Frank Pavone, 64, a defrocked anti-abortion activist priest, formerly a Catholic adviser to former President Donald Trump, is plagued with a sex scandal. Pavone, the director of Priests for Life, doesn’t seem to respect women’s lives very much. The alleged touchy-feely former priest once chaired Catholics for Trump.
Via The Daily Beast:
Now, at least four different women have accused Pavone of sexual misconduct, according to reporting by The Pillar. Pavone and Priests for Life have strongly denied the accusations.
The women, some of whom gave their accounts anonymously, accuse Pavone of inappropriate behavior in the workplace, ranging from unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual touching, grooming and lewd suggestions.
The allegations span a period of almost twenty years, from the late 1990s until 2018.
Two former members of Priests for Life have made public statements condemning Pavone’s alleged actions and calling for him to step down.
One is Father Stephen Imbarrato, who served as pastoral team member at Priests for Life from 2015 to 2019.Imbarrato told The Daily Beast that in 2017 he was approached by a woman who said she had experienced sexual harassment from Pavone while working at the organization. He counseled her until she quit at the end of 2018.
“I only had direct knowledge of one victim, the woman I counseled over a long period of time,” Imbarrato told The Daily Beast via email.“That there were other victims over the years, were to me, suspicions that I could not verify, but I do believe these women who came forward and they are now proof of those suspicions.”
“Priests for Life had an excellent sexual harassment policy on the books. But they had no human resource department, and their sexual-harassment committee reported to and was headed by, Frank Pavone. So it was neither safe nor independent,” Imbarrato told the outlet. “I went directly to the board and demanded a safe and confidential, independent sexual harassment committee that reported to the board directly.”
One woman, who had no qualifications for the job, was hired. Pavone would reportedly touch her hair and put his arms around her while she was working on the computer. He called her his “spiritual daughter” and told her to call him “Dad,” the woman said.
Yeah, that’s called grooming.
