned post served. I explained that the Catholic Church has been rocked by allegations of often decades-old abuse in multiple countries, and reviewing all aspects of this phenomenon is in the best interests of the Catholic community. I then asked the Oversight Board to simply read the post instead of reacting to the algorithm’s rejection of it. Apparently someone did read it. We received this reply from the Facebook Oversight Board a week later:

“Sorry that we did not get this right. Our review of your post indicates that you did not violate Facebook Community Standards. Your post has been restored. Thank you for taking the time to appeal this matter and assist us in our continuing efforts to assure the safety of the Facebook forum.”

There were no angels singing the Alleluia Chorus. I actually did not care at all what Facebook concluded from my posts. My concern was for the Catholic groups that choose that forum to communicate with other members. I estimate that our posts reach about 200,000 people in those groups, and I was not keen on abandoning them to the usual Facebook fare.

But it wasn’t over. The Oversight Board restored the post within 12 days of discovering it. But Facebook did not restore my account. For the next 30 days it remained visible, but inactive meaning that we could not post or comment. Then for another ninety days Facebook censured all our posts by preventing them from being shared on the newsfeed for each of the Catholic and pro-life groups we had joined. The Facebook fiasco finally ended on June 5, 2022 which also just happened to be the Solemnity of Pentecost and my 40th anniversary of priesthood ordination. So my last post to be suppressed was “Forty Years of Priesthood in the Mighty Wind of Pentecost.”

Metaverse Madness and Independence Day

One week later, when our editor checked our Facebook account status, the following message popped up: “Your account has been fully restored. If you violate Facebook’s Community standards again your account will risk being permanently suspended.” Facebook is now ever ready to penalize me for again doing what I never did in the first place.

At the same time, we received an email message from some unknown, even darker entity claiming to represent Facebook. It informed us that our account is “almost fully restored, but we need your account information and passwords to complete the restoration.” This was, of course, a fraud. A previous message also informed us that Facebook needs our debit card number and $50 to complete the restoration of the account.

We ignored and deleted both messages. It is troubling that Facebook’s algorithm can readily detect and react to anything suspected of violating “woke” sensitivities, but cannot detect attempts at fraud carried out in Facebook’s name. Facebook has enslaved itself to woke culture and for the same reasons MSNBC and, to a slightly lesser extent, CNN and network news outlets have. Advertisers require keeping a level of viewership, and viewers require content they agree with.

At Facebook, advertising dollars reign supreme. Facebook’s most valuable demographic is young people, but that age group’s mass migration to Tik Tok and other venues is underway. In 2022, quarterly revenue dropped significantly because Facebook’s advertising empire depends on keeping that demographic online and satisfied. Anything deemed offensive or disagreeable to that demographic is edged out of Facebook’s daily discourse — the First Amendment and free speech be damned.

Two weeks ago in these pages, we posted “Tragedy at Uvalde, Texas: When God and Men Were Missing.” In that post, I cited the grim reality of a burgeoning mental health crisis among young people in our culture, an alarming problem that exists today at a level never before seen. Something has gone terribly wrong. Over the last two years, daily users of Facebook rose exponentially because schools were closed and young men and women were learning remotely.

A lot of extra time was spent on Facebook in those two years, but the mental health crisis we are seeing demonstrates that Facebook just isn’t enough. Real, meaningful, human contact is essential to the development of the young. A computer just doesn’t cut it. We may never break free of social media, but we must break free of its addictive qualities. Independence Day 2022 is upon us, and it’s a good time to start with a Facebook-free day.

In the future world envisioned by Star Trek, no one ever even mentions Facebook or any anticipation of the accumulation of “likes.” Maybe our future might see Facebook as ancient history. Once you come face to face with a Klingon, no one wants to be his Facebook friend anyway.

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Actor Wil Wheaton in “The Game,” a classic episode of Star Trek the Next Generation in which he had to be liberated from enslavement to a mind-altering computer game.

Note from Fr. Gordon MacRae: Thank you for reading and sharing this post. Next week at Beyond These Stone Walls, I will present a post about the stunning news that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.

Please visit our newest addition to our Voices from Beyond page and please Subscribe if you haven’t already. You may also like these other titles that celebrate our hard-won freedoms this Independence Day:

After Roe v. Wade, Hope for Life and a Nation’s Soul

The Despair of Towers Falling, the Courage of Men Rising

Pornchai Moontri and the Long Road to Freedom