In Amarillo, protests for Fr. Pavone — UPDATED

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:37 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

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In Amarillo, protests for Fr. Pavone — UPDATED 2016-09-30T17:37:04-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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They took to the skies, and to the streets, Friday, according to local reports:

An airplane, two trucks and one demonstrator holding signs made up the efforts of an anti-abortion organization Friday to urge local Catholics to implore Diocese of Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek to rethink his decision to keep prominent anti-abortion priest Father Frank Pavone in Amarillo.

The demonstration highlights the public nature of the dispute between the two church figures, which University of Dayton theology professor Dennis Doyle said is taking place within a larger conflict between the Catholic Church’s need for independence from secular authority and a push for greater transparency in the church after a maelstrom of sexual abuse scandals shook the church in recent years.

“I guess it’s playing out a little bit like a seesaw in that, as a Catholic, on the one hand I think that the church has to be subject to the laws of the land wherever it finds itself, and on the other hand the Catholic Church needs to have some degree of independence from secular authority,” Doyle said. “There’s pull in both directions, and I don’t think there’s any ultimate resolution to it.”

Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News, said Pope Benedict XVI has recently emphasized greater transparency in the church, but that Lawler “wouldn’t take it too far” and said Zurek’s decision to make his concerns over Pavone public is a result of Pope Benedict’s efforts.

However, he said, church officials may have handled a situation like this differently 20 years ago.

“You have personalities involved. It’s hard to say,” Lawler said. “I’d say no, that I think it would be more likely 20 years ago that it wouldn’t have come to a head in public like this.”

Doyle said a push for more openness may benefit the church as a whole in the long run, though in the short term, publicizing conflicts and scandals in the name of honesty may hurt the church’s public image.

“Transparency is a two-edged sword,” he said. “It can hurt to have the light shine on you, but as you adjust to it, it’s better to be out in the light.”

The airplane, which started flying over town Friday morning, and the large trucks, which started circling about 3:15 p.m. around St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral and School, 1200 S. Washington St., all featured graphic images of aborted fetuses.

The sign carrier, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform Director Gregg Cunningham, said the two topics of his demonstration, Pavone’s conflict with Zurek and the effort to end abortion, are interrelated as Pavone, the founder of anti-abortion group Priests for Life, is unable to perform his anti-abortion work if he cannot leave Amarillo.

“We don’t want people to trivialize this dispute as some sort of bureaucratic accounting conflict,” he said. “There’s more at stake here than this. That’s why we want people to look at the pictures. We at least want people to understand that there’s a real baby at stake here and when Priests for Life becomes less effective, the odds of that baby dying go up.”

Read more.

Also: CNA interviews canon lawyer Ed Peters, who offers his own analysis of the Pavone dispute. And David Gibson reports on financial problems plaguing Priests for Life, including operating at a significant deficit.

UPDATE: Dr. Gerard Nadal has some harsh words for the protests in Amarillo:

Is this what Father Pavone is all about? Is this his great life’s work? I think not, but people are asking why he hasn’t called off the dogs.

Bishop Zurek didn’t come to town and immediately change course, which is still his episcopal prerogative, anyway. He allowed Father Pavone to continue on in his ministry and launched an investigation of the finances and the prudential use of monies after receiving complaints from clergy and laity alike. That’s his responsibility.

Then he took further action (however clumsily and uncharitably) when he didn’t like the answers he was getting, which is also his responsibility. And now, here we are. Trucks sporting pictures of murdered babies circling a Catholic school until Father Pavone’s friends get their way.

Disgusting.

This is not how the Holy Spirit works. He unites. He does not divide.

It also might just work, but it will come at a terrible, terrible price. It is already creating a split in the pro-life community and causing Father Pavone to lose more stature than Bishop Zurek could with ten more letters like the first.

Check out the rest.

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