It's either Fr. Pavone or the pro-life movement

IT’S EITHER FR. PAVONE OR THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

By: David Wemhoff

originally posted 09/29/2011

Philip Lawler is an American Catholic and he says Fr. Pavone has to go. In a piece posted September 21 on the website known as CatholicCulture.org, Lawler, a clear supporter and apologist for America, wrote "Father Pavone....cannot continue running PFL the way he has been running it. If the mission of PFL is to continue and thrive, it will be under some new form of leadership. Painful though it will be, Father Pavone should realize that the time has come to offer his baby up for adoption. He of all people should realize the most likely alternative: the baby will die."

Lawler was referring to PFL when he mentioned "the baby", but he was probably also referring to the Pro-Life Movement, or PLM, in which PFL is a major player. Lawler's column signals the end of Fr. Pavone as the PFL leader, and any further involvement by Pavone in the PLM other than perhaps as some honorary figure. As an American Catholic, Lawler appears to accept the belief that America knows better than the Church. Ths became clear to me in a brief exchange with him one day at the University of Notre Dame (another institution that has acted with acceptance that America teaches the Church and not vice versa) where he had come to give a talk. But Lawler is more than just another American Catholic. He's a heavyweight amongst the American commissars who are responsible for keeping Catholics under control. Lawler is a Harvard grad, thereby immediately putting him into the elite who have to hold America above all, and he went on to study at the University of Chicago while working as a journalist, serving as editor of Crisis Magazine (which was an American elite funded operation) and has written a number of books justifying and defending the errors of America, errors that the Church has definitively condemned over the years. All of this has given Lawler his high and mighty status amongst Catholics while providing him a better than average living, and keeping him as a regular guest at American elite dinner tables. He is the perfect guy to silence Pavone and get Pavone to leave the pro-life room.

And, Pavone needs to be silenced and cast adrift because if he isn't, then the PLM would be revealed to be what this writer has previously called it - a tool to control Catholics and a weapon against the Church.

Bishop Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, is a no-nonsense shepherd - you can see it in his face that this man has character and he takes seriously his job. When he wrote his letter dated September 9 to his fellow bishops (how that letter was leaked to the press of the PLM is not known), he made some harsh comments that should awaken any Catholic to the danger that Pavone and the PLM was posing to the Church. Bishop Zurek wrote that Fr. Pavone had shown "incorrigible defiance to my legitimate authority as his Bishop." This was because Fr. Pavone held a "reductionist attitude toward the diocesan priesthood" and he "has inflated his ego with a sense of self-importance and self-determination." Bishop Zurek received from Fr. Pavone the "impression that I cannot invoke obedience with him because he is famous." Almost immediately, the pro-life leadership, and, most notably, the large and growing pro-life press, came to Fr. Pavone's defense.

Jill Stanek, the Chicago nurse whose credentials to become a "pro-life leader" consist of seeing dead babies at a Chicago hospital and being a woman, wrote a blog entitled "Bishop's harsh letter against Fr. Pavone." With a starter like that, the commentators to her blog got the message - be against the bishop. Stanek criticized the Bishop by taking Fr. Pavone's side of the matter, and concluded with "Somehow FP has really gotten under this bishop's skin." Troy Newman, leader of Operation Rescue, called for protests in Amarillo. The blogosphere came alive with comments and criticisms of Bishop Zurek, with a notable one being by a Michael J. Gaynor who wrote "Will Bishop Zurek Become Planned Parenthood's Person of the Year for Sabotaging Fr. Pavone and Priests for Life?"

Pavone couldn't keep quiet either. He's an American revolutionary at heart, an American before all else, and Americans know they are always right and have rights for which they have to fight.

So, Pavone started out bashing his own bishop, Bishop Zurek, who, according to the leader of PFL, had it all wrong. Pavone wrote that "Priests for Life is above reproach in its financial management and the stewardship of the monies it receives from dedicated pro-lifers raised primarily through direct mail at the grassroots level" and that "Priests for Life has consistently provided every financial document requested by Bishop Zurek" and that Priests for Life had done so much good by distributing pro-life literature to dioceses completely free of charge", and all without seeking parish collections.

Bishop Zurek was not the bishop of Priests for Life explained Fr. Pavone. He is Fr. Pavone's Ordinary, the man to whom Fr. Pavone has taken a vow of obedience. Fr. Pavone then went on to explain that he was appealing to the Vatican "in the interest of preserving my good reputation" and "the valuable work done by the Priests for Life organization." The emotional manipulation came towards the end. "I want to be clear that I do not harbor an ill will towards the Bishop of Amarillo....It is impossible for me to believe that there is no place in the Church for priests to exercise full-time ministry in the service of the unborn...."

