Well-know pro-lifer converted to Catholicism and wants to be a priest

Buffalo, N.Y., Jun 8, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Pro-life activist and former evangelical Christian pastor Paul Schenck converted to Catholicism in February and is now researching whether he can join the priesthood, even though he is married and has eight children, reported Buffalo News. 

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Schenck led protests and attempted blockades of abortion clinics in Western New York, with his twin brother, Robert, being arrested, fined, and even charged with perjury.

He left New York in 1994 to become the director of the American Center for Law and Justice in Virginia Beach, Va. He moved again in 1997 to the Washington, D.C., area.

But it was in 2000 that Schenck began contemplating a conversion to Catholicism. As a guest of the Greek Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem, he participated in the Pope’s pilgrimage from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, reported Buffalo News.

Four years later, he was welcomed into the Catholic Church and now works as a pastoral associate with Priests for Life, a Catholic pro-life group, and as executive director of its ecumenical initiative, Gospel of Life Ministries. He also serves as a lector and eucharistic minister at his parish, Church of the Resurrection.

The 45-year-old is also trying to find out whether a 1982 papal decree, opening the Catholic priesthood to some Episcopal priests, would enable him to be ordained.

His research into the priesthood has not stopped Schenck from being involved in other projects. He recently completed research into the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1972.

He also spent time in Italy for a six-part series for Eternal Word Television Network on the civic responsibilities of Christians. While there, he told Buffalo News, he spoke with several cardinals and had a general audience with Pope John Paul II.