FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 10, 2015
Contact: Leslie Palma
347-286-7277
NEW YORK — On the eve of another national prayer campaign to end the evils of Planned Parenthood, Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life and author of Abolishing Abortion, has asked pro-life advocates everywhere to fight back against an effort to restrict the freedom of pro-life advocates.
“One of the prayers I wrote for this campaign was taken to an Office Depot in a Chicago suburb by Maria Goldstein, who wanted to make a few hundred copies for her parish,” explained Fr. Frank. “The store refused to print it and the Chicago Tribune reports that an Office Depot spokeswoman said this is because the prayer ‘advocates the persecution of people who support abortion rights.’ Actually, the opposite is true: the prayer advocates their conversion, enlightenment, and salvation.”
“Let me be clear: Priests for Life, and I personally, have a long record of promoting respect and dialogue with those who advocate abortion. Just ask the father of the pro-choice movement, Bill Baird, with whom I have held joint press conferences over the years calling for respect in both word and deed across the lines of the abortion debate.
“I am proud of Maria Goldstein for standing up for her rights, and I call upon Office Depot to reconsider this decision by evaluating more carefully the words of the prayer and the intent of its author.”
Maria Goldstein has enlisted the help of a Chicago-based law firm which has given Office Depot five business days to agree to print the flier or it will take the matter to the Cook County Human Rights Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
Fr. Frank went one step further, and called on supporters of Priests for Life across the country to bring the prayer to Office Depot outlets in their own communities to have it copied.
“Let’s see how many come to the same erroneous conclusion, or whether some measure of reason will prevail instead.”
The prayer campaign that utilizes this Prayer for the Conversion of Planned Parenthood (see http://www.priestsforlife.org/prayercampaign/conversion-of-planned-parenthood.aspx), and several other prayers with a similar theme, launches again this Saturday, September 12 and runs through the 20th. It will take place again from October 10-18th. See details at www.PrayerCampaign.org.
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.