Fr. John Corapi on the Cause of Today's Meltdown of Western Civilization

October 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A ten minute YouTube video of excerpts from a past EWTN interview with Fr. John Corapi has been making its way onto many Internet blogs and websites recently. Its perceived high relevance to the West's ongoing cultural and social meltdown appears to be the reason for its popularity. Corapi's blunt comments in the video titled, "Fr. Corapi and Corruption in the Church," take head on the contraception, abortion and euthanasia issues and his perception of the root cause of their deadly rise.
Corapi states that the rejection of Pope Paul's encyclical Humane Vitae "has everything to do with everything that you're seeing now - the meltdown of Western Civilization." He indicates that because of the resulting explosive spread of contraceptive use and it's frequent failure, the backup method of abortion has itself "become a form of contraception." He adds, "Pope Paul VI warned about that."
Fr. Corapi relates in incident that occurred when he travelled to speak at a conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.  Investigation by LifeSiteNews indicates that this occurred in September, 2001.
The renowned US preacher was told by a Canadian bishop that he was in the city in which the infamous Canadian bishops' official written and signed dissent from Humanae Vitae, The Winnipeg Statement, was drafted. Corapi was not aware of that at the time.
In the video, presumably broadcast some years after this incident, Corapi states that the Canadian bishops' rejection of Humanae Vitae "brings down such darkness and hell on humanity that it's hard to believe. The politicians will never get that. Many people in the Church even don't get that."
Regarding the failure of leadership by bishops and other Catholic leaders, Fr. Corapi, states, "I sympathize with anybody's dilemma who is in authority - but I only sympathize with it to a point." He explains, "If you don't have a backbone, you can't stand up straight. And if you can't stand, you're apt to fall for anything."
As for what actions he sees are required in the current situation, Corapi offers, "I have great difficulty with anything less than forceful action at this point. Complacency is the kiss of death."