Scuffle Escalates I: Fr. Pavone looks for new diocesan digs, this is all about Life
The National Catholic Reporter reported yesterday:
Father Pavone also told CNS he has already explored the possibility of being incardinated in another diocese so he could resume full-time ministry with Priests for Life as soon as possible.
As did Amarillo Globe News :
Pavone expressed confidence that his stay in Amarillo will be temporary and that he and Zurek can work out their differences.
But he also seems certain his ties to Amarillo may be short-lived.
“I do not foresee myself staying incardinated in Amarillo,” he said. “It’s a sensitive issue. We’re working it out behind the scenes. But I say that in light of the bishop’s apparent unwillingness to let me do pro-life work full time. I will seek that elsewhere.”
In the interesting AGN interview video below, FP indicates these scuffles with bishops all boil down to reticence about his vocation: pro-life work, which he also intimated in a September 13 CBS piece:
“It’s an astonishment and bewilderment,” Pavone said of Zurek’s letter. “What does it take to allow a priest, a group of priests, to do pro-life work full -time?”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeJk3Xor5E4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
The Amarillos diocese is sending mixed signals, appearing to back-pedal in the NCR piece yesterday morning :
Msgr. [Harold] Waldow told Catholic News Service Sept. 13 that Bishop Patrick Zurek only suspended Father Pavone’s ministry outside of the diocese because the well-known pro-life priest is needed for work in Amarillo.
… but stepping up demands by last evening, quoting Amarillo Globe News:
Amarillo’s Roman Catholic bishop called for financial transparency not only from Priests for Life… but also from two other nonprofits associated with a popular pro-life priest.
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek has demanded that the Rev. Frank Pavone… produce documentation for how donations have been handled by the… charity’s affiliates Rachel’s Vineyard and Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, said Monsignor Harold Waldow….
Recall Bishop Zurek’s original letter to fellow bishops called FP back to Amarillo due to concerns about financial at PFL (as well as concerns FP was getting too big for his britches):
There have been persistent questions and concerns by clergy and laity regarding the transactions of millions of dollars of donations to the PFL from whom the donors have a rightful expectation that the monies are being used prudently. These financial questions and concerns have persisted with no clear and adequate answers since the time when Father Pavone was under two previous bishop ordinaries. Since he has consistently refused to subject the PFL to a transparent and complete auditing of all expenditures, I have reasons to be alarmed at the potential financial scandal that might arise if it were the result of my failure to correct Father Pavone’s incorrigible defiance to my legitimate authority as his Bishop. Additionally, the PFL financial resources have afforded Father Pavone with a formidable civil and canonical counsel which he utilized to rebuff my every attempt at calling for financial transparency.
But in his response letter to bishops, Fr. Pavone listed over 40 financial documents PFL has provided Bishop Zurek (list on right, click to enlarge), plus check registries – all with no acknowledgement of receipt .
Meanwhile, FP has issued a new statement, and a canon lawyer has weighed in with interesting thoughts.

Come to Philadelphia! Archbishop Chaput is a champion of LIFE!
No wonder Father Corapi packed his bags and left.
Also, never underestimate the liberal scoundrels (i.e. Mark Shea) in the Catholic blogeshere (still peddling the waterboading/Bush is evil nonsense) they will smear a conservative priest real fast.
LOLRELIGION.
Uh… Jasper? What smearing has Mark Shea done against Fr. Pavone? And how on earth can he be described as liberal? Have you actually ever read his blog?
I think Fr. Pavone should contact Bp. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix, or Bp. Samuel Aquila of the Diocese of Fargo. Both are stalwart pro-life warriors!
Maybe Fr. Frank will come to the Los Angeles archdiocese…Lord knows we could use him here.
JoAnna,
Did you ever seen how Shea treated fr. Corapi? Or Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann? making fun of their looks, etc. Or Rick Santorem, Or George W. Bush? Or Micheal Voris?
I don’t think continual diocese-hopping is going to solve the problem. Keep in mind that even if Fr. Pavone goes to a diocese where the bishop supports his full-time pro-life work, bishops still retire, die or are transferred all the time, and a new bishop comes in who has different ideas, etc. This is precisely the trajectory Fr. Pavone went through originally after he moved from New York to Amarillo. There no reason to think it can’t be repeated.
Priests for Life really needs a different, special canonical status, not attached to a diocese. Fr. Pavone wanted to make it a religious order, but as he explains in the video, the fact that the priests were moving around all the time made it impossible to have the real community life necessary for religious.
