In my first posting on the plight of Father Frank Pavone, I drew the analogy, which gained little traction with fellow pro-lifers, between the Apostle John’s deference to Peter on the first Easter Morning, and the relationship between the pro-life movement and the bishops.
Then, I wrote in response to some ugly, ugly letters and sentiments out there directed at Bishop Zurek, as well as the “Free Father Pavone” website that has been established. Not much luck in the persuasiveness department regarding my belief that we should allow Father Pavone and his bishop a quiet space to work out this situation.
Now I have fellow pro-lifers upset that I will not cosign letters to Bishop Zurek, or speak out against him. (I’m beginning to miss the Zen of working with bacteria that can kill me in one act of carelessness!)
It seems that there are a number of misunderstandings, coupled with rightly held love of Father Pavone that seem to be fueling this fire. My own love of Father Pavone directs that I attempt to assuage people of their misunderstandings, which having done so, should set the ship aright.
My last word on this before a resolution between Father and his bishop.
I don’t expect non-Catholics to understand the unique relationship between a Catholic bishop and his priests, and I apologize for the lacunae in my understanding of Protestant ecclesiology among the varied denominations. I don’t even expect most Catholics to have a good working knowledge of this Presbyteral dynamic, given the appalling state of Catholic catechesis over the past fifty years.
On ordination day, a deacon puts his folded hands inside the hands of the bishop and vows to respect and obey that bishop and all of his successors. That’s a tremendous act of faith on the part of the newly ordained priest. They are sacred vows in a Sacramental Vocation, witnessed by the Church assembled and registered in Heaven for all eternity. As first happened as a deacon, a priest undergoes a radical change in his very human nature that lasts forever.
Married people make their own sacred vows, which are temporal, until death. These too are part of a Sacramental Vocation and are registered in Heaven, given before the Church assembled.
We’re all expected to honor those vows, and in truth, few actually have a clean track record with them. Plenty of priests cross the line from normal grousing about their bishops into uncharitable words, and some into outright defiance. Married people promise, “I will love you, honor you, and cherish you all the days of my life.” Sometimes it gets ugly.
It did for Regina and me some years back, as we missed a thousand checkpoints along the way, resulting in a toxic marriage that came right to the brink of divorce. We slowly, imperceptibly lost our way with one another until we found ourselves in hell. The failings were great and small, and they were mutual. However, we could not escape the solemnity of our vows, which was all we had left after ‘love, honor and cherish’ had been put to flight. If we slid into hell, the journey out was quite a climb; and it required both of us in mutual submission to one another as well as in mutual submission to God’s will for us. Above all, it required frequent sacramental nourishment in Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
At the lowest point, two old priests heard me bellyache for over an hour before they spoke a word. The first asked one simple question:
“When was the last time that you complimented Regina?”
That was sheer brilliance. Go back to where the train derailed.
The second simply stated,
“Gerry, you’re like a son to me, and I witnessed your vows on behalf of the Church. I don’t care what’s gone on between the two of you. I expect you to honor your word to Regina and your God. I expect you to be the sort of man you’ve always aspired to being, and now is when you’ll prove yourself.”
Thus began the journey home. Coming Home has layers of meaning for me, which is why I gave this blog the name. The journey was more than worth it and took us to where we were supposed to be all along.
Father Pavone now finds himself in his own brand of hell in his relationship with his bishop. The dynamic is different from marriage. A priest is an extension of his bishop. He does not possess the fullness of priesthood, as does his bishop. He goes where he is told and does what he is asked to do.
Pope John Paul II taught us that authentic freedom consists in doing what one ought to do, and not what one wants to do.
For all of the immense good that Father Pavone has done, he was not ordained a pro-life activist. He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest. I was at his ordination. I heard his vows. I saw the chalice and paten placed in his hands. I saw Cardinal O’Connor hand him the Book of the Gospels, signifying his priestly mandates to preach and teach the Gospel and to consecrate the Eucharist.
That blows away everything else on the planet, including the pro-life movement!
Now, to quell the misperception that Bishop Zurek has accused Father Pavone of wrongdoing (aka, malfeasance), I didn’t read those words. I read that Bishop Zurek was questioning the prudential use of large sums of money.
That takes things out of the realm of illegality and places it into the realm of subjective pastoral vision. That makes matters messier. As Father’s bishop, Bishop Zurek bears responsibility and moral culpability for any poor stewardship of large sums of money in a ministry that he has assigned Father Pavone to run.
It’s the vision thing, and Bishop Zurek’s vision and priorities matter. He’s the Apostolic Successor.
So, yes, Father may well have been transparent in his revelations of finances (and I wouldn’t expect anything less from him), but may not have satisfied the subjective vision thing. Who knows?
There are only two men on this planet who know the whole story, and they need a safe, quiet, private place with one another to resolve this situation.
Accent on quiet.
Two priests exhorted me to honorable Christian manhood in honoring my lifetime vows with Regina, despite our mutual failings. Divorce was not an option in their eyes. As Catholics, we understand that the failings are not so important as the humble admission of guilt and the stated desire to reconcile, to allow Jesus to send His Holy Spirit to make all things new.
I exhort two good and holy men to do the same in their father-son relationship, but they can’t unless we drop the torches and pitchforks and allow them the space where each can save face and fulfill their priestly obligations to one another in all charitable forbearance.
