Priest: Office Depot Repents, So Print Your Pro-Life Prayers There

Brittany M. Hughes | September 15, 2015
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Photo Credit: Getty Images

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Only a week after Office Depot refused to print copies of a pro-life prayer for Chicago resident Maria Goldstein, Fr. Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life and the author of the prayer, is now encouraging fellow pro-lifers to print copies of his pro-life prayer specifically at Office Depot.

Goldstein, a Roman Catholic, had taken the flyer to her local Chicago-area Office Depot last week to make copies, only to be told that the store wouldn’t fill her order because the flyer violated the company’s policy against hate speech.

 

Office Depot spokesperson Karen Dennings originally told the Chicago Tribune that “the flier contained material that advocates the persecution of people who support abortion rights.”

In fact, Pavone’s prayer actually called for God’s “mercy for those who teach others to reject parenthood.”

Credit: The American Mirror

(Credit: The American Mirror)

As reported by LifeNews, Office Depot has since issued an apology for refusing to print Goldstein’s flyer, which included facts about Planned Parenthood’s abortion practices, after the Thomas More Society agreed to represent her in a discrimination lawsuit against the office supply store.

Priests for Life also issued a press release Monday accepting Office Depot’s apology, and asking pro-life advocates to have copies of the prayer made specifically at Office Depot. From the press release:

Office Depot General Counsel and Executive Vice President Elisa Garcia called Fr. Pavone at the Priests for Life office at the end of last week to apologize for the way his prayer was originally characterized amid a controversy that erupted last week. 

A letter from Office Depot pointed to the "strong language" in the prayer, such as "the killing of children in the womb," "the grisly trade in baby body parts," and "the death camps in our midst," and referred to this language as "presumably condemning those who perform or obtain abortions… It is this type of language that led to the decision to refuse" the copying request.

Fr. Frank, however, issued a statement defending the language and asking Office Depot to look more closely at it, and at the fact that Priests for Life does not advocate the condemnation of anyone, but on the contrary both the prayers and the actions of this ministry advocate and practice compassionate help and healing to all who consider abortion, have had abortions, and even perform abortions.

Pavone added, “I was personally assured that Office Depot would be more than happy to fill orders to reprint my prayer, and I accepted both their apology and their reasonableness. And it is my hope that more people will in fact have that prayer copied at Office Depot."

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