Posted on 10/17/2011 6:34:46 PM PDT by Dajjal
... Father Pavone’s bishop, Patrick Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, has issued an administrative decree “suspend[ing] Father Frank A. Pavone from public ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo.” In a letter dated September 9, which he sent to the entire American episcopate to justify his decision in the court of public opinion, Zurek reveals his real intention: to destroy Father Pavone’s reputation and sink Priests for Life. Professing a desire to “strengthen Father Pavone’s sense of communicatio sacramentalis,” Zurek combines vicious public insults with outright calumny....
Bishop Zurek’s power play against Father Pavone is a prime example of why the pro-life movement has yet to win a major victory in America: the Bishops are not behind it.... Their chanceries and seminaries riddled with modernists and homosexuals, the American bishops -- of course there are noble exceptions -- have betrayed the greatest civil rights movement of our time....
(Excerpt) Read more at remnantnewspaper.com ...
I appreciate your thoughts, and your thoughtfulness to forward the statements.
So, does a Bishop bear much, or any, responsibility or duty for the assignments of priests in his diocese (for perceived good or ill) or does a Bishop bear any or no accountability for the monies from some priest’s ministry, if and when the monies have attracted the IRS, and tax deductions are suspended. I get all of the feelings and the relational struggle between the men. I am trying to understand a little better on the practices as they relate to the Bishop’s role when fiscal issues surface. Do you know what I am trying to say? I can not find where anyone says that a priest and his ministry is outside the pervue of his assigned Bishop, or that a Bishop has no responsibility to question accounting practices.
Clearly the public will be seen backing the personality they know best with respect and for all his visible good works. But, my question pertains to back-in-the-accounting-office asking about the oversight role of a Bishop? Is there one?
No money has "attracted" the attention of the IRS. The IRS has nothing whatsoever to do with the Bp. Zurek / Fr. Pavone story.
... does a Bishop bear any or no accountability for the monies from some priest’s ministry ....
Bp. Zurek bears no responsibility for the financing of Priests for Life. The national organization is incorporated in Staten Island, New York, in Abp. Dolan's jurisdiction. Fr. Pavone has always submitted quarterly financial statements from PFL to Bp. Zurek as a courtesy to show the good stewardship of the PFL, and also to affirm that he is not profitting personally from the PFL (he receives no salary, but PFL does pay for his travel, room & board, and incidental expenses). Financial statements are primarily submitted to Abp. Dolan, since the ministry itself is headquartered in his archdiocese.
See:
http://www.priestsforlife.org/articles/3761-official-statement-father-frank-pavone
and
http://ncrnews.org/documents/pavone_letter.pdf
Thanks for the information. So if PFL is incorporated and the Church has no say, nor responsibility for its fiscal shape, why do you suppose Bishop Z. would bother to write up a complaint to the USCCB concerning that very issue, the fiscal question? To that, of course, he added the unfortunate personal innuendo, but basically the cause was, I thought, based on the transparency issues, for which the Bishop seemed to think he had a “right” to address. It is very confusing for others besides me, I will say that.
” They revoked the tax-exempt status of Gospel of Life, another group with which Fr. Pavone is associated. “
Yes sir, you are correct. This initially drew the concern of Bishop Z., was my understanding. On their website donor page, the GOL organization either didn’t realize the IRS had withdrawn their tax exempt status for donors, or if they did know, they failed utterly to inform donors at the point of the website of the change. Probably human error topped off with lack of oversight converged to create a scandal. The charity watchers indicated this to be the case by criticizing the executive board composition for residing all over the country unable to perform detailed oversight of matters.
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