That’s a process and not an event.
This is no longer a pro-life issue. This is no longer about Priests for Life. Father Pavone is operating in a much higher realm. He is dealing within the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ, and his duties as an obedient son to his bishop. There, humility and obedience, not lobbying and blogging, are the coin of the realm.
If we love God more than we love ourselves, He will lead us to honorable restoration of our Sacramental, Vocational duties. I think that’s true for Father Pavone and Bishop Zurek. I have every expectation that guided by the Holy Spirit, a restoration of their relationship will produce abundant fruit.
Beginning Friday night (9/23), and every night for nine nights at 8 PM EST, I’ll be hosting the Saint John Vianney Novena for the intentions of Father Pavone and Bishop Zurek. All are welcome. If any priest or deacon wishes to guide us with prepared meditations each night, please let me know.
Coming Home 
Brilliant!
It’s really true, and profoundly supernatural, not natural or worldly, as I find much of the response to Bishop Zurek to be. It’s also why I moderate comments on my blog, hassle though it is, in keeping with the expectations of charity.
Thank you … thank you for this. I sincerely appreciate your openness regarding your own struggles with living out your own vows with your wife.
Please pray for my marriage – like yours was, ours is currently off track and understanding its context in the light of the sacrament, it is definitely a desire of mine (and I pray my husband’s) to get onto the right track again.
Father Pavone and Bishop Zurek have my prayers. Where the bishop is, there is Christ …
Thank you.
Excellent!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Wonderful and well said. The thought that came to me recently is similar, and pro-life activists are going to have to deal with it: The Catholic Church is bigger than the pro-life movement.
[…] In my first posting on the plight of Father Frank Pavone, I drew the analogy, which gained little traction with fellow pro-lifers, between the Apostle John’s deference to Peter on the first Easter Morning, and the relationship between the pro-life movement and the bishops. Then, I wrote in response to some ugly, ugly letters and sentiments out there directed at Bishop Zurek, as well as the “Free Father Pavone” website that has been established. N … Read More […]
Good post!! Although one thing I will point out is that some priests have certain gifts and if you squelch those gifts then you are squelching the Lord’s gifts and the God’s plan, not man’s plan.
How come people people don’t complain about missionaries work being full-time? Pro-life work is at least as important as missionary work is. Both are saving lives and bringing people to Christ.
Without life where would be all be? Christ is the most important person in our lives but without life we would not have the opportunity to follow Christ. In this sense as a mission of the Church I would call it one if not the most important missions of the Church.
God Bless.
When in doubt I go on my knees even in the middle of the boat which is rockin’ and pitchin’ with everyone doing their own thing. It is His will for me. How many times have I stopped in mid-sentence and realized I was not speaking what He asked or changed my direction of travel right in the middle of the intersection.
Traveling with the Lord is a thrill a minute. I must hang on tight. I can’t get any directions other than from Him or one of His representatives, an angel, or a perfect stranger placed in my path. No map included!!
Thank you Gerard for explaining the situation so beautifully and so charitably. And how true that only 2 peope know the truth of the situation: Father Pavone and Bishop Zurek. Where will you be holding your novena for Bishop Zurek and Father Pavone? On line? Or…? I’m glad that you will be beginning the Novena on Sept. 23rd, the Feast of St. Padre Pio..prayer will enable hearts to open to God and His love for all. Thank you with all my heart for the blessing and the peace your words of understanding bring…
Teresa – I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure missionaries often take different vows (or no vows, depending on their state in life). A diocesan priest is not the same as say, a monk who belongs to a missionary order. If you use the marriage analogy again… I have vows to my husband and our marriage. This means I can’t just up and leave and do missionary work (as great as that work may be) if that doesn’t somehow account for my marriage commitment. If a friend left their spouse to do “good works”, it would only be right to intervene and call them back to the primary calling.
Gerard–I respect your words and the wisdom in them. I disagree that the bishop did not accuse Fr. Pavone of financial improprieties. His letter, sent to all other bishops, raises such serious and grave concerns repeatedly about money that even if you parse the words and say it is only about prudence, it was far more than that. He also asked the faithful to stop donating to PFL, which Bishop Gries in Cleveland has not contradicted by asking the faithful to continue donating. Bishop Zurek said Fr. Pavone was suspended, which in a letter to fellow bishops is not acceptable due to its canonical suggestions that were, in fact, not true. The diocese has since said that PFL’s money belongs to “the Church,” which Ed Peters has shown to be false. And it is legitimate, as Card. OConnor and Egan and Bishop Yanta and all the bishops on PFL’s board have confirmed, for a priest to say that the way he lives out his priesthood is through full time pro-life mission, and to defend that viewpoint (while being obedient) against the suggestion that it is not appropriate. I agree that a priest and bishop have a relationship requiring obedience and respect. But I think that you are calling for more than obedience and respect–you are saying that Fr. Pavone and the laity can’t even publicly disagree, while Fr. Pavone has obeyed what he has been asked, and has not spoken disrespectfully (the bishops’ letter shows far far more disrespect of Fr. Pavone than anything Fr. Pavone has said) in the face of incorrect assertions and “grave” and extremely troubling accusations by the bishop that the diocese has had to back away from. This is not even close to being a situation where the only thing that happened was that a bishop quietly called his priest back for reflection and some prudence questions. I think this context prevents us from discussing it, and the priest-bishop relationship, as if that is all that happened. It paints Fr. Pavone’s statements and the laity’s defense of him (though not the angry laity statements, which I agree are out of line) in a far more negative light, and that’s just not a fair assessment to put on a blog.
that should say “Bishop Gries in Cleveland has noW contradicted”
Re: On Love & Obedience
“we should allow Father Pavone and his bishop a quiet space to work out this situation”
Or there is nothing to work out. Father P. Must comply with his Bishop’s orders; and the good Bishop must comply with both Canon Law & charity.
