Fr. Frank Pavone: Good evening, brothers and sisters. This is Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life. Welcome to our second national teleseminar in preparation for the elections of 2008. We are so happy to have you with us. We have over a thousand people signed up for this particular teleseminar this evening.
Most of the people with us are joining by means of the Internet and on their computers, are able to follow what we are saying, not only the audio, but, as we proceed through this hour, we’ll be able to follow the Web links to specific documents that will enable them to not only understand, but to implement the specific activities that we’re going to be recommending tonight in preparation for the elections of this year.
We are joined by a number of experts tonight, and I want to welcome all of our panelists. We are going to hear from a number of people, some of them by audio recording, as the hour goes on.
But before I introduce to you who we’re going to have with us during this hour, let me say a little bit about the background of these teleseminars and how this has come to be and why we are doing it this way.
In the elections of previous years, in which Priests for Life has taken, as a key priority of our ministry, enabling the people of God to be politically active in a way that advances the culture of life, we’ve made use of all the traditional means of communication.
As many of you know, our pastoral team travels the country constantly and in preaching in churches and speaking at events, we have talked about the political responsibility of the people of God, have echoed what the Catholic bishops and other leaders have said about our responsibilities in that regard.
And aside from the travels – and nothing can replace being with people in person – we have made use increasingly of mailings and faxes and, of course, of email and websites.
At various times, we’ve had conference calls in the past. But this year, for the first time, we’re utilizing this technology whereby we can actually do a mini-training seminar by phone and by website and be able to link literally thousands of people together for an event like this.
The focus is on you, on each one of you. This election is going to be influenced, as every election is influenced, by you, at the local level, on the grassroots level, with the kinds of tools and the sort of guidance that our panelists tonight will be able to provide you.
But it’s not only we panelists speaking to you, it’s you also speaking back to us. During the course of this teleseminar, you are able to submit questions on – those of you who are joining us through the computer are able to submit questions to us, and although we won’t be able to explicitly answer them all during the course of the call, we will answer them.
And we will, by means of some of the tools that we’ll show you tonight, enable you to continue a dialogue with us during the course of these coming months, as we lead up to election day.
Not only that, but the various resources that we’re preparing will be prepared based on the kind of input that you give us. So you are an extremely important part of this process. In fact, you’re the most important part of this process. This is about enabling and empowering and encouraging you to make the difference that needs to be made in this election.
Now in light of that, we have prepared a lot of materials, and we’ll go through those as the hour proceeds. Before I give some other initial thoughts, let’s ask God’s blessing on this time together and on the activities that we will each be able to do in the months to come.
Father, we thank You for each and every person who, even now, is just joining us on this teleseminar, people from all across the country. We ask You to pour out Your blessings upon them. Lord, these are Your people, who are concerned about our nation, who are concerned about Your kingdom, who are committed to the culture of life.
Lord, in these times, when each and every one of us can make such a crucial difference, enable us and empower us with the tools we need and with the confidence that comes from Your spirit, Your spirit working in us, working through us, to make a difference.
We pray tonight through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, many people, when they think about elections, think that it is a contest between two candidates and that it is the American people, as in the entire population, that decides the contest between the two candidates.
Actually, that’s not accurate. An election is a contest between two teams. It is teams of people who are making the progress. Teams of people, one team of which is going to be more effective, more activated, better mobilized, and in the end, it is not the American people generally who decide the outcome of the election, it is the minority of the American people who are actually registered to vote, and the even smaller segment of the public who actually cast their vote.
Those are the groups that influence and decide the outcome of any given election, this year’s being no exception. That’s why, again, as I said already, it all comes back to you. Each of you in your own communities are the ones who make the difference in what the outcome of this and every election is going to be.
That then goes back to the fact that in these teleseminars, we are calling you to specific action.
Before I begin to introduce our panel of experts, let me therefore issue, first of all, the call to action that we’re going to unfold during the course of this hour.
Those of you who are joining us by computer can see in the lower right-hand section of your screen a large button with a red arrow pointing to it and a red boundary. It says “Elections Info.” If you click on that link – and I would ask those of you on the computer to do so now – you’re going to go to a website which is our election action center. It’s called www.PoliticalResponsibility.com.
Those of you who are joining us only by phone, I would invite you to write that down. PoliticalResponsibility.com is a place you can go throughout the course of the year, but especially in the coming months before Election Day, it will have continuous updates on various things that you can do, on documentation and news that comes out on particular ways of answering people’s questions.
