An election is not a contest between candidates!

Rather, it is a contest between teams.

And the secret to winning elections is simple:

The candidate with the team that mobilizes more voters to actually cast their ballots is the candidate who wins.

As members of the people of life, our mission is clear:

We need to help our fellow believers – both Catholics and Protestants – get out of their living rooms and into the public arena to advance the culture of life in the voting booth.

That is precisely what you have been helping Priests for Life do for many months.  Today, however, it is more important than ever that you make another contribution to this work.

The elections are just a few short months away.

So now it’s a numbers game.  Remember.  Polls don’t determine elections ... people do!

Election season isn’t the time for converting people.  It’s the time for counting people.  And on Election Day, it isn’t the viewpoints, beliefs, or convictions of people that get counted ... but actual votes.  A vote cast for a candidate because the voter liked the color of the candidate’s tie counts as much as the vote based on the candidate’s convictions.

So again, the numbers are what counts.

And we only have a short span of time to make sure that believers are activated to vote!

That said, rather than spend our valuable time and energy – as well as limited resources – convincing a few stubborn people of the rightness of our cause, let’s spend our time profitably by reminding the many who will listen that they have an important role to play in the fight to end abortion.

And let’s do so with vigor ... as faithful citizens who are sincerely working to renew the face of the earth.

Our first task in this mission is to make sure every pro-life American is registered to vote!

That’s because right from the get go the numbers are on our side.  Take a look:

In addition to those numbers, this year is shaping up to be a record-breaker in terms of percentages of eligible voters actually casting ballots on Election Day November 4.

There’s a lot of enthusiasm among the electorate.

This consists of a mix of frustration and hope, of a desire for change and a desire to preserve key values. People know that so many races will be close. And issues like the war in Iraq, illegal immigration, and the economy are getting people to focus on the candidates.

But all those issues pale in significance to the life issues.

We must get people to focus on which candidates - in every race on every level - will best protect the unborn and defend the right to life of all persons ... born and unborn.  And that concern dovetails into the fact that the Supreme Court will change again in the next few years, and this could mean either the reversal or the reaffirmation of Roe v Wade.

Our goal is simple: educate and activate voters. We as Priests for Life do not endorse candidates. Rather, we advocate for the unborn child, and call upon candidates and voters alike to pay attention to them.

For that to happen we have to make sure that voters know the issues, know where the candidates stand on the issues, and get out and vote!

Which is why I am writing to you today with such urgency.

Election Day 2008 is now less than six months away.  That gives us precious little time to make sure people are registered to vote in time to be eligible to vote in the November elections.

Priests for Life is busy urging churches of every denomination to have voter registration forms at church for people to fill out.  Four specific Sundays were chosen to focus on these non-partisan voter registration drives:  January 20, April 20, June 29, and September 7.

One has come and gone.  Which means we only have three Sundays left to focus on this work.

What I need you to do is make a contribution that Priests for Life can use to contact as many pastors as we can – both Catholic and Protestant – and urge them to take part in Voter Registration Sundays.

To show you why this is important consider this:

And in addition to appealing to the pastors of America’s churches, we are also reaching out to church-going people directly.  For example:

• Hundreds of thousands of emails have gone out to people informing them of election issues and mobilizing them to register and vote.
• We have created a special website – www.PoliticalResponsibility.org – where all of our educational material is made available for Internet readers ... including a special “Voter Registration” link ... as well as 12 specific ways people can get friends, family members, co-workers and others involved in the process.  Over 200,000 visitors log on to our Priests for Life website each month!

As if all that weren’t enough, Priests for Life is publicly calling upon all believers to do all they can to register as many fellow believers as possible to vote in each year's elections ... including taking part in or conducting Voter Registration Sundays at their Church.

To help them do so we make voter registration forms, as well as a host of other pertinent election-related material, available on our website – www.PoliticalResponsibility.org. 

As you can imagine, the cost to do all this work is prohibitive.

In fact, Priests for Life spent over $150,000 on voter registration projects alone in 2006.

I know for a fact that when all is said and done, we will outspend that amount this year.

And that doesn’t include all the educational work we continue to do related to citizenship.

As an example, Priests for Life is putting together an ecumenical version of Voting with a Clear Conscience.  This is a “must read” for everyone who believes in God.  And when you consider that tens of millions of God-fearing Christians do not vote pro-life, it’s obvious that we have to get this booklet into the hands of as many believers as we possibly can.

But at a cost of one dollar for every copy of Voting with a Clear Conscience that we have printed, it’s going to cost Priests for Life tens of thousands of dollars just to print and ship the booklets to churches and pro-life organizations.

Still, if we’re going to advance the cause of life on November 4 ... then we’ve got to pull out all the stops and go forward full speed ahead.

That’s what I intend to do ... but I can’t do it without your help.

So please be as generous as you possibly can.

As I told you, the way elections are decided is, ultimately, simple: The candidate with the team that mobilizes more voters to actually cast their ballots is the candidate who wins.

When God’s people are mobilized, the protection of the vulnerable is within reach.

Thank you ... and may God Bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Frank Pavone, M.E.V.
National Director, Priests for Life
National Director, Gospel of Life Ministries 

PS Like me, you are probably hearing some people say they might “sit out” the election because they aren’t comfortable with the choice of candidates.  That would be a huge mistake.  We are just as responsible for the results of choosing to vote as we are for the results of choosing not to vote.  Besides, a person’s vote can be used to keep someone out of office as effectively as it can to put someone in.  In November, we may not like any of the names on the ballot.  At that point, we have to shift our focus on “better” rather than “best” ... and use our vote to create the better outcome and to limit the damage that office-holders might do.  That’s a shift that some fail to make.  Spread the word!