“Now, to quell the misperception that Bishop Zurek has accused Father Pavone of wrongdoing (aka, malfeasance)”
The good Bishop wrote: “I have decided to suspend Father Frank A. Pavone from public ministry outside of the Diocese” In the American Church the word “suspend” is normally used by a Bishop when a priest has done something very wrong.
“I read that Bishop Zurek was questioning the prudential use of large sums of money.”
Imprudent, unreasonable, unfair, unjust or immoderate actions are usually both unlawfully and immoral and likely actionable.
“As Father’s bishop, Bishop Zurek bears responsibility and moral culpability for any poor stewardship”
No. He does not. That is the responsibility of the PFL Board of Directors. The good Bishop has no moral or legal (Secular of Canon law) authority over PFL. However he must answer to Giod for Father P’s immortal soul.
“There are only two men on this planet who know the whole story, and they need a safe, quiet, private place with one another to resolve this situation.”
The good Bisho,p by asking 195 American Bishops to advise their people not to contribute to PFL, involved every American Catholic in this mess not to mention the PFL leadership, staff, advisers, supporters and donors.
“There, humility and obedience, not lobbying and blogging, are the coin of the realm”
It is hard to find a Canonized Saint who has not done at least a little lobbying for good cause. After Father P blogged on this matter the Chancellor issued a favorable clarification. Squeaky wheel. t.
Father P’s only course of action is to love and obey his Bishop. However the Church also expects Father P to exercise and protect his rights as set forth in Canon Law. Father P has, among others, a right (protected by Canon Law) to both seek counsel (or lobby) and to communicate freely with any party regarding his case.
God bless
Richard W Comerford
Phil Lawler has a good commentary, including background history: http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=841 I agree with him, think Bishop Zurek is doing the right thing.
When I first heard Raymond Arroyo mentioned about Father P being suspended by his Bishop,I was shocked.After reading the comments by others here, I truly feel ,no matter what , we all need to pray to God for ALL involved so that we can place our trust in HIM to make it right. God knows the truth,we should not judge nor assume anything.
aimee:
Great link, Mr. Lawlor (author of the brilliant “Faithfully Departed) has written a superb article. Thank you.
God bless
R9ichard W Comerford
Richard,
Your line-by line dissections are obnoxious and not the sort of discourse welcome here. You are simply clueless if you believe that Bishop Zurek has no moral culpability for what he believes to be the imprudent administration of millions of dollars by a priest he has assigned to the institution in question. I’m not allowing the discourse to sink to arguing absurdities. I’m also dealing with quite a bit on my plate and have no patience for this right now.
Raise the bar.
It seems that Mr. Comerford and associates cannot stop proclaiming their distorted virews about a situation about which they know very little. Mr. Comerford has proclaimed that he and his associates go around armed with the law…to do what, Mr. Comerford and associates??? All you have are opinions and innuendos – we have had a beautiful, prayerful, thoughtful, non-judgemental article written by Gerard…did you commit to praying with him and St. John-Vianney for all involved or are you obsessed with the need to tear apart those in authority within the Church? You go on Catholic blogs and try to take apart situations about which you know nothing. What is the agenda of you and your associates who go around armed with the law? Why don’t you just stay still and join with all who are praying that the situation between Bishop Zurek and Father Pavone will be resolved according to the Will of God.
Dr. N:
I am sorry that you are both busy and displeased. I am often clueless. However the good Bishop has no Canonical authority over PFL. His moral or ethical responsibility is limited to Father P and does not extend to PFL (See your Canon Lawyer). I do not dissect. Instead I try, and often fail, to be precise and clear which is needed in these matters.
However bullying folks who disagree with you does not bring clarity. I do not object to being bullied. I do object to the fog it creates when transparency is essential. I will leave your blog. Thank you for hosting. And will strive not to bother pr communicate with you in the future. May God bless
your endeavors.
I respectfully suggest that you consider refraining from continued coverage of this matter.
God bless
Richard W Comerford
Mr. Comerford now accuses Gerard of ‘bullying’ him…Mr. Comerford, I am so grateful that you and your associates who go about armed with the law will be going elsewhere…you still do not seem to understand that you do not know the truth about this delicate situation…you troll about looking for issues with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, going all the way back to Bishop Sheen…I sincerely hope you find a life. Bless you.
Richard: Perhaps Dr. Nadal should respectfully suggest that you go jump in a lake. Because there’s clearly a bully in the room, but it’s not him.
thank you Dr. Nadal for this very inspired post in which you shared some of the troubles in your own life and your thoughts on Fr. Pavone’s situation.
