MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS FOR LIFE NEWS

January 2001

To New York based Priests for Life (PFL) for their successful Campaign 2000 educational efforts. According to Anthony DeStefano, Executive Director of Priests for Life (PFL), PFL efforts were concentrated heavily on Florida because of the state's more than two million Catholic voters. The goal of this educational effort was to make voters aware of abortion as a priority in this election, and the moral responsibility that Christians have to vote for candidates who respect the dignity of human life. Since PFL is a nonpartisan organization, it did not endorse any political party or candidate. In addition to running two full-page ads in The New York Times, USA Today, local and diocesan newspapers, PFL blitzed parishes and individual pastors with mailings, provided Florida residents on request with sample "Letters to the Editor" and distributed 100,000 flyers. Fr. Pavone and other full-time PFL priests visited churches, did local and national talk radio shows and created promos that ran on Mother Angelica's EWTN, which reaches close to 3 million Florida homes. According to exit polls, the full court press paid off: Catholic voters were 26% of the Florida electorate, and went for Bush 52 to 44 percent.