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Face Off

Priest for Life Initiates Campaign against Abortion Clinics

By Paul Hewson

Two months ago in May, the month of Mary -- the Ultimate Mother -- Priests for Life began a project aimed at preserving the sanctity of life and of motherhood itself. Led by its director, Father Frank Pavone, Priests for Life, with help from Life Dynamics, Inc., matched every single free-standing abortion mill in the United States -- over 700 of them -- with the nation's more than 19,000 Catholic parishes in an effort to encourage parishioners to take on the task of closing down their "adopted" abortion mill through prayer, sidewalk counseling, and other non-violent, pro-life activities.

According to the Priests for Life website, "taking the step of matching the parishes to the mills makes our prayer to end abortion much more concrete and specific. It drives home the point that the killing of children is taking place in specific places, at specifically scheduled times. In some cases, these places are within one's own parish boundaries -- an important fact, given the pastoral responsibility that priests and bishops have for all those within their parish or diocese.

"Often, the members of a parish -- and even its clergy -- are not aware of the location of the nearest abortuaries. This project makes them aware, and helps to spread that awareness to the wider community as activities are planned for the purposes of converting and closing the killing center."

In a press release issued on May 19, Father Pavone himself described the nature of the project. "This focuses the spiritual energy of the Church on the deadly energy of the abortion mills and brings our strengths against their weaknesses," he said. "The pro-abortion movement is strong in funding, media, and politics. Its weak links, however, are the abortion mills themselves. Over half of these places have closed in the past decade, and the rest have a hard time recruiting doctors."

In a message via e-mail, Father Pavone explained to this reporter that it was "grassroots pro-life people and parishes throughout the country" that inspired him to initiate the project. "Abortion is a local phenomenon," he said. "It is a community problem. Along with the postcards and phone calls we direct to Washington, D.C., we need to take responsibility to stop the killing in our community and in our own parish. I've lost count of the number of times I have accompanied a local pastor or deacon and his parishioners to the nearby abortion mill to pray there and counsel women to choose life. At the same time, I've encountered many people who were not aware that there was an abortion facility in their own community. Invariably, when faithful Christians became aware that such a place existed, they wanted to know what to do. This project arose out of these practical considerations."

The Priests for Life website echoed Father Pavone's words that abortion is a local struggle: "This project is an application of the spiritual power of the Church against the demonic power of the abortion industry. Abortion doesn't just happen. Specific people carry it out in specific places. Likewise, the Church, which opposes abortion, has specific places where its people gather, pray, learn what is right, and find the strength to do it."

Father Pavone noted that the project arose from "theological considerations" as well. "A pastor has spiritual responsibility for his flock, and Church law specifies that responsibility geographically," he said. "The responsibility extends to everyone living within those parish boundaries. The same is true, of course, in the relationship of a bishop with his diocese. Beyond that, Scripture indicates that whenever innocent blood is shed on the land, all the people of the land are responsible."

Father Pavone also emphasized that the object of the project is not only the closing of abortion mills but the conversion of the souls operating them. "Were we to say just the 'closing,' it might be possible for the people who ran the mill to go on and open another one, or to remain unrepentant in their sin," said Father Pavone. "So our first goal is their conversion, that they would stop the killing. As a consequence of that, the mill can be changed from a place of death to a place of life. A significant aspect of the work of Priests for Life is ministry of healing to former abortion providers and of outreach to those who are still practicing abortion. Many of them are open to dialogue."

Although Father Pavone does not envision a particular timeline for the closing of the abortion mills, he does believe "it can happen much more quickly and easily than we usually think." He added, "this is true because of the inherent weaknesses in the abortion industry that are causing it to collapse -- things such as the hidden ambivalence and misery of the lives of the abortionists."

Because the project is in its initial stages, response to it has been limited. "There has not yet been time for the secular press, the bishops, or the pro-abortion groups to respond," said Father Pavone. But here in Southern California, dioceses have responded positively to the project. "I think it's great," said Licia Nicassio, director of the office of Respect Life for the archdiocese of Los Angeles. "It shows great vision." Monsignor John Sammon, director of the office of Respect Life for the diocese of Orange, praised the project and added that the diocese is already engaged in similar work. "We have an active program of people praying and counseling outside abortion clinics," he said. However, he added, "we can recommend they [parishes] do things, but we can't tell them to do them. It's a parish choice. We do distribute Priests for Life's letters to our priests every week." Marie Widmann, director of pro-life Catholic ministries for the diocese of San Bernardino, called the project a "terrific" idea. "It's very encouraging to see Priests for Life do that. Fresh ideas like this one give us an additional push. It's an encouragement, in short.

"We're great fans of Priests for Life," Widmann added. "Father Pavone was here one and a half years ago to give a presentation to our priests. He led processions to local abortion clinics. Father Peter West has been out here the last two Januarys." Widmann said she is unsure how she will incorporate the Priests for Life parish project into the diocese's calendar year, but she noted that the diocese is currently helping parishes begin their own individual pro-life ministries.

The Pro-Life Secretariat of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops would not comment on the project, stating that it "declines to comment on the merits of the various pro-life projects of various pro-life organizations."

The Priests for Life website describes a number of ways that parishes can carry out this project, including distribution of the prayer that has been composed for the closing of the abortion mills; prayerful vigils, such as those conducted by the group Helpers of God's Precious Infants; the Gabriel Project; and the Prodigal Project. The Gabriel Project is a pregnancy resource service that involves "inviting people who are tempted to abort their child to come to the loving help of the Church rather than to the abortionists' instruments of death." The Prodigal Project is a conversion-oriented undertaking whereby parishioners hand out leaflets -- written by former abortionists -- to abortion mill workers coming to or from the mill.

The Priests for Life website also advocates "conscientious objection" whereby "professionals in the community refuse to provide any kind of service to the abortion mill. Businesses should sever all ties with the killing centers, and in cases where service contracts are in place, individual workers can exercise their right to refuse to violate their conscience." Said Father Pavone, "Federal law under Title VII provides significant protection of conscience in this regard."

Father Pavone also recommended an around-the-clock prayer initiative. "One of the strategies that has been initiated by parishes and brought to my attention," he said, "is a schedule of covering the abortion facility in prayer, by people being there in small groups around the clock, whether the place is open or closed. This presence is integrated with sidewalk-counselor training for the times that the place is open."

Indeed, the power of God is fundamental to the project. According to the Priests for Life website, "the spiritual battle inherent in this project should not be underestimated. One former abortion mill security guard said to a pro-life leader that the mill was 'a church -- a place of worship.' Ginette Paris, a pro-abortion author, actually wrote a book called 'The Sacrament of Abortion,' calling this procedure a sacred sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. Some have bumper stickers that say, 'Abortion is a woman's rite,' and it is no secret that witchcraft is sometimes carried out inside abortion clinics. The lining up of the parishes with the mills is a face-off between the false church and the true Church. between the innocent blood of babies that cries out for vengeance, and the innocent Blood of Christ that cries out for mercy."

"Our Lord told us that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. It is the Church that takes initiative, storming the gates of sin with the power of grace, the gates of falsehood with the power of truth, and the gates of death with the power of life. And the gates will not stand."

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