I think you have captured the essence of this situation and I tend to agree with Ed Peters and others that Fr. Pavone is a priest first and foremost. His prolife work, while being a ministry, is not primary. Another good priest can do this work – it is not limited to Father Pavone.
I also believe that our bishops today are trying to act prudently with regards to their priests given some of the situations that have developed in the past – and I am referring to many different types of impropriety.
Gerry,
This was exactly the piece I have wanted to write, but could not have. Bravo! You captured it very well.
God bless!
Looks to me like some folks are digging deep for a chance at some juicy gossip. Here are some biblical excerpts on just that:”Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:16 “The words of a talebearer are as wounds” Proverbs 26:22 “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” Proverbs 17:9 “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Proverbs 26:20 We pray that Bishop Zurek remember he’s a Bishop and a sheperd not a slanderer. We pray that Fr. Frank stand up even STRONGER!!!
@vero – I think people need to make sure they don’t slander a bishop amidst any rash judgments in this case.
“Pro-life work is at least as important as missionary work is.”
This is not true. Missionary work is the mission of the Church. Pro-life work is not a mission of the Church as such; it is a duty of everyone, Christian or not.
Life’s too short. I hope they can resolve this soon. The church has enough enemies, we don’t need to be bickering like this amongst overselves..
Without life there would be no missionary work.
Pro-life work is a mission of the Church. Spreading both the word of God and saving innocents lives is one of the most important missions of the Church.
I was the first to comment on this blog and my comment was simple. “Brilliant,” I wrote. And now after watching the commentaries unfold it behooves me to point out how Satan manipulates the people; how easily we invite him in to befoul all. 😦
Teresa,
I agree that pro-life work is a mission of the Church, especially in the encroaching darkness as Western Civilization crumbles all around us and the Culture of Death gains ascendency. That said, a priest is still bound by obedience to his bishop and cannot use the primacy of the mission to trump the primacy of the role of the Apostolic Successor, whose sacred trust it is to implement that mission and to ensure that his priests do so in a manner that he finds acceptable.
When priests and their ministries become more important than the bishops, the result is always catastrophic, ending in scisms great and small.
Teresa Rice is correct – pro-life mission is the root and foundation of all other missions–=how many millions and millions of ‘missionaries’ have we killed in the womb? How many millions and millions of lives would have been generated from those human babies whose lives were terminated in the wombs of their mothers? It boggles the mind to know that, with each human infant, God sent a precious gift to be used for the good of mankind but those gifts were rejected, broken and sent back to Him unwanted – while we continue to deplore the problems that face us every day and which could have been resolved by those human babies and gifts that we rejected through abortion. Gerard is right that nothing is more vital, more essential than obedience to God through His chosen representatives. A cause can, at times, be nothing more than a job, nothing more than social work – a Priest’s primary ‘mission’ is his vocation as Priest…if his ’cause’ becomes more important than that to the point where he will go around seeking a Bishop who will allow him to do what he wants to do rather than obey his own Bishop, then something is off center. We can all fall into this trap so we need to pray for each other – but we need to pray much for Bishops and for Priests, and for our Church, always.
I’m starting to liken the whole Bishop-has-no-authority-over-PfL meme to the fact that bishops often don’t have authority over Catholic colleges in their dioceses when the college goes kooky and wants to stage The Vagina Monologues and paper over the disconnect with oleaginous appeals to a mission of diversity. Yes, I agree that the bishop’s jurisdiction does not extend to PfL, so his canonical options are limited. But he can do something, and as long as it is legal and if the background in the Lawler article is true, then he ought to. Frankly, I think the bishop is being too nice and we are running into a bad parenting scenario: you put your teen on cerfew to get his grades up; the teen kicks in your tv (and goes public with it); you remove the cerfew. Is this going to encourage more or less disobedience?
Feast of St. Padre Pio – I just received another e-mail from Fr. Pavone, the third this week, in which he states: “I’m amazed at how many people think they know more about the situation than I do, and pontificate on blogs and websites all over the place.” Then he goes on: “Please INCREASE YOUR DONATIONS to PFL so that, despite the EFFORTS OF DETRACTORS TO SLOW US DOWN, we can speed up instead.” Why use such a sad situation to continue to urge large donations? Why not enter into a time of solitude, prayer and silence to allow the Holy Spirit to work in his soul as he awaits the return of his Bishop? Fr. Pavone then goes on to say that he has recently formed an Internation Private Association of the Faithful…so I guess he assumes that he will go on with his cause no matter what his Bishop says…I so wish he would just be silent and let God work his way…today is the feast of Padre Pio who knew how to be faithful, obeditient, humble and silent in his heroic obedience to Christ and to his superior…may Padre Pio touch Fr. Pavone’s soul and help him to do likewise. For this, let us pray.
These are questions which you can answer in another post, if you wish – How come bishops have so much authority? Should they have more oversight, considering what happened with the priest sex abuse scandal? What if the bishop goes against the Church or isn’t following Christ’s Will? I am not saying that this bishop is doing that, these are just some questions I have pondered on recently.