I hope that now the Vatican is getting involved, they can help with the canonical status. Maybe it’s time for the Holy See to have a pro-life personal prelature! I think the fact that PFL is now going international makes this an obvious option.
(Priests for Life the next Opus Dei? Ha, ha, ha, that’ll drive CC crazy!)
Jasper,
I read Mark’s blog every day. I’ve seen him criticize Corapi, Palin, Bachman, Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Sibelius, and others – conservatives AND liberals – for various acts of idiocy. Being pro-life does not make anyone immune from legitimate criticism on other issues, nor should it.
I ask again, how has Mark “smeared” Fr. Pavone? Can you give an example?
…So if your Bishop requires an accounting of your business, you can just find another diocese and forget about obeying your superior? Pavone is forgetting what the primary function of a priest is. How about administering the sacraments? A layman can lead a pro-life ministry. We don’t need to use up the dwindling number of priests with full-time social justice ministries. We need parish priests. Pavone, lose your arrogance and pride and obey your bishop.
Pavone is following the path of Corapi – “I will do what I want and keep my lucrative ministry no matter what the bishop says.”
Humbly @Mike G – Please check Fr Pavone’s schedule of Masses he celebrates around the world before slanting him for not administering the Sacraments (especially check out his amazing flock-guiding Mass on 9.11.11 in Irondale @ EWTN which was viewed by millions of faithful Catholics inclg the homebound). He has celebrated several Masses here in Ave Maria over the years.
Fr Pavone IS being obedient and has been IN Amarillo as requested by the Bishop. Where is the Bishop? Why isn’t the Bishop available to meet and discuss the issues immediately with Fr Pavone since he ordered him to report to Amarillo so urgently without regard to prior commitments? The Bishop is on vacation, reportedly.
The lucrative ministry is lucrative to save the lives of the unborn, not to pad Fr Pavone’s lifestyle. Please check out the facts about his personal vow of poverty… He owns nothing and spends his every waking breath and all his energy defending the unborn. Do we do expend even a small percentage of our lives working tirelessly for other’s sake as Christ has called us? Woe to anyone who has said, written or implied anything negative about such a vessel of Christ’s mission!
Let’s support our good priests and help them stay good… and pray for those who have fallen to the devil’s temptations, that they may repent and experience Christ Jesus’ Divine Mercy!
God bless you all!
@Sara Beth Baker, I could not have said it better myself!
We wouldn’t have this problem today if every priest, in every parish, in every diocese, would stand up and defend life. Many of them claim they’re pro-life, yet they’re so afraid of offending parishoners, afraid they will walk away from the church. I say offend them, and let them leave. Unfortunately, it comes down to the almighty dollar, and not the salvation of souls.
@ Mike G, if you think Fr Pavone lives a lavish lifestyle, you should talk to the people who know him. He has dedicated his life to the pro-life cause, and not just the unborn. It’s a shame people can’t see past the person to see all the good he has done.
Mike G.:
Please explain how Fr. Pavone is guilty of arrogance and pride and HOW he has disobeyed the bishop. You do not know how often he celebrates mass and comparing Fr. Pavone with Fr. Corapi is like comparing apples and oranges. He is not guilty of the things you say.
David Wendell of Stayton, OR
Father Pavone maintains that PFL canonically is a “private association of the faithful” and insofar as PFL is, in fact, such an association, the Bishop has minimal oversight responsibilities of PFL including its cash. However the bishop does have considerable oversight responsibilities regarding any priest incardinated in his diocese.
Canonist Edw. Peters on his blog addresses this whole unfortunate situation rather well.
“I read Mark’s blog every day.’
That explains alot about you.
I never said he critized Fr. Pavone.
That explains alot about you.
That’s a lovely display of Christian charity, Jasper. I notice you didn’t address my comments about how being pro-life does not exempt anyone from legitimate criticism. Do you agree or disagree?
I never said he critized Fr. Pavone.
Actually, you did, in your first comment on this thread: “Also, never underestimate the liberal scoundrels (i.e. Mark Shea) in the Catholic blogeshere (still peddling the waterboading/Bush is evil nonsense) they will smear a conservative priest real fast.”
So, I’d like to know when and how Mark Shea has “smeared” Father Pavone. Can you please provide an example?
“Can you please provide an example? ”
Go read it again, I never said he did. But give the smear merchant some time, I’m sure he will.
“I notice you didn’t address my comments about how being pro-life does not exempt anyone from legitimate criticism.”
You’re right.