Priests for Life
Priests for Life (PFL) is a Roman Catholic pro-life organization based in New York. It functions as a network to promote and coordinate pro-life activism with the primary strategic goal of ending abortion and euthanasia and to spread the Gospel of Life according to the encyclical of the same name written by Pope John Paul II.
Contents |
[edit] History
It was founded by Father Lee Kaylor and Father Francis P. Filice, priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. On April 30, 1991, Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco officially approved it as a Private Association of the Faithful. The organization is listed in the Official Catholic Directory. In 2003, it was granted NGO Status by the United Nations.
[edit] Status
While primary membership is for Catholic bishops, priests and deacons, there is also a lay auxiliary membership, as it has the canonical status of a Private Association of the Christian Faithful.[1] It has about 60 full-time paid employees. Its national director is Father Frank Pavone (who is currently suspended from work with the organization because his bishop has recalled him to his diocese). Priests for Life exists primarily in order to show the clergy how to fight what the organization believes to be a culture of death.[2]
[edit] Graphic images
The Priests for Life organization provides an extensive collection of photos of live fetuses as well as aborted fetuses, via the internet.[3] Its photos have also appeared in print.[4] According to Pavone: "There is no single thing that I have seen more powerful to change people on abortion than simply showing them the pictures....When people see what abortion does to a baby, they are stung to the heart and their consciences are awakened."[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Canon Law Excerpt" priestsforlife.org
- ^ PFL Web Site: Purpose.
- ^ Images at PFL web site.
- ^ Balkin, Jack. What Roe V. Wade Should Have Said: the nation's top legal experts rewrite America's most controversial decision, page 218 et seq. (NYU Press 2005).
- ^ White, Hilary and Jalsevac, Steve. "Use of Graphic Abortion Photos Strongly Defended by Pro-Life Leaders", LifeSiteNews.com (2007-07-20).