Fr. Pavone seemed more concerned with keeping PFL going and protecting his own reputation than he did with obeying his bishop: "I am confident that we will be able to resolve this difficulty soon, without any harm to either my own reputation and without any slowdown of the valuable pro-life work we do at Priests for Life." Then, after arriving in Amarillo and saying mass at the Cathedral, Fr. Pavone said "I do not see myself staying incardinated in Amarillo."

This was a repeat performance for Pavone as 10 years earlier he had started the process of diocese shopping that landed him in Amarillo after his ordinary in New York told him to get back to a parish. This, and more, is detailed in my book, Just Be Catholic (Authorhouse 2011).

In any event, we now have Fr. Pavone acting like another American Catholic dissident -- Fr. Curran who in the 1960s started teaching a doctrine different from that taught by the Church all against the advice and statements of his superiors. Fr. Pavone is essentially telling his superior to get off his back and pound sand. But that is justifiable, goes Fr. Pavone's line of reasoning, because after all he is working for the unborn children!

With insubordination like that, Bishop Zurek was proven correct, and Pavone's heart - one filled with pride, not humility - was revealed for all to see.

The problem is apparent to everyone, especially Lawler who is an Americanist, and that problem is: With Catholic priests like that who question publicly their own bishop to whom they are to be obedient, what will happen next? Will Catholics, following Pavone's example, come to question the stupidity and duplicity of the PLM? Could the endless, mindless support for GOP candidates start to waiver amongst pro-lifers who were following Pavone's leadership? Could Catholics start to wake up and realize that America is not a shining city on the hill after all but really a horrible abomination which is dedicated to Mammon and opposed to the Triune God and His Church? What would happen then? Would Catholics stop voting GOP? Worse yet, would Catholics stop fighting in World War IV which is nothing more than a war against Islam? And then what? Might Catholics start learning and living the Faith? Might Catholics start building communities and working for the salvation of souls instead of serving the capitalists and fighting amongst themselves? Might Catholics start living the admonition of Jesus to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all else will follow? Might Catholics mortally wound the god known as Mammon and make money work for people and not the other way around? Might Catholics wake up and see the enemies of Catholicism?

And if all of that were to happen, wouldn't Philip Lawler, Harvard grad, author, editor, journalist, apologist for America's errors, and great American Catholic, find out that he was on the wrong side all along?