I have been involved in a discussion on another website with what I can only describe as a “rabid” Father Pavone supporter. Despite me calmly outlining some of my views on the situation (I tend to agree with Ed Peter’s dry analysis of the whole thing as well as the finer points made on this blog) she has verbally attacked me and accused me of being a bad secular Catholic!
It’s too bad that such animosity has come about by such a sad situation. I don’t plan on continuing the discussion since she seems to reacting on a very visceral level. The bishop is just the bad guy and Father is yet another persecuted priest. *sigh* 😦
There is no doubt that many pro-life folks have been impressed by the zeal of Fr Pavone. He has said out loud and in public what many have hope to hear from their pulpits for a long time.So credit where credit is due, but he is not the perfect or only savior of the pro-live movement in America.
I know that sounds harsh but I have found many of Fr Frank’s comment harsh to all the many life long servants of the prolife movemnet who have labored annonsly for years. Pregnancy center volunteers, Right to Life chapter members who speak in local schools and communities, talented pro-life lawmakers and lobbists that work consistently to pass truuly protecive laws, all with out the public pat on the back that has been Fr Frank’s gift to recieve. All are needed to save this anti life culture from itself!
It always hurts to see pro-life people struggle over the importance of any one person’s importance to the cause of life.
What has always truly made the movement strong are the many people that have worked for so many years queitly steadfastly devoting their lives to those with no voice.. Father is not the only person I have met who has answered the call to devote their life to the cause of God’s defensless ones.
It is my hope that Fr Pavone will help folks understand that it ois not one man’s job to be the pro-life savior . We are all called to serve our fellow man and fight for this most elemtal of human rights issues. PPL is certainlynot the only group douin the work. I hope father is ready to point that out and let the work of saving and protecting life grow stronger.
[…] You can read it HERE […]
thankyou for the reminder that being a priest in our Lords church, is not a “career” but a calling, and that calling is supernatural. Father P is “teaching” us by example that to be a real follower of Jesus Christ and his church that we must obey, even when it is difficult!
In my heart of hearts, when this is over, I do believe that the pro choice side is going to dealt a deadly blow for LIFE!
“How come bishops have so much authority? ” because the Triune God established that it be so. Errors from the past don’t change anything about that. The Church has always righted the ship
I agree with Dr Nadal…Priesthood is a unique vocation that cannot be replaced by laypeople and all decisions should be made with that baseline understanding. ProLife work, Missions and even Hospital Chaplaincy (with the exception of Anointing) can be done very well by gifted laity.
Dr N’s treatment of this topic was spot on and I appreciate it
I just received an e-mail from an action group urging everyone to “Free Fr. Pavone!” -I must have missed something. Is Fr. Pavone being held prisoner somewhere? The group goes on to declare that Fr. Pavone is being unjustly persecuted by those who are trying to silence his pro-life voice.” and then there are the addresses and links to which everyone is urged to send letters of protest – to the Papal Nuncio, Bishop Zurek, Arch. Donlan, et al. I haven’t seen any inflammatory letters or e-mails from Bishop Zurek so why is Fr. Pavone continuing to send e-mails asking for help and why are action groups declaring that Fr. Pavone is being persecuted? What is the agenda here?
“I’m amazed at how many people think they know more about the situation than I do, and pontificate on blogs and websites all over the place.”
There is some creative speculation in various comboxes to be sure, but most of the blogs of note comment on what is available in the public record–and there is plenty in the public record to be reasonably concerned about what is going on.
I blame the weak leadership of the USCCB for this bickering. Take a look at their “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” guide for voters from 2008. The document essentially gives Catholics permission to vote for the most anti-life candidate imaginable, as long as if they’re voting for them because they have a good economic policy. To quote from it:
“A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes
a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s
intent is to support that position.”
Thus a Catholic can justify a vote for ANY candidate or support for ANY cause in his mind, as long as he is voting for or supporting only the “good aspects” of a candidate or cause while ignoring the evil attributes. This USCCB document could even be used to justify Catholic donations to Planned Parenthood, as long as your “intent” in donating to them is to “provide women with healthcare” and not to support their anti-life, eugenic goals.
The USCCB has presided over decades of unbelievably poor catechesis of lay Catholic Americans, and has allowed the Church to be beaten with scandal after scandal, most of which could have been avoided through prudent management of priests.
The USCCB has sat back and watched while American priests who speak out on the issue of the right to life, which is and always has been an important teaching of the Church, are slandered as “extremists” or “right-wing”. Even worse, the USCCB has allowed the very idea of being anti-abortion to be painted as “conservative” or “reactionary”, as if the ancient dogma of the church that every human life is precious somehow fits into a modern political box.
So I understand perfectly why many people are skeptical of Bishop Zurek. We have seen the bishops do nothing while the American Catholic Church crumbles and decays, eaten away by the corruption of moral relativism and secular humanism.
Now Bishop Zurek demands that Fr. Pavone come home and explain himself, and after doing so, he promptly leaves on a long vacation. This is rude behavior at best, and incompetent and malicious at worst. Not that I’m accusing the bishop of anything, unlike his completely uncharitable public accusations against Fr. Pavone which have essentially ruined Fr. Pavone’s reputation for life, and thus tarnished by association all pro-life organizations that have worked with him. I really want to be fair to both parties involved here, but after living under decades of failure by the USCCB, I find it very difficult to be objective.
