Contact:  Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095, [email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY, Aug. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- 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 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.