Enter the Rainmaker
In his Vatican-favored role as director of Priests for Life, Pavone has carved out a niche for himself over the years as something of a celebrity. Last year, as "spiritual advisor" to the Schindler family during the prolonged legal nightmare involving Terri Schiavo, Pavone joined Randall Terry in turning one family's tragedy into their own very public propaganda machine. Perhaps some people were surprised to see Pavone, who publicly renounces violence, standing beside Randall Terry, whose violent fantasies have become the stuff of legend.
Randall Terry and many other Christian Right leaders earnestly believe that someday they will be running this country. What kind of "Christian nation" do Terry and his comrades envision? Well, in referring to doctors who perform abortions, Terry said, "When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it." He added, "I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed." On the subordination of women to what they see as the law of God, Pavone and Terry can agree. And the Schiavo affair wasn't the first time that they had made common cause. In 1999 they both attended an Operation Save America rally hosted by Flip Benham, where Pavone was unusually forthcoming about his own views.
Randall Terry (the founder of Operation Rescue) was at the OSA rally on Friday night. As to where other pro-life leaders were, Randall addressed that issue head-on in his speech to the crowd. In more recent years, Pavone has become increasingly influential as a middle man equally at ease with radical organizations -- such as OSA and Joe Scheidler's Pro-Life Action League -- and with the more socially acceptable face of anti-choice America.
As Priests for Life has grown, so has criticism of its leader. Pro-choice activists accuse Pavone of being too cozy with antiabortion extremists and encouraging clinic blockades, even when such actions constitute criminal trespassing. And now, as a reward for his years of tireless zeal and dedication, the Vatican has rewarded its "vicar for life" with the directorship of an entirely new religious order to be based in, of all places ... Amarillo.
The Catholic Diocese of Amarillo is not the kind of place that makes national news very often. The Missionaries of the Gospel of Life is an (of course) all-male order of both priests and lay members dedicated to battling what Pavone calls "a plague as spiritually fatal as any she has ever fought before--the plague of the culture of death." Last summer the new society's first "discernment retreat" brought an increased level of protest activity to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Amarillo, a medical facility that provides only primary health screening and family planning care. But if one believes that the evil of abortion is enabled and promoted by the "contraceptive mentality," that is reason enough for any Planned Parenthood clinic to be a target.
But Pavone responds that Planned Parenthood should be grateful for his presence.
Planned Parenthood leaders ... have circulated an Institute for Democracy Studies report [pdf link] claiming that Pavone and his associates have consistently presented a "moderate" face to the public, while supporting clinic blockades and other illegal protest activities. "Priests for Life say they oppose violence, but their actions send a different message," according to the report. Despite Pavone's assurances, Ms. Stravato's concerns seem to be shared by the community at large, as expressed by the Amarillo Globe News [registration required] during the events surrounding the death of Terri Schiavo
It's hard to conjure a more debased spokesman than the smarmy, reptilian Terry, founder of Operation Rescue. In some of his more outlandish posturing, he's referred to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger as a whore and wagged around a dead fetus to present to Bill Clinton. Terry has publicly called for the "execution" of doctors who provide abortions and was a close associate of James Kopp, who was convicted of killing a Buffalo, N.Y., doctor. While providers of family planning services in the Texas Panhandle ponder that possibility, the Diocese of Amarillo is preparing itself for the big time. Bishop John Yanta's diocese, troubled in recent years by notoriety stemming from multiple cases of sexual abuse by one of its priests, now can look forward to a more welcome kind of publicity.
The current edition of the diocese's monthly publication announces that Dr. King, another national "pro-life" celebrity, will be a featured speaker at the diocese's upcoming Respect Life Dinner, along with - you guessed it - Fr. Frank Pavone. Bishop Yanta's newsletter is a treasure trove of information about all sorts of goings-on around the diocese.
It is unusual for a bishop to feel the need to reassure his parishioners that none of their priests is breaking the law, although it is good of Bishop Yanta to set their minds to rest on that point. But "fervid, one-note bishop" that he might be, along with exhortations against contraception and "Umbert the Unborn" antiabortion cartoons, his |