So what’s the answer, John? Continued lack of oversight?
While you kick the bishops in the teeth, remember this:
Cardinal O’Connor gave Father Pavone a six year assignment to PFL, while he only gave most of his military chaplains three year assignments to active duty before bringing them home.
Cardinal Egan consented to excardinating Father Pavone to allow him to incardinate with Bishop Yanta.
Bishop Yanta allowed Father Pavone to do PFL for the duration of Yanta’s tenure.
Bishop Zurek has allowed Father Pavone to do his PFL ministry until he had grave concerns. His vacation comes after months of behind the scenes wrangling with Father Pavone. So with Father Pavone, I count four members of the USCCB who have supported him in one way or another for the past 20 years.
Then there are the bishops of every single priest who has come to PFL who have given their consent amidst a critical shortage of manpower in the parishes.
There has been plenty of support of pro-life ministries on the part of bishops. We’d love to see more outspokenness on their part, but I think the sentiment in the pro-life community ranges between ingratitude and thuggish pugnacity all too often where the bishops are concerned.
Do you really think that the bishops speaking up more frequently would dramatically impact abortion rates? Really???
Look at how faithfully the laity embraced Humanae Vitae and how they love their bishops for it.
If PFL never considered how it would continue to function should Fr P become sick or impaired or die, then they weren’t planning well. On the contrary, I know some of the leaders there and I consider them trustworthy and competent servants of the Pro-life movement.
The Eucharist is, however still the source and summit of our Faith and with a shortage of Priests in many locations, if one person is denied access to the Eucharist because a single Priest was committed elsewhere, then the devil will have won one of the battles.
Having a single leader leaves one point of failure and that is a bad idea in ANY organization…if the gifted laity who run that group had Priests go through in 3 year stints, they could mentor Priestly leaders and Fr P could stay close to the center of the Priesthood.
When is the last time you heard a sermon on abortion or birth control or any of the sexual social issues?
The only place I have ever heard a sermon on any of those issues was at Franciscan University. Many parishioners yearn for these type of homilies instead of hearing the love, love, love homilies all the time so yes, I do think bishops and priests would gain and deserve more respect from parishioners if they stood up and spoke on these topics instead of not doing so because they’re scared of offending and losing money. They are supposed to lead by example and not be afraid to preach on these teachings of the Church. By failing to lead on important issues both bishops and priests are offending many and being negligent in their duties, to lead their flock to Christ.
Yes, I do think that preaching on these subjects would make a difference, a big difference.
“When is the last time you heard a sermon on abortion or birth control or any of the sexual social issues?”
Come to the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia and you will hear tough , uncompromising homilies on these topics (and other powerful but controversial topics) from many Priests, not one or two. In our little region (at the very outer edge of the Diocese, we have 5 homes for unwed mothers, not a single abortion clinic or x rated bookstore, a program to bury babies who die prior to birth (of natural causes) and a perinatal palliative care program to help women who get poor prenatal diagnosis.
One of the Mothers’ homes is named the Paul Stefan Home after a child who (blessed many then) died at birth…come to learn, our Bishop Paul Loverde…his middle name is Stefan…coincidence? nah.
“When is the last time you heard a sermon on abortion or birth control or any of the sexual social issues?”
Come to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. We have a strong Bishop and many holy priests who are not afraid to discuss these subjects. They do it gently, but firmly.
Dr. Nadal, Your article was very nicely written. Thank you. I agree with all of your sentiments.
I have lived in Baltimore, Long Island, Salisbury MD, Pittsburgh PA, and visited Oakland MD regularly and I have never (okay maybe once a year if that) heard a sermon on abortion et al.
I think its great that both Deb and Tammy hear those kinds of sermons.
I”m not so sure homilies will do the trick, although obviously I wish that our priests would talk about these things much more often. Since about 98 percent of Catholics use some sort of birth control or contraceptive, whatever is being said from the pulpit is likely ignored anyways. People just do their own thing these days. We’ve seen this sort of behaviour online, where we have “Catholics” come onto Catholic blogs and brag about their situations and how the teachings of the church are irrelevant anyways because they contracepted or aborted and their marriages/lives are just fine thank you.
Being a true Catholic means living the faith and following all its teachings. It means being spiritually mature to understand that the teachings are there not to control our lives but because they reflect the infinite wisdom and love of God.
The heart of the Fr. Pavone story is so obvious that we are all missing it. Politics. No, not Church Politics, National Politics. In 2008, Fr. Pavone was outspokenly anti-Obama. In 2010, Fr. Pavone paticipated in the protest against Obama speaking at Notre Dame University. The Presidential election is next year. Right now, Obama’s poll numbers keep sinking. Obama needs every vote he can get to get re-elected. So how does this look to Obama and his people? Fr. Pavone needs to be taken out. This is National Politics, Chicago-Style.
Where does Bishop Zurek come in? According to Huffington Post columnist Father Alberto Cutie (Episcopalian), Sept. 19: “His bishop in Amarillo is certainly much more progressive than he is, so there could be some ideological clashes there…” Okay, do these “ideological clashes” translate into the Bishop’s Democratic associations? Those associations include a relationship with former Mayor of San Antonio, Ed Garza. Garza appointed Bishop Zurek to serve on his Committee on Integrity and Trust in Local Government for the city of San Antonio. Ed Garza, sharing the Democratic leanings of other Hispanics in Texas, endorsed Obama in 2008, saying: “Senator Obama’s unique ability to bring people together and bridge partisan divides make him the best candidate to bring change we can believe in.”