JMJ

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It's either Fr. Pavone or the pro-life movement IT’S EITHER FR. PAVONE OR THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT By: David Wemhoff originally posted 09/29/2011 Philip Lawler is an American Catholic and he says Fr. Pavone has to go. In a piece posted September 21 on the website known as CatholicCulture.org, Lawler, a clear supporter and apologist for America, wrote "Father Pavone....cannot continue running PFL the way he has been running it. If the mission of PFL is to continue and thrive, it will be under some new form of leadership. Painful though it will be, Father Pavone should realize that the time has come to offer his baby up for adoption. He of all people should realize the most likely alternative: the baby will die." Lawler was referring to PFL when he mentioned "the baby", but he was probably also referring to the Pro-Life Movement, or PLM, in which PFL is a major player. Lawler's column signals the end of Fr. Pavone as the PFL leader, and any further involvement by Pavone in the PLM other than perhaps as some honorary figure. As an American Catholic, Lawler appears to accept the belief that America knows better than the Church. Ths became clear to me in a brief exchange with him one day at the University of Notre Dame (another institution that has acted with acceptance that America teaches the Church and not vice versa) where he had come to give a talk. But Lawler is more than just another American Catholic. He's a heavyweight amongst the American commissars who are responsible for keeping Catholics under control. Lawler is a Harvard grad, thereby immediately putting him into the elite who have to hold America above all, and he went on to study at the University of Chicago while working as a journalist, serving as editor of Crisis Magazine (which was an American elite funded operation) and has written a number of books justifying and defending the errors of America, errors that the Church has definitively condemned over the years. All of this has given Lawler his high and mighty status amongst Catholics while providing him a better than average living, and keeping him as a regular guest at American elite dinner tables. He is the perfect guy to silence Pavone and get Pavone to leave the pro-life room. And, Pavone needs to be silenced and cast adrift because if he isn't, then the PLM would be revealed to be what this writer has previously called it - a tool to control Catholics and a weapon against the Church. Bishop Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, is a no-nonsense shepherd - you can see it in his face that this man has character and he takes seriously his job. When he wrote his letter dated September 9 to his fellow bishops (how that letter was leaked to the press of the PLM is not known), he made some harsh comments that should awaken any Catholic to the danger that Pavone and the PLM was posing to the Church. Bishop Zurek wrote that Fr. Pavone had shown "incorrigible defiance to my legitimate authority as his Bishop." This was because Fr. Pavone held a "reductionist attitude toward the diocesan priesthood" and he "has inflated his ego with a sense of self-importance and self-determination." Bishop Zurek received from Fr. Pavone the "impression that I cannot invoke obedience with him because he is famous." Almost immediately, the pro-life leadership, and, most notably, the large and growing pro-life press, came to Fr. Pavone's defense. Jill Stanek, the Chicago nurse whose credentials to become a "pro-life leader" consist of seeing dead babies at a Chicago hospital and being a woman, wrote a blog entitled "Bishop's harsh letter against Fr. Pavone." With a starter like that, the commentators to her blog got the message - be against the bishop. Stanek criticized the Bishop by taking Fr. Pavone's side of the matter, and concluded with "Somehow FP has really gotten under this bishop's skin." Troy Newman, leader of Operation Rescue, called for protests in Amarillo. The blogosphere came alive with comments and criticisms of Bishop Zurek, with a notable one being by a Michael J. Gaynor who wrote "Will Bishop Zurek Become Planned Parenthood's Person of the Year for Sabotaging Fr. Pavone and Priests for Life?" Pavone couldn't keep quiet either. He's an American revolutionary at heart, an American before all else, and Americans know they are always right and have rights for which they have to fight. So, Pavone started out bashing his own bishop, Bishop Zurek, who, according to the leader of PFL, had it all wrong. Pavone wrote that "Priests for Life is above reproach in its financial management and the stewardship of the monies it receives from dedicated pro-lifers raised primarily through direct mail at the grassroots level" and that "Priests for Life has consistently provided every financial document requested by Bishop Zurek" and that Priests for Life had done so much good by distributing pro-life literature to dioceses completely free of charge", and all without seeking parish collections. Bishop Zurek was not the bishop of Priests for Life explained Fr. Pavone. He is Fr. Pavone's Ordinary, the man to whom Fr. Pavone has taken a vow of obedience. Fr. Pavone then went on to explain that he was appealing to the Vatican "in the interest of preserving my good reputation" and "the valuable work done by the Priests for Life organization." The emotional manipulation came towards the end. "I want to be clear that I do not harbor an ill will towards the Bishop of Amarillo....It is impossible for me to believe that there is no place in the Church for priests to exercise full-time ministry in the service of the unborn...." Fr. Pavone seemed more concerned with keeping PFL going and protecting his own reputation than he did with obeying his bishop: "I am confident that we will be able to resolve this difficulty soon, without any harm to either my own reputation and without any slowdown of the valuable pro-life work we do at Priests for Life." Then, after arriving in Amarillo and saying mass at the Cathedral, Fr. Pavone said "I do not see myself staying incardinated in Amarillo." This was a repeat performance for Pavone as 10 years earlier he had started the process of diocese shopping that landed him in Amarillo after his ordinary in New York told him to get back to a parish. This, and more, is detailed in my book, Just Be Catholic (Authorhouse 2011). In any event, we now have Fr. Pavone acting like another American Catholic dissident -- Fr. Curran who in the 1960s started teaching a doctrine different from that taught by the Church all against the advice and statements of his superiors. Fr. Pavone is essentially telling his superior to get off his back and pound sand. But that is justifiable, goes Fr. Pavone's line of reasoning, because after all he is working for the unborn children! With insubordination like that, Bishop Zurek was proven correct, and Pavone's heart - one filled with pride, not humility - was revealed for all to see. The problem is apparent to everyone, especially Lawler who is an Americanist, and that problem is: With Catholic priests like that who question publicly their own bishop to whom they are to be obedient, what will happen next? Will Catholics, following Pavone's example, come to question the stupidity and duplicity of the PLM? Could the endless, mindless support for GOP candidates start to waiver amongst pro-lifers who were following Pavone's leadership? Could Catholics start to wake up and realize that America is not a shining city on the hill after all but really a horrible abomination which is dedicated to Mammon and opposed to the Triune God and His Church? What would happen then? Would Catholics stop voting GOP? Worse yet, would Catholics stop fighting in World War IV which is nothing more than a war against Islam? And then what? Might Catholics start learning and living the Faith? Might Catholics start building communities and working for the salvation of souls instead of serving the capitalists and fighting amongst themselves? Might Catholics start living the admonition of Jesus to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all else will follow? Might Catholics mortally wound the god known as Mammon and make money work for people and not the other way around? Might Catholics wake up and see the enemies of Catholicism? And if all of that were to happen, wouldn't Philip Lawler, Harvard grad, author, editor, journalist, apologist for America's errors, and great American Catholic, find out that he was on the wrong side all along?