FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jerry Horn, 540-220-0095
jerry@priestsforlife.org
Date: August 22, 2006
Priests for Life Announces Groundbreaking for New
Community of Priests and Laity to End Abortion
Staten Island, NY -- Priests for Life announced
today the groundbreaking ceremony being held on August 24th in Amarillo, Texas,
for its new international headquarters and the formation house for its
seminarians of the new Society, the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.
Cardinal Renato Martino, the President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace is to preside over the ceremonies, which will include a mass
in which Fr. Frank Pavone will officially become the first member of the
Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, and will also receive the promises of the
first group of Lay Associates.
The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at the
site of the new facilities on Thursday, the 24th, at 7:15 PM.
The site is located at:
The Diocese of Amarillo
The property adjacent to
the Bishop DeFalco Retreat Center
2100 N. Spring Street
Amarillo, TX 79107
“The mission of Priests for Life bears new fruit
today,” Fr. Pavone explained. “Abortion is the paramount moral tragedy of our
day. The Church acknowledges that in her teaching. She is also called to
acknowledge that by the allocation of personnel and institutions focused
exclusively on defending the right to life of the unborn. Our ministry, and our
new community, is an example of that commitment.”
The Most Rev. John Yanta, Bishop of Amarillo, has
welcomed Priests for Life into Amarillo, and officially established its new
community in December. The second group of seminarians for the Society arrived
on August 17. “This is an historic day,” the Bishop commented, “and only God
knows how significant it will prove to be for the pro-life movement in this
country and around the world. Our diocese is proud to partner with Priests for
Life in this work of the Holy Spirit.”
Fr. Pavone added, “We invite those who feel the
call to devote their lives entirely to the protection of the unborn to come to
us. Working in union with the entire pro-life movement, we will never turn back,
and we will overcome.”
Last December, Cardinal Martino commented that
this “community founded for the purpose of working to protect human life may
seem like a sign of contradiction—but it may just be what the world of today
needs! The call to protect life is not only a foundation of our faith as
Catholics, but it is the very basis of our recognition of human rights and the
right to life.”
On the occasion of the groundbreaking, Fr. Pavone
is also convening a unique strategy meeting of priests from various
organizations who work full-time on the pro-life cause, as well as a strategic
meeting of pro-life leaders to discuss future initiatives of the movement.
Other guests present at the Amarillo ceremonies
include Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a member of the
Priests for Life pastoral team; Norma McCorvey, the former “Jane Roe” of Roe vs.
Wade, whom Fr. Pavone received into the Catholic Church in 1998; Bob and Mary
Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo, along with her brother Bobby; and Mary
O’Connor Ward, the sister of Cardinal John O’Connor, who ordained Fr. Pavone and
gave him permission in 1993 to lead Priests for Life.
Priests for Life is the nation's largest
Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For
more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
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