A message from Fr Pavone

As I was preparing to send you my regular column, I got the news this morning that abortionist George Tiller was killed today in Wichita, KS.

Following is the statement I released this morning to the media:
“I am saddened to hear of the killing of George Tiller this morning. At this point, we do not know the motives of this act, or who is behind it, whether an angry post-abortive man or woman, or a misguided activist, or an enemy within the abortion industry, or a political enemy frustrated with the way Tiller has escaped prosecution. We should not jump to conclusions or rush to judgment.

“But whatever the motives, we at Priests for Life continue to insist on a culture in which violence is never seen as the solution to any problem. Every life has to be protected, without regard to their age or views or actions.”

[End of statement to media]

It should be noted that peaceful pro-life efforts in Wichita were very close to success in getting Tiller’s license revoked. He was on trial recently for breaking various aspects of Kansas law related to late-term abortions. A jury acquitted him, but there were still other violations being investigated.

If in fact it comes to light that the shooting today was done for the motives of trying to stop abortion (and again, that is by no means clear), the point should not be missed that the killings of other abortionists and their staff (David Gunn – 1993; John Britton – 1994; Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols – 1994; Barnett Slepian – 1998) occurred in an environment in which there was a lot of frustration over the pro-abortion initiatives of President Clinton. Now, there is similar frustration regarding the Obama Presidency and its support of abortion. This is not to blame our Presidents for someone’s misguided actions. But neither should we miss what may be emerging as a pattern: when hope diminishes that the government is going to do something to protect the vulnerable, the temptation to take the law into one’s own hands increases.

Priests for Life has always been committed to nonviolence.
See www.priestsforlife.org/nonviolence. We remain committed to train pro-life activists worldwide in the spirituality and strategy of peaceful pro-life activism.