Fr. Pavone Cancelled, or, Wake the F Up, People!

Fr. Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, has apparently been laicized by the Vatican.

I say “apparently” because, as we know, the people who would do this – namely Jorge Bergoglio – have as much authority to laicize a priest as I do.

And therein lies the problem.

Look, I had intended to share a beautiful story of Christmas tonight, a story of the Incarnation and hope and life and death. I had planned to tell this story for a while. And now I need to put all that on pause to comment on this. Remember, this page is for the musings of a trad dad and this definitely warrants a musing or two.

First, some brief background of a personal nature. The one and only time I ever met Fr. Pavone was in the summer of 2004 during the GOP convention in New York. I was working as a producer of a daytime reality series and production had been shut down due to the security around our 7th Avenue offices being heightened. So I took a stroll down 37th St. to grab a slice of pizza. As I passed in front of the Church of the Holy Innocents, I noticed the friendly face of a man who I had known through years of exposure to Catholic media. During the 1990’s Fr. Pavone had become a prominent figure for his involvement in the pro-life movement. He had been standing on the steps of the church talking with someone. I waited my turn. We had never met. When his first guest took his leave, Fr., noticing that I was clearly waiting to speak with him, approached me and said hello. I introduced myself as an admirer and a man who greatly appreciated his work. I assured him of my prayers. He was genuinely surprised to have been “spotted” in the midst of the busiest city in America on a summer afternoon.

Several years later, one of my nieces went to work for Fr. Pavone as his travel coordinator at Priests for Life.

That is the extent of my personal experience with the man.

On another level, I know him well. I know of his work and what he stands for. I remember as a teenager wondering why in the world a priest would need to start an organization in support of the pro-life movement when I foolishly believed all priests were pro-life. I have followed his work. There is no guile in this man, this priest. We all know it.

I looked around the interwebz just now and, big surprise, came across a breathless, on-the-spot report from T. Marshall. He points out that the Jesuit faggot James Martin prances around the world with the blessing of the Vatican while a good man like Pavone gets the ax. Those are not his words but mine.

But this is why getting it right is so important. I simply cannot comprehend how, at this point, there are still men who cling to what is so obviously false. “He’s the pope. He can do bad things. He spouts heresy. He promotes evil. He sidelines good men. But he’s the pope.” This long ago went beyond the “in his personal opinion, the pope can make the odd mistake because he’s only protected from error in certain, very defined circumstances.” Day in and day out, Bergoglio and his minions – the infiltrators – work toward the rapid destruction of the Church (which will never happen) by killing the faith of the members of the Body (which can happen and is happening). And still they call him papa.

Wake up.

And Fr. Pavone, if you read this, know that you are in my prayers.