Bishop Zurek: Concerns About Priests For Life Have Been "Favorably Addressed"

Author: Kresta in the Afternoon Published on: January 16, 2014 Published in: Uncategorized

By Kathy Schiffer

Fr. Frank Pavone at the U.S. Supreme Court

In 2011 Bishop Patrick Zurek, bishop of the Diocese of Amarillo, sent a letter to all the bishops of the United States, advising them that he had so many concerns about Priests For Life’s $10 million budget that the organization’s national director, Fr. Frank Pavone, shouldn’t be trusted with donors’ money.

For a full year, while an investigation was pending, Father Pavone was restricted to working from a small cell in a Texas convent. He was unable to continue his travel and speaking schedule on behalf of the unborn. The high-profile case was sent to the Vatican for review.

Bishop Zurek

Finally, in December 2013, Bishop Zurek sent a letter to the bishops of the United States, informing them that all the concerns he had addressed with regard to the Staten Island-based Priests For Life (PFL) “have been favorably received and addressed by the Congregation for Clergy.”

Bishop Zurek is quoted in the Long Island Catholic:

“My concerns included some restructuring of PFL so that it would have juridic personality and become a true ecclesial association. Also included was a request for more adequate and transparent reporting of finances to the competent ecclesiastical authority. Both of these requests have been favorably addressed by the Congregation of Clergy.”

A year ago, in November 2012, the Congregation for Clergy had ruled that since the principal office of Priests For Life is in the Archdiocese of New York, the Archbishop of New York is the competent authority to exercise vigilance over the association.

“I am happy that this process is at an end,” Bishop Zurek wrote in his most recent letter, “and I hope and pray that Father Pavone and PFL may now continue its important work in the defense of all human life, especially that of the unborn.”

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