Fr. Pavone Accused of Sacrilege

Started by Jayne, November 07, 2016, 05:16:30 PM

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Jayne

I came across this article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scottericalt/after-sick-political-stunt-fr-pavones-faculties-should-be-suspended/

QuoteAs you might have read from Mary Pezzulo, Mark Shea, or Matthew Tyson, Fr. Frank Pavone put the remains of an aborted child on an altar, filmed a video, and posted a still shot at Priests for Life for the purpose, so he said, of defeating Hillary Clinton and electing Donald Trump. I am not going to link to the Facebook post; you can go find it if you are so inclined (graphic image warning). But that is what he said:

"I am showing [this dead child] to you because in this election we have to decide whether we will allow this child killing to continue or not. Hillary Clinton and the                   Democratic platform says yes ... Donald Trump and the Republican platform says no."

So Fr. Pavone makes no secret that he put that dead child up on the altar and filmed him and plastered a stillon Facebook in order to lobby for a particular presidential candidate.

Is that what the altar of sacrifice in a Catholic Church is for? No. Says Canon 1239:

An altar, whether fixed or movable, is to be reserved for divine worship alone, to the exclusion of any secular usage.
The altar is intended for a sacramental purpose, as the place where the priest celebrates Mass.

I am going to be, excuse the pun, frank: What Fr. Pavone did was a sacrilege. It is a violation of canon law, which states that the altar is consecrated for one purpose and one purpose only. It is consecrated for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is not consecrated so that a dead child can be placed there as part of a political stunt to lobby for a favored presidential candidate.

More than that, what Fr. Pavone did is the opposite of pro-life. Being pro-life is about respecting the dignity of the human person. It is the antithesis of respect for the dignity of the human person to use a dead child as a political prop to lobby for your presidential candidate the day before an election. This does no honor to the dead.

In consequence, Fr. Pavone's ordinary should suspend his faculties–at least his faculty to celebrate Mass. There is no other way to put it than that this is a sacrilege and a scandal. The human person is not a prop for a political stunt. This is an offense to the purpose for which priests are ordained to use the altar.

This article comes from a source that I do not trust at all, but it's true that there was a video like this. I saw it.  Is this charge of sacrilege well-founded?
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

Lynne

Oh dear! No, that's not right. Maybe he too has the election crazies.
In conclusion, I can leave you with no better advice than that given after every sermon by Msgr Vincent Giammarino, who was pastor of St Michael's Church in Atlantic City in the 1950s:

    "My dear good people: Do what you have to do, When you're supposed to do it, The best way you can do it,   For the Love of God. Amen"

ResRev

Pray for him. I can only imagine the horror that he lives with in this fight. I have a fraction of a percent of the exposure to the savagery that is abortion than he does and it warps me to think about it. Are his actions sacrilegious? I don't know. But if sacrilege can be weighted it makes more sense than a beach ball, so there's that.
"You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart." Jeremias 29:13

Jayne

Yeah, I was thinking about the beach ball incident too.  I think they are pretty similar.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

christulsa

It was sacrilegous, but I'll give Fr. Pavone the benefit of the doubt that he is ignorant canon law forbids this.  His intentions were very good.  We need Fr. Pavone and pro-life activism, but pro-life activists (I use to be one) can sometimes get understandably crazed.

Take a look at the video and take a moment to look at the aborted child, especially if you're still wavering whether or not to vote for Trump tomorrow.

Prayerful

#5
Quote from: christulsa on November 07, 2016, 05:43:39 PM
It was sacrilegous, but I'll give Fr. Pavone the benefit of the doubt that he is ignorant canon law forbids this.  His intentions were very good.  We need Fr. Pavone and pro-life activism, but pro-life activists (I use to be one) can sometimes get understandably crazed.

Take a look at the video and take a moment to look at the aborted child, especially if you're still wavering whether or not to vote for Trump tomorrow.

Many on the left 'personally deplore abortion' or hold it as part of the 'seamless garment' of Church teaching, one issue among many. Is it worse than, say, to give a totally random example, of an Argentine man of the cloth putting a beach ball on the altar? Fr Pavone broke rules, but only for the best of intentions.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

Jayne

Eye of the Tiber did a satire piece on it.