And specifically, in terms of action we’re going to talk about tonight, you will see one of the first things there on the page, the Priests for Life voter’s guide for the 2008 presidential election.
This voter’s guide, one of the things we are asking you to do tonight is to download it, to use it, to print it, to order from us more copies of it. We’re going to talk about ways that we can get this into the hands of the voters.
It is a nonpartisan, neutral voter’s guide. It is legally approved for use in churches and for use by (c)(3) organizations, and it is a tool that is going to make a critical difference.
We’re going to see other action steps here on this page. You will see a link for an election novena.
Elections have consequences.
There’s a document there that answers the question, “Does it really matter if a president is pro-life?” And that document examines some of the particular ways in which we’ve made progress in this country for our cause of life by having a president devoted to that cause, and it details some of the things that can happen if the person occupying the White House, in fact, is opposed to the pro-life cause.
Then we have a number of other links, including what you can do to register more voters, both by your individual activities and also by encouraging churches to do voter registration drives. We’ll get some specific guidance on that.
The first member of our panel was going to join us, actually, by a prerecorded audio clip. He is one of the nation’s top experts in the whole question of what is legal for churches to do in an election season -- and not only churches, but also organizations that are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, such as many of you on this call either are in charge of or participate in or work with.
It’s critically important not only to know the legal boundaries and what we are prohibited from doing, but even more important to know what we are, in fact, permitted to do.
James Bopp, Jr., who serves as general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, also advises us at Priests for Life and other major groups, like Focus on the Family, for example. He has helped us in many ways to understand the issues and to navigate, if you will, the sometimes confusing waters of what is legally permitted.
Let’s listen to him for a few moments now, addressing some of these critically important legal issues.
[Recording Begins]
Fr. Frank Pavone: So the bottom line, in other words, is that the pastors and laity alike, very often, when they feel or when they’re told, “Well, be careful. You can’t become too political, because you might lose your tax status,” usually, they think we’re far more restricted than we actually are.
James Bopp, Jr.: Yes. And there are people, including the IRS, that are fostering that impression by putting out vague statements about what is political intervention and when does it occur.
Because there’s always the possibility of losing your (c)(3) status, then everybody always connects the two. They say, “Well, these are very vague and we don’t understand.” Plus, the people that are directly hostile to the involvement of people of faith, like Barry Lynn and those people who are claiming to enforce the separation of church and state, they foster this impression.
The reality is much different. I mean, the reality is, the only time the IRS has ever denied anyone to a tax-exempt status because of their political intervention has been when they have expressly advocated the election or defeat of a candidate by –
Fr. Frank Pavone: So in other words, “Vote for John Smith” or “Defeat Jane Smith.”
James Bopp, Jr.: Right. Or “We endorse this candidate for office.” Or secondly, when somebody has given money or church property to a candidate for use in their campaign. Or, third, when they pass the hat at a church service to give money to a candidate.
Beyond that, they’ve never denied anybody’s tax-exempt status. They have done vague communications, they have instituted audits, they’ve given threatening letters, but that’s it.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right. Let’s go through some of the practical things. And, folks, as we’re listening now, and we’re talking with Jim Bopp, you may want to take out a pen and paper and get a good summary right now, as you’re listening to this program, of what you can and cannot do and what you can get your friends and neighbors to do or not to do.
First of all, Jim, let’s make a distinction here. I mean, obviously, anyone who’s listening has his or her own rights as a private citizen. So what we’re talking about here is guidelines for organizations, churches.
But let’s talk, first of all, just at the level of a private citizen, I’m always encouraging people, “Please, be as partisan as you can. I mean, get behind the person you think should be elected and work like crazy for them.” Are we talking about any limitations on that level?
James Bopp, Jr.: No. And pastors are people too.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Yes.
James Bopp, Jr.: They have their own private identity. They are perfectly free, in their private capacity, to do what anyone else can do in supporting, contributing money to, endorsing a candidate. The only thing that they need to make sure is – I mean, they can even be identified as pastor of such-and-such a church, as long as you indicate that that is for identification only.
Fr. Frank Pavone: For identification only, right.
James Bopp, Jr.: Other than that, they can do whatever they want. They can be listed as a supporter for Candidate X. They can contribute their own funds to Candidate X.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right. Okay. And then in terms of talking about the organizations, as you know, I head up a number of different organizations and we got pastors out there heading up churches. Let’s talk about, first of all, the distinction between speaking about an issue and speaking about a candidate.