I don’t want to suggest that Bishop Zurek himself is being a party to a ‘dirty tricks campaign’ against Fr. Frank Pavone, but the possibility exists that circumstances around the Bishop have been manipulated, with an agenda in mind.
Obama and abortion: according to Fr. Pavone, these are two tragedies, and they are linked. And so, Fr. Pavone is being targetted by very powerful people, including multinationals. UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) is an abortion provider in China which was found complicit in the coercive implementation of China’s One Child Policy, following an investigation headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2001. Coercive implementation includes fines, detentions, forced abortions, forced sterilizations, beatings,and home destructions.
Obama stated that he “strongly opposes” forced bortion in China. Really? Then why did he restore funding of the UNFPA?
Now, sweetening up Obama’s class warfare strategy, Warren Buffett may claim to pay less taxes than his secretary (in fact, with the current level of sleght-of-hand accounting practices, perhaps he pays zero), but he is the director of Berkshire Hathaway, and that organization is one of the largest donors to abortion clinics in America.
There are people who are now advocating a One Child Policy worldwide. A One-World Government, put into place after the panic of a carefully planned worldwide financial meltdown, would institute many draconian regulations. Fr. Frank Pavone would be an encumbrance in this Brave New World, wouldn’t he?
Sorry, I don’t think Obama’s people are going after Fr. Pavone. Fr. Pavone is keeping this situation public, even doing public interviews defending his positions. He was asked to take time for prayer, silence and reflection. Is there something wrong with that? Fr. Pavone is aggressively sending out e-mails defending himself and almost demanding that we send the biggest amount of money to him…there is something wrong here. I’m not commenting on what is happening between Bishop Zurek and Fr. Pavone because none of us know what is really going on betweent them. But I do know that I am receiving long e-mail from Fr. Pavone asking for large amounts of money; his supporters are demonstrating against Bishop Zurek demanding that Fr. Pavone be ‘freed’ – is he in jail? This is creating problems and Fr. Pavone could ask his supporters to stop. Instead, he fans the flames with his public statements. Father Pavone’s vocation is being a Priest. His cause is pro-life work. They are not the same.; they are not equal. And, as I have said before, no-one is indispensable, not even a Pope. Only God is indispensable. Mother Teresa died but her mission goes on because it is of God. I worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta and she did not make herself the center of everything, we did. Fr. Pavone seems to be putting his need to continue his pro life work before his prime vocation to the Priesthood which requires obedience to the Church through his Bishop. Obedience is rarely easy but it always brings a blessing.
Sept. 27th – I just received a ‘new’ comment in my e-mail box but this comment along with the one before it, is blank…is anyone else having this problem? Thanks.
Bishop Zurek took it public. He should now take his medicine.
From the Catechism:
“Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity” (2479).
“…detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them” (2479b).
This sounds right up Bishop Zurek’s alley.
“Humility might make us indifferent even to a good reputation, were it not for charity’s sake; but seeing that it is a groundwork of society, and without it we are not merely useless but positively harmful to the world, because of the scandal given by such a deficiency, therefore charity requires, and humility allows, us to desire and to maintain a good reputation with care” (St. Francis de Sales, Bishop, Introduction to the Devout Life).
Enough! Apologize for releasing the letter Bishop Zurek!
No Julie.
I disagree with you.
If Bishop Zurek has been in consultation with one of his priests whom he has become so frustrated with that he refers to him as “incorrigible”, and has a need to bring him home from a high profile national ministry, and if he has grave concerns about the prudent use of the money in that ministry after seeing the books, then he has an obligation to bring him home.
That’s his duty. That also doesn’t mean he is correct on the facts, but it does mean that he has a duty to act when he suspects problems and is not getting the answers and cooperation he deems essential.
Because Father Pavone is a national figure, he owes it to his brother bishops to explain why he has recalled the most visible Catholic pro-life leader. Every bishop’s office would be inundated by concerned calls, and those offices in turn would inundate bishop Zurek’s office with calls. The letter got the answers to the anticipated questions out in front. This is the “objectively valid reason” you cite as lacking.
Again, at its heart, this is a war between a bishop and one of his priests over accountability.
It is not Bishop Zurek who is fanning the flames of this dispute – Fr. Pavone is making his voice heard wherever he can and he is still sending out frantic appeals for large sums of money. Julie, what have you heard from Bishop Zurek in answer to Fr. Pavone’s continual onslaughts? The Bishop is silent while Fr. Pavone is going on the attack. This is not going to help him. None of us know what the core issue is here but the way Fr. Pavone and some of his followers are acting says a lot about their priorities.