QuoteOfficials at the atheist organization Blaspheme Inc. announced today that they are suing Father Frank Pavone for copyright infringement after the pro-life advocate placed the remains of an aborted baby on an altar,  thereby infringing upon the exclusive rights of the organization.
"We patented the whole 'offering a dead child on the altar and invoking the name of an enemy of Jesus as savior' thing years ago," Satanist High Priest Horace Beelzebub told EOTT this morning.

"Look," Rev. Beelzebub continued, "I get that you guys are into the whole 'all things to all' deal. And I recognize that in your zeal to get Trump elected president, you feel the need to cut some moral corners. But even we Satanists have standards. At least when we offer children in sacrifice, it's to a respectable fallen angel or to an elder god. Something transcendent and metaphysical, you know? It profits us Satanists something to lose our soul."

At press time, Planned Parenthood officials are outraged and scandalized by Pavone's actions, and are calling for his resignation.
http://www.eyeofthetiber.com/2016/11/07/satanists-sue-fr-frank-pavone-for-copyright-infringement/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

I lol'd.  But then I felt guilty.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

Kaesekopf

Liberals are caring about canon law and liturgical instructions?  Oh my.

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Wie dein Sonntag, so dein Sterbetag.

I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side.  ~Treebeard, LOTR

Jesus son of David, have mercy on me.

LouisIX

I think that he had good intentions but that he went too far in an attempt to get Trump a few more last minute votes before the election. The problem is that you can't do evil that good may come of it. I think that this was unjust. Putting a corpse on an altar is unnecessary desecration, and there are also questions as to whether it was a desecration for the poor baby's corpse as well.
IF I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Karasu

#9
so he's basically saying that infants are divine? this is actually blasphemous- creatures aren't Our Lord.
In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin. - Sirach 7:40

Non Nobis

I am appalled that a Catholic priest would not know better than to do this.
[Matthew 8:26]  And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm.

[Job  38:1-5]  Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said: [2] Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words? [3] Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me. [4] Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding. [5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee! Save souls!

Karasu

Quote from: christulsa on November 07, 2016, 05:43:39 PM
It was sacrilegous, but I'll give Fr. Pavone the benefit of the doubt that he is ignorant canon law forbids this.  His intentions were very good.  We need Fr. Pavone and pro-life activism, but pro-life activists (I use to be one) can sometimes get understandably crazed.

Take a look at the video and take a moment to look at the aborted child, especially if you're still wavering whether or not to vote for Trump tomorrow.


Canon 2200.2, 1917 Code of Canon Law: "Positing an external violation of the law,  malice (dolus) is presumed in the external forum until the contrary is proven."




This man is literally placing a creature in place of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the altar.





In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin. - Sirach 7:40

Kaesekopf

Quote from: Karasu on November 07, 2016, 10:21:03 PM
Quote from: christulsa on November 07, 2016, 05:43:39 PM
It was sacrilegous, but I'll give Fr. Pavone the benefit of the doubt that he is ignorant canon law forbids this.  His intentions were very good.  We need Fr. Pavone and pro-life activism, but pro-life activists (I use to be one) can sometimes get understandably crazed.

Take a look at the video and take a moment to look at the aborted child, especially if you're still wavering whether or not to vote for Trump tomorrow.

Canon 2200.2, 1917 Code of Canon Law: "Positing an external violation of the law,  malice (dolus) is presumed in the external forum until the contrary is proven."

This man is literally placing a creature in place of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the altar.

That's not the applicable law though.
Wie dein Sonntag, so dein Sterbetag.

I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side.  ~Treebeard, LOTR

Jesus son of David, have mercy on me.

Greg

Had the "altar" he used ever had the old rite said on it?

Does Pavone say the old rite?
Contentment is knowing that you're right. Happiness is knowing that someone else is wrong.

Prayerful

If it was an altar with relics a person might be upset, while a communion table wouldn't be so serious.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.