I saw an example not long ago of a notice that went out to some priests that said, “Well, there was an inquiry made into a parish from the IRS about whether or not it was being too political.” This notice said the pastor gave a homily on pro-life issues, respect for human life. The complaint was made that this constituted political intervention.
Now, the homily was about respect for human life. Here, he’s obviously just talking about an issue. There’s not anything in regard to talking about an issue that we would be restricted on, right?
James Bopp, Jr.: That’s correct. Yeah, that is completely bogus, that complaint. I mean, it’s not that there aren’t people that want to prevent pastors from talking about moral issues in church, because there are.
Fr. Frank Pavone: There are.
James Bopp, Jr.: There are people that want to prohibit that. In other words, their standard is any issue that might be involved in the political realm or the public policy realm, they call political, and they want to prohibit any pastor from talking about those.
So they want to prohibit churches from talking about moral issues. But from a legal standpoint, that’s just completely bogus. Churches have an absolute right and freedom to talk about every issue that they consider to be appropriate, and it doesn’t matter whether or not Congress is talking about it. If a pastor considers it to be a moral issue that he wants to discuss with his parishioners, he’s perfectly entitled to.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Now, I know people often ask me, “Well, how do some churches get away with having the candidates come in and come into the pulpit?” But the fact of the matter is, the law does allow the church to bring candidates in, under certain conditions.
James Bopp, Jr.: Yes.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Can you explain what those conditions are?
James Bopp, Jr.: Oh, yes, they certainly can. I mean, let’s start with the fact that some candidates are public officials that are voting in Congress, that are sitting presidents, that are conducting activities. You can bring a public official in to talk about what public officials do, the Congress is doing, what the city council is doing, and that’s perfectly fine.
It’s like the concept we were talking about earlier, is pastors are also people too.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Yes.
James Bopp, Jr.: Okay. Well, a public official, he may be a candidate, but he’s also a public official.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right.
James Bopp, Jr.: The fact that he’s a candidate doesn’t matter. If you bring him in to talk about the things that he and the government is dealing with as a public official, that’s perfectly fine.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right, right. Because the church is not just supposed to be hiding in some cave, disconnected from what’s happening in the public arena.
Okay. So then the candidate who is a public official comes in, talks about public policy issues. What is it that the church must refrain from doing in that case, however?
James Bopp, Jr.: Endorsing the person for public office. In other words, in introducing him, say, “We have Senator Such-and-So here.” You can say whatever you want about his issue positions or whatever he’s voting for or against, but what you should not say is “And therefore, you should vote for him.”
Fr. Frank Pavone: “You should vote for him.” Okay. There’s an endorsement. Right.
James Bopp, Jr.: That’s an endorsement.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right.
James Bopp, Jr.: You should not pass the hat for his campaign as a public official. That’s what he’s talking about.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right. You know, many of our people, as you well know, want to educate their fellow parishioners about the candidates and their positions. As the candidates for particular races become clear and we gather information about where they stand on the issues, naturally, we want to educate our fellow citizens.
At the same time, people know those that are going to church are the target audience they want to reach, because these are believers. They usually have good positions on the issues. We want to reach those people.
So you’ve got people coming in and out of church. To get in and out of the church, let’s say they’re crossing over a public sidewalk that’s adjacent to the church. Tell us, in a summary fashion, basically the rights of our fellow citizens on that public sidewalk to educate their fellow citizens, and then inside the church, what can be done, in terms of the very same effort?
James Bopp, Jr.: Well, in terms of a public sidewalk, the First Amendment has full application on the public sidewalk. So people can distribute literature of any kind whatsoever. It could endorse a candidate, it could urge defeat of a candidate, could just talk about the issues, whatever.
Because when you have individuals on a public sidewalk, it has nothing to do with the church and it has everything to do with the right people have to communicate with their fellow citizens.
Fr. Frank Pavone: So could a pastor get in trouble, for example, theoretically get in trouble with the law, if he tried to stop people on the public sidewalk from giving out political information?
James Bopp, Jr.: Yes, because he doesn’t own the public sidewalk. The public sidewalk is public. That means that it is owned by the people at large, technically the government.
So yes, he would get in trouble, because he’s interfering – that’s like him going on to his neighbor’s property and ripping brochures out of his neighbor’s hands that his neighbor is passing out on his own property, on his neighbor’s own property.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right, right.
