AmericanPapist Comments
Cheers for posting this for your readers. I'm curious to read what other people know about this since I really admire the work Father Pavone has done of which I am aware.
Is this an area of legitimate concern, or is this something akin to the fight between Cardinal "Taj" Mahoney and Mother Angelica of EWTN a few years back?
Very sad and disappointing to hear about this. But God will work good for those who love Him and as we all know, the enemy of life is always putting up a fight.[ Today's short biography on St. John Eudes is an excellent reading for today...Go see at UNIVERSALIS.COM. ] I love Fr. Pavone!...please, lets keep him in our prayers.
I wonder what "secular corporation" is bankrolling them? Does anyone know?
This is the first I've heard of it. I do admire the work that Fr. Pavone has done and is doing. I think he started the order after Cardinal Egan asked him to come back to active ministry in the Archdoicese of NY, with the Cardinal at the age of retirement, maybe Fr. Pavone is looking to come back to NY. As far as I know he has wanted to do that, as long as he could keep up his pro-life work. I'll have to re-read his story in Called By Name.
I tell you what, I have always had suspicions about Frankie Provolone.
I am always suspect of people who make their living being "outraged".
I know someone connected with this community, and from what I was told, the whole project was poorly conceived and organized from the start. There was no adequate formation program, and several prospective seminarians left in frustration at the lack of progress. There also seemes to be a lot of stretching of the boundaries of legitimate authority.
Fighting the culture of death is a big project. Founding a religious community is a big project, and because of its implications, requires full-time attention. My understanding is that attention was not being devoted to this subject.
OTOH, when I was first told about this particular project, I was skeptical of its long-term prospects.
I recall reading last year a comment from Fr. Pavone in one of his newsletters about the cost of flying multiple seminarians each month to New York from Amarillo for meetings. I scratched my head. That can't be cheap. Amarillo is not a hub airport. Wouldn't arranging for conference calling have been cheaper?
Dear Dave,
In Church terms, "secular" is antithetical to "religious" if I recall rightly. Diocesan priests are also called secular priests. Religious priests belong to a men's order. Perhaps the secular corporation is Priests for Life.
Amarillo recently has gained a new bishop. The bishop is the one who determines which religious orders are present in a diocese. As this was an experiment of that diocese, the bishop can shut it down. Perhaps there were too few candidates for the money that people were donating?
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