Father Pavone suspended from Priests for Life leadership

September 13, 2011

Father Frank Pavone, the president of Priests for Life, has been suspended from ministry outside of his Amarillo, Texas diocese.

Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo revealed, in a letter to other American bishops, that he has recalled Father Pavone to the Texas diocese because of “deep concerns regarding his stewardship of the finances of the Priests for Life organization” and Father Pavone’s resistance to ecclesiastical authority.

Father Pavone has indicated that he will obey his bishop’s order. He will remain a priest in good standing in Amarillo, but will not be available to continue his leadership of Priests for Life. In recent years he has traveled extensively, giving speeches and conducting retreats, in his capacity as leader of the pro-life group.

Bishop Zurek disclosed that he had taken action in response to persistent questions about the financial affairs of Priests for Life: an organization with a $10 million annual budget. Father Pavone, he said, has “refused to subject the PFL to a transparent and complete auditing of all expenditures.” Bishop Zurek encouraged his fellow bishops to “inform the Christian faithful under your care to consider withholding donations to the PFL until the issues and concerns are settled.”

The Amarillo bishop also expressed concern about Father Pavone’s “incorrigible defiance of my legitimate authority as his Bishop.” He said the priest’s prominence as a national pro-life leader had encouraged him to “see priestly obedience as an inconvenience to his unique status and an obstacle to the possible international scope of his ministry.”

Father Pavone and Priests for Life have a history of tension with the hierarchy. In 2007, after one conflict with the Amarillo diocese, the pro-life priest complained on his blog that “there are too many leaders in the Church who are more concerned about controlling God’s work than about doing God’s work.” A year later the diocese, with the approval of the Vatican, suppressed Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, a religious order that Father Pavone had founded. At the time, Church leaders reportedly based their decision on concerns about the financial affairs of the order, and its ties to Priests for Life. Writing on the Catholic Culture web site in August 2008, “Diogenes” commented: “In the long run, the move may presage further troubles for Priests for Life, Father Pavone's more successful venture.”

 

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Further information:

• Father Pavone suspended from ministry outside Amarillo Diocese (CNS)
• Bishop Zurek's letter (CNS)
• storm clouds over Amarillo (Off the Record, 8/18/08)