Bishop permits founding of new pro-life society for priests

Amarillo, Texas, May 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The creation of a new men’s community, dedicated to pro-life work, has been confirmed.

Bishop John Yanta of Amarillo has given Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, permission to found a new pro-life community of men in his diocese. The community will be dedicated to the formation and training of priests, deacons, brothers and seminarians, who will devote themselves fully to the proclamation of the Gospel of Life.

Bishop Yanta is not new to Priests for Life. He has served on the nonprofit organization’s Episcopal Board of Advisors since 1998.

“It has been a dream of mine for over a decade to form a community that can accept seminarians who want to devote their entire ministry to the defense of the unborn," said Fr. Pavone. "While it is true that a few religious orders have pro-life work as a dimension of their activities, the Church has no 'institutional' society of men whose primary charism is to protect innocent human life from the tragedy of abortion and euthanasia.

Bishop Yanta has already offered several vacant buildings, which once served as a Christian Brothers High School, with boarding facilities, a chapel, gym, and spacious grounds, rent-free as a center for the new Society of Apostolic Life.

Priests for Life will continue to exist as a nonprofit organization, with Fr. Pavone as its director. However, in order to launch the new community, Fr. Pavone has officially become a priest of the Diocese of Amarillo.