Abortion - Pro Life - Priests for Life Newsletter - January

Fr. Frank Pavone and Janet Morana recently received special awards for their pro-life leadership.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, was honored with the A.D. King Advancing the Culture of Life Award in January during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Week in Atlanta. The presentation took place during a January 14th program honoring Rev. A.D. Williams King entitled, “Brother to the Dreamer, the Half that’s Never Been Told.” “This is a great, great honor to be given an award named for one of the pioneers for equal rights in our nation, Rev. A.D. King,” said Fr. Pavone. “The struggle to which Rev. King devoted his life, equal rights under the law, continues today, as we strive to return protection to the most vulnerable among us, the children in the womb.”

Alveda King, daughter of AD King, and a full-time Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life, commented, ‘The civil rights movement of today is the pro-life movement. It is therefore so fitting that in honoring my father, Rev. A.D. King, we established a Culture of Life Award, and are presenting it to Fr. Frank. The dream of my father and my uncle must be applied in every generation to the most marginalized members of our society. Today, those members are the children in the womb, and in their name we declare again, We Shall Overcome!”

The night of Fr. Pavone’s award also featured the premiere of a new documentary on the life of Rev. A.D. King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s younger brother and fellow civil rights leader, entitled “A.D. King, the Half that’s Never Been Told.” The keynote address that evening was given by longtime civil rights champion Rev. Dr. Otis Moss.

Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life, was honored by Legatus, the international organization of Catholic business executives, founded by Tom Monaghan. Each year, Legatus bestows its “Cardinal John O’Connor Pro-life Hall of Fame” award on influential pro-life leaders. The award was presented at Legatus’ International Summit held in Bermuda from February 5-7. Mary O’Connor Ward, the sister of Cardinal O’Connor, traveled to the Summit for the occasion. Janet commented, “The connection that Priests for Life had with Cardinal O’Connor over the years, and the friendship we continue to have with his sister, makes this award all the more appropriate and touching. Priests for Life could not have grown without the Cardinal’s strong support, and the permission he initially gave to Fr. Frank Pavone, whom he also ordained, to lead this ministry. As pro-life leaders, we will do all we can to advance the Cardinal’s teaching and example.”

Abortion Hurts Women:

An Interview with Executive Director, Janet Morana

Janet Morana has served the Priests for Life organization since 1993, and is a prominent pro-life leader through her coordination of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign worldwide, her work with Rachel’s Vineyard, her travels and talks around the nation, and her production of national and international pro-life radio and television programs.

When did you first start enunciating the theme that abortion hurts women and that women deserve better than abortion?

Janet: In 1989, when Fr. Frank Pavone and I first began leading pro-life activities in St. Charles Church in Staten Island, NY, we organized the parish life chain and began talking about the need for a sign to complement “Abortion Kills Children.” We eventually contacted Royce Dunn, the national leader of Life Chain, with the idea for a sign that said “Abortion Hurts Women”, and they agreed to produce that sign. It has been one of the official “Life Chain” signs ever since.

We promoted the “Abortion hurts women” theme in all our educational and pastoral work. We even made an envelope stamp that conveyed that message and encouraged activists to use it.

When you began working with Priests for Life, what part did post-abortion healing play in the vision of the ministry?

Janet: When Fr. Frank became National Director in September of 1993, one of the first things we had to do was to design letterhead. The phrase we adopted was “Pro-Woman, Pro-Family, Pro-Life.” We wanted our ministry to have a woman-centered message, because we knew that women were being pressured to abortion and not given the resources they deserved to give life to their children.
In the clergy seminars we developed, the need for priests to speak about healing in their pro-life homilies was emphasized right from the start. The emphasis on reconciliation and healing was always central, pointing out that such healing was available no matter how many abortions a person may have had. In writing outlines of pro-life homilies, one of the earliest examples we used was the woman we came to know of who had 24 abortions, and that even she would be welcomed back to the Church, upon repenting of those sins.