Priests for Life Serving the Pro-Life Movement

By Ernest L. Ohlhoff, Director of Outreach

One of the key aspects of the service Priests for Life offers to the pro-life community is its speaker's bureau. The full-time priests on staff, as well as some of the lay persons, are available for pro-life retreats; seminars for priests, deacons, seminarians, and lay people; pro-life conventions; prayer vigils; parish weekends; and individual consultation.

Anthony DeStefano, spokesman for Priests for Life, recently told NRL News, "We are ready and eager to serve the pro-life community. Our staff of 40 full-time people are continually carrying out dozens of projects and are at the service of local dioceses and national pro-life organizations.

Travels of the Priests for Life speakers' bureau are coordinated by the travel department, headed by Andrew Smith and assisted by Michael Nucciarone. They can be reached at Priests for Life Travel Office, PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: (888) PFL-3448, (718) 980-4400, ext. 258; Fax: (603) 908-3075; e-mail: travels@priestsforlife.org.

Priests for Life recently expanded its youth outreach department, which is focused particularly on helping priests, deacons, and lay persons who minister to youth in schools, catechetical programs, and various youth ministries. Elisabeth Townsend heads up this department and is on the speakers' bureau. Fr. Frank Pavone's long-time assistant, Janet Morana, is also one of the speakers.

Following is information on some of its speakers:

Fr. Peter West has been a pro-life activist since 1986. He earned an M.A. degree in theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1991. Father West was the founder and director of Amicus, a successful Catholic young adult group for men and women in their 20s and 30s. He also has experience working with youth as a teacher and a youth group leader. In his pastoral ministry he has preached frequently on the topic of abortion. He has been able to dissuade women from having abortions, and has helped women who have had abortions to find healing and peace. Fr. Peter West began his ministry with Priests for Life on April 1, 1998. As a new addition to the staff he has spent the last three years traveling the country as he spreads the message of the Gospel of Life.

Rev. Denis G. Wilde, O.S.A. is a member of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, and has served on the faculty of Villanova University from 1977 to 1998. A Long Island native, Fr. Wilde is an accomplished pianist and enjoys presenting concerts for pro-life organizations. Father Wilde feels a unique interest in integrating music and pro-life ministry much as the heart is moved through beauty in life.

Fr. Wilde has been actively involved in pro-life interests since before Roe v. Wade. He has spoken at a number of pro-life civic and religious functions in the Boston and Philadelphia area. More recently he has been involved with Rachel's Vineyard retreats for those enduring post-abortion syndrome.

In Fr. Wilde's own words, "Our days, brought up against this backdrop, can be foreboding. But they can be attended to by a wake-up call to act on the promise God has given us all - - to thwart evil and look to His victory, already accomplished for us. A priest needs to be at the front, side, and beyond his flock in this battle for life. Ours is not an option to wait for someone else to come along. What a joy it is to know that God is in charge and will not fail to lead us forward to end this 'unspeakable crime.'"

Fr. Walter J. Quinn, O.S.A., a member of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, headquartered at Villanova, Pennsylvania, was born August 8, 1930, in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended West Catholic High School in Philadelphia. He then went on to the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1952 with a B.S. in economics with a major in marketing and industrial management. He served two years in the Army as a First Lieutenant during the Korean War. He then worked in industrial sales in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware tri-state area.

In 1955 he entered the Augustinian Novitiate and began graduate studies for the priesthood at Villanova University and at Augustinian College in Washington, D.C. with an M.A. in religious education. Along the way he picked up credits for an M.A. in international law at Catholic University and was ordained to the priesthood in Washington's National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1961.

Fr. Quinn brings to Priests for Life his long experience of 38 years as an Augustinian priest in parish work.

Fr. Quinn has been actively involved in the pro-life movement since the late 1960s. He led parish groups to the annual March for Life in Washington, and is founder of still-active pro-life groups at the parish level, both "Main Line Life Line" in suburban Philadelphia in the late 1970s and "Atlantic Life Line" in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the late 1980s.

Fr. Quinn joined Priests for Life in September 1999. "I am convinced that the main focus of the Gospel of Life reaches people in and through the Church at the parish level," he said. As the latest addition to the Priests for Life staff he will be preaching on abortion and euthanasia to groups of clergy and laity throughout the nation, encouraging all to "stand up and be counted" and be actively involved in this most important crusade of our time: to serve, protect, and defend life from the innocent unborn to the oldest of the old among us!

Fr. Richard Hogan grew up in Minneapolis, attended the Catholic parish grade school, a Christian Brothers high school; DeLaSalle; and the College (now University) of St. Thomas. He majored in history with a minor in philosophy and

foreign language (German and Latin), graduating in 1973. Earning a Fulbright scholarship, Fr. Hogan studied history in Munich, Germany, during 1973-74. Returning to Minnesota in 1974, he entered graduate school at the University of Minnesota and earned an M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1978) in medieval history.

While writing the dissertation, Fr. Hogan approached the Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was accepted as a candidate for priesthood and began his studies at St. Paul Seminary in 1977. After four years, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 30, 1981.

Fr. Hogan is a noted writer who has authored and/or co-authored several books, including Covenant of Love, a book on the teachings of the Pope John Paul II; Faith For Today; Covenant; and Faith. In addition to these works, he participated in the founding of a non-profit company called Image of God. Image of God has authored a Catholic religion textbook series for use in schools and religious education programs called the Image of God Series, based on the theology of Pope John Paul II. Fr. Hogan also served as one of the editors.

Elisabeth Townsend serves as the coordinator of youth outreach and special outreach programs at Priests for Life. Born in Okinawa, Japan, Elisabeth was raised across three continents, growing up as the daughter of an Air Force officer. Her involvement in the pro-life movement began in high school with Life Chains. In 1996 she graduated from Fort Walton Beach High School in Florida and went on to the University of South Alabama. Through her involvement in Catholic campus ministry, Elisabeth helped to initiate many pro-life activities and prayer vigils on campus. She was also involved as a volunteer youth minister, helping to bring the Life Teen youth program into a local parish.

Elisabeth graduated from the University of South Alabama in May 2000 with a B.S. in sports medicine. However, her call to full-time pro-life work came to fruition when she joined the Priests for Life staff in New York. Since July 2000 she has worked with correspondence and outreach departments representing Priests for Life at various conferences across the country. Elisabeth has also spearheaded the development of Priests for Life's Youth Department and created the Priests for Life Youth web site, www.abortionaborted.org.

Janet A. Morana, M.S., serves as the personal assistant to the director of Priests for Life and also serves as staff administrator for the organization.

Mrs. Morana was born in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Catholic schools there and received her B.A. in foreign languages from St. Francis College. In 1990, she was awarded a masters degree in education from the College of Staten Island. In 2000, she received a professional diploma in reading from St. John's University, graduating with several awards for academic excellence.

For 11 years, Mrs. Morana served as a full-time public school teacher in Staten Island, New York. During that time, she spearheaded numerous literacy, science, cultural, and educational programs and won many awards and financial grants for her school district.

Mrs. Morana is a certified CCD teacher, a Eucharistic Minister at St. Charles parish, and a former member of the executive board of the Staten Island Right to Life Committee.

For the past 12 years, Mrs. Morana has devoted an enormous amount of time to pro-life activities. In addition to being a trusted assistant to Fr. Pavone since his ordination in 1988, she has also traveled extensively throughout the country, giving pro-life training seminars for the laity, and representing Priests for Life at various local and national pro-life conferences. In her position as staff administrator for the organization, she oversees several important departments, including pro-life resources, correspondence, priest travels, and personnel.