Staten Island Pro-Life Advocate Rev. Frank Pavone Not Accused of Wrongdoing, Diocese Says, by Maura Grunlund, Staten Island Advance, September 17, 2011

Staten Island Pro-Life Advocate Rev. Frank Pavone Not Accused of Wrongdoing, Diocese Says

By Maura Grunlund
Staten Island Advance
September 17, 2011

http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2011/09/staten_island_pro-life_advocat.html

Rev. Frank Pavone poses in front of a cross at Priests for Life in New Dorp on Jan. 14, 2003.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Diocese of Amarillo (Texas) affirmed yesterday that the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, the anti-abortion group based in New Dorp, is not accused of any misdeeds.

Father Pavone had been suspended this past week from ministering outside the diocese, to which bishop he reports, amid questions about whether he properly accounted for millions of dollars in donations.

"I want to publicly state the Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life is a priest in good standing with the Roman Catholic Church," said Monsignor Harold Waldow, vicar of clergy for the Diocese of Amarillo.

The monsignor said that a "dispute about the auditing process and the complete audit for all the entities of Priest for life, Rachel's Vineyard and the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life does not mean that Father Pavone is being charged with any malfeasance or being accused of any wrongdoing with the financial matters of Priests for Life."

Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo had called Priests for Life, with its annual budget of about $10 million, "a business that is quite lucrative which provides Father Pavone with financial independence from all legitimate ecclesiastical oversight."

Bishop Zurek recalled Father Pavone to Amarillo "to readjust his priestly bearing through spiritual and theological renewal in order to recapture that essential priestly hallmark of respect and obedience."

In a statement yesterday, Priests for Life sought to burnish Father Pavone's good name.

"There is a difference between wanting more information and claiming that someone did something wrong," the statement said.

"And the diocese wanted to stress that distinction. There is no suspicion of wrongdoing."

In a statement e-mailed from Amarillo yesterday, Father Pavone said he was awaiting further instruction from the diocese.

"Sure, it's distressing to have to endure false suspicions, inaccurate media reports, and disruption to a mission which is at the core of my life," he said.

"I'm sitting here in Amarillo right now because I'm a faithful and obedient priest, as I promised to be long ago."

Father Pavone said he was continuing to work on his pro-life projects via computer.

"I'm here because cooperating with church authority at this moment is the best way to preserve the mission I lead to save these children, a mission aimed precisely at increasing the church's awareness of and response to this holocaust," he said.

"But let's be clear. Nobody needs anybody else's permission to save a human life, to rescue a child from dismemberment and decapitation. In fact, to fail to do so is to fail miserably as a priest, as a Catholic, as a Christian, and as a human being."