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Note: This document will be updated with new information about Fr. Pavone’s situation as it becomes available. It is arranged in chronological order from newest to oldest. 9/14 - On his blog - In the Light of the Law - famed canonist Ed Peters comments on the Bishop Zurek letter noting that the Bishop “should not have used the term ‘suspend’ in regard to Pavone, for ‘suspension’ is a canonical penalty for crime (c. 1333), and Pavone has not been accused of any crime.” He adds however that the Bishop “is within his authority to recall Pavone to Amarillo...

Father Pavone (CNS file) By Dennis SadowskiCatholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Frank Pavone, one of the country's most visible and vocal opponents of abortion, has been suspended from active ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, over financial questions about his operation of Priests for Life. The suspension was made public in a Sept. 9 letter from Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek to his fellow bishops across the country, but Father Pavone told Catholic News Service that he was returning to Amarillo and planned to continue functioning as a priest there. "My decision is the result of...

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, has issued the following statement: “For the past several years, my Ordinary, the Most Reverend Patrick Zurek, Bishop of Amarillo, has given me permission to do the full-time pro-life work that I have done since 1993. In 2005, I made a public promise in a Church ceremony in Amarillo, presided over by a Vatican Cardinal, that this full-time pro-life work would be a lifetime commitment. That’s a commitment I promise to fulfill without wavering.  “This past week, however, I received a letter from the Bishop insisting that I...

POPE WARNS OF "A TRUE CONSPIRACY AGAINST LIFE AND FAMILY" Says Bishops are "the first ones called to be untiring teachers of the Gospel of life" VATICAN, March 31, 2003 - Pope John Paul II addressed the Bishops of Indonesia Saturday during their 'ad limina' visit to Rome. Addressing life and family issues, the Pope said, "A true 'conspiracy against life' and the family is appearing in many forms: abortion, sexual permissiveness, pornography, drug abuse and pressures to adopt morally unacceptable methods of population control." The Pope then challenged the Bishops saying, "Notwithstanding the difficulties involved in countering these tendencies...

Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American CatholicsA Statement by the Catholic Bishops of the United States [Paragraph 23] ... As we stressed in our 1995 statement Political Responsibility: "The application of Gospel values to real situations is an essential work of the Christian community." Adopting a consistent ethic of life, the Catholic Church promotes a broad spectrum of issues "seeking to protect human life and promote human dignity from the inception of life to its final moment."9 Opposition to abortion and euthanasia does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics...

wish I'd met him in person, but despite the lack of direct human connection, I feel I knew him. I also know there was something unique about this man, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church John Paul II. Was it his words? There's no doubt he was an educated man and a talented writer. He could reach the audiences to which he spoke, whether in person or in print. He had a way of choosing the direct path to our heart, our mind, our conscience and our soul. This was a man who was comfortable speaking to millions of people...

"Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can ... come to recognize ... the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human community and the political community itself are founded … " On Friday, March 18, at about 1:45 p.m., Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. So began the state-sanctioned killing of a 41-year-old brain-damaged woman. At the insistence of...

J+M+J Our Bishop Writes:The responsibility to have a well informed faith life Bishop Robert J. Carlson Diocese of Sioux Falls Within the past few weeks at least two people proclaiming membership in the Catholic Church wrote letters to the editor to daily newspapers presenting flawed thinking on the Catholic teaching of abortion and their particular political beliefs. As their bishop, I have no choice but to respond to their public action. As people of faith, we are called to be in an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, accepting him as Lord and Savior. Only then will our hearts...

Annual Pro-life Mass January 22, 2003 Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Dear Friends, Today marks thirty years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States. The Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions made abortion legal throughout pregnancy. These decisions held that the child in the womb is not human like the rest of us: that the child in the womb does not have a fundamental and inalienable right to live. Instead of liberating women from discrimination, abortion has betrayed women. As the U.S. bishops wrote in November: "Legal abortion promised what it could not give....