I just received another e-mail urging support for Father Pavone with a link to an open letter to Catholic Bishops and asking that everyone post this request on social networking sites. In my opinion, this is dangerous. Is this going to happen every time a Bishop asks a Priest in his care to do something unpopular with his fans? And this makes it worse for Fr. Pavone because he is not stopping this. He is allowing a war against a Bishop in order to get back the cause he wants to remain involved in. A noble and essential cause, to be sure, but the Catholic Church is not a democracy. We have had several well known, popular Priests fall from grace. They were thought to be indispensable to their ’cause’ – but again, no one is indispensable. The caption for this latest e-mail calling for a defense of Father Frank against his Bishop states: “Every moment a defender of the preborn sits INACTIVE is an opportunity for the abortion cartel to continue its destructive tyranny on the pre-born.” Troy Newman has it wrong. First of all, Fr. Pavone should not be ‘inactive’ – he should be immersed in prayer which can and does do more than actions can. Secondly, I would say that every time a defender of the preborn openly and consistently defies his lawful Superior/Bishop and allows his fans to attack his lawful superior/Bishop, it is a major win for the enemy of life and a major opportunity for the enemies of life to mix in with those urging defiance and cause more destruction and confusion. I don’t understand why those who sincerely want to defend the preborn can’t see this…why not enter into a time of deep prayer that God’s will be done in all this? Why insist that anyone knows what is best for the pre-born or for Fr. Pavone or for his Bishop? Stand in prayer with Father Pavone – in prayer! – and all will be as God wants it to be. If we try to inflict or impose our will, openly defying a Bishop who has remained silent and who has not responded in kind to vicious attacks on the part of many, then Fr. Pavone will indeed be the loser in all this.
What puzzles me about the bishop’s action is that there have been grave questions raised about the financial dealings of the Campaign for Human Development and yet I know of not one bishop, including Bishop Zurek, who has sent a letter to his confreres urging them to stop supporting the collection until the irregularities involved in supporting the culture of death are addressed. What a double standard! It is obvious that the action of Bishop Zurek will seriously damage Priests for Life. I wish he and his brother bishops would have the same concern over a bureaucracy that acts in their name and contributes to organizations that support the murder of unborn children.
Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly with the need to pray for both Fr. Pavone and his bishop. Prayer is always in order. Then pray that the bishops will stop enabling the culture of death through their support of liberal politics.
Mary Ann, I understand your concern. Nancy Pelosi declared that the reason she continues to receive Holy Communion despite the fact that she aggressively promotes abortion and receives huge sums of money from abortion providers is that her Bishop never spoke to her about it and if it’s an issue, then the Bishops must be divided on it. She and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians consider themselves to be Catholics in good standing. This is a tragedy! I understand that there were Bishops and Priests who opposed Pope Paul VI when he came out against contraception because he rightly believed that a contraceptive mentality would one day lead to the acceptance of abortion. Despite the fact that many may ignore them, I do believe that Bishops should speak out as one voice against the slaughter of innocent human babies in the wombs of their mothers and bring in Priests and teach them how to speak about this grave issue. Mother Theresa of Calcutta felt that abortion is the root of the majority of ills that plague our country and others, saying that a country that allows abortion cannot survive. Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict, Cardinal Burke, and other Bishops have declared that those who publicly support abortion, who advocate for abortion, should not be permitted to receive the Eucharist. To allow them to receive the Eucharist is to state publicly that these are Catholics in good standing…this is not to punish but to bring them to conversion of heart. We don’t need to hear sermons stating simply that abortion is wrong, but to explain rather the beauty and goodness and uniqueness of each and every human life. We need to expose the deceits and manipulatons of abortion facilities like those at Planned parenthood where they tell young women they are pregnant when they are not just to get the money, where the staff is trained to deceive and manipulate women. We need to show that we are not just fighting for the life of the unborn baby but for the life of the mother as well, because abortion does not enhance the life of any woman. We need to show how Margaret Sanger, in speeches and in writing, targeted inner cities for abortion sites because she wanted to cut down on the number of undesirables…and so on. There is a DVD documentary entitled “Blood Money” that should be seen by all. I am deeply involved in pro life work and I had no idea about some of the things that are being done to manipulate women into terminating the life of their own baby. As for Bishops and the Campaign for Human Development, I’m not sure they deliberately choose to donate to anti-life groups – they just don’t oversee the program as they should…however, there are many Bishops who pubicly stand for life and I believe there will be many more soon. We have to pray hard for our Bishops and Priests in a culture that celebrates sin…and pray for each other too. Pray much that this year’s 40 Days for Life Campaign will save the lives of many pre-born babies and convert the hearts and minds of those who support abortion.
The devil does not sleep nor blink his eyes -waiting for the opportunity to grab God’s children and to distract.
Although I very much appreciate the courage of priests, like Father Frank Pavone, in stepping forward to lead in dangerous territories like youth ministries and right ro life, I have to keep focus on where I am going as a Catholic who is faithful to Mother Church.
Obedience is a very beautiful personal trait that has been tainted by the secular world. This is a trait that made our saints for who they are. Let us stop attacking our Bishops and our Pope.
We must be able to pick-up where people left off when they stumble (waiting to stand up).
Let us pray for Father Frank Pavone so he could quickly recover from this minor “Bo Bo” in his ministry, and come back in full force.
I’m sure Father will be happy when he sees that he has taught us well when it comes to “Right to Life.”
Just keep clickin on the “share button” on the video: “It is alright to kill a baby in the womb when….” (180 conversions from pro-abortion to pro-life).
Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pray for us.