James Bopp, Jr.: You can’t do that. And then you can’t interfere with the public doing it, either.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right. And then as far as the pastor handing out inside the church information on the candidates, there are some guidelines for that.
James Bopp, Jr.: There are some guidelines. The IRS has established those guidelines. They’re more restrictive than I think the law or the Constitution would permit, but they really can be complied with and still accomplish, I think, the purpose, which is to inform voters as to the issue positions of candidates.
That is that the voter – using the form of a voter guide, and what you need to do is list all the candidates for the particular race, give them each an opportunity to say “Yes” or “No” on a series of issues that should cover somewhat of a broad spectrum, and then they either support or oppose that issue. Like public funding of abortion, do you support, do you oppose? And then you can list that.
The only other little caveat is just make sure you don’t say, “And vote for whoever supports that particular issue.”
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right, right.
James Bopp, Jr.: Okay. In other words, again, do not connect up the issue positions with voting for or against a particular person. But it’s perfectly fine to list various issues. The death penalty, abortion on demand, tradition marriage between a man and a woman, do you support or oppose? Or you could say gay marriage, do you support or oppose? That’s perfectly fine.
[Recording Ends]
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, I’m very grateful to James Bopp, Jr. for that interview. Brothers and sisters, as you may know, this conference call and teleseminar are being recorded, and so you will be able to listen again or have others listen to any part or all of this call, including that very important segment we just heard from Jim Bopp who, as I said, is one of the nation’s foremost experts in this area of the law.
He has won numerous times in litigation against the Federal Election Commission in cases that would have restricted the rights that citizens actually have.
On the Web page that we have already pointed out to you, PoliticalResponsibility.com, you’ll see, if you scroll down the page, about two-thirds of the way down a section called Legal Guidelines on What to Do in the Parish. You’ll find more of this expert guidance from Jim Bopp and from others right there on the website.
Going to our next panelist, I’m happy to welcome Deal Hudson, familiar to many of you. He has been a key player both in mobilizing and analyzing the Catholic vote. He has been a key bridge between Catholics and the White House and many others in government.
Deal is the former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine, as well as the director of the Morley Institute for Church and Culture, and recently came out with another book called Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States.
He’s a great friend of Priests for Life and of me personally. Deal, thank you for joining the conference call this evening.
Deal Hudson: Father, I really appreciate being on with you. I’d say, as I told you several times, I think the work you’re doing is, in fact, the most important Catholic effort in this election.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, thank you.
Deal Hudson: I think everything is riding on what you do.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, thank you very much. We were, as you know, at the beginning of the call, talking about the critical focus that we place on the role of each and every person who’s joining us tonight.
That’s what I’d like you to comment on first. In practical terms, how has the grassroots organizing impacted past elections and how can it impact this one?
Deal Hudson: Well, it’s really very simple. In the last 30 years, the grassroots organizing of religious conservatives has made that group into the most powerful voting block since labor unions and African-Americans.
Conservative Catholics, evangelicals, now total 30 million possible votes. That’s one-third of all the votes that are normally cast in the national election.
So what we’ve seen here is networking between evangelical churches, like pro-life or family groups and national grassroots organizations, delivered a vote that elected Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush once, and George W. twice. That is five out of the last six presidencies and five out of the last seven if you include Jimmy Carter, which we won’t include.
But Catholics have become part of this voting group, especially back in the ’80s and ’90s, because there was nowhere else to go until Priests for Life stepped in to fill the vacuum, and along with the Bush Catholic Outreach at the RNC in 2000 and 2004, for the very first time, Catholics were given a chance to participate as Catholics in a presidential election and not have to go through an evangelical organization.
I think it’s worth noting that the Catholic Answers voter guide of 2004 played a very helpful role, as what else.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Yes. Yes, I know many of our people were using that and continue to using that, talking about the non-negotiable issues.
Deal Hudson: Yes. I think that, in looking at your voting guide, which is beautifully laid out, by the way, and very, very powerful, I think the sense of what those non-negotiables are are right there on that page.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Now, concretely, local leaders and activists like those that are joining us on this teleseminar, what do they need to be doing right now to have maximum impact for this election?
Deal Hudson: Well, I think that the people listening to this call should do the following. I think they should create Priests for Life teams in every parish that they possibly can.
I think they should create parish captains, they should create communications networks using email, phone, and fax, so that they can push news and messaging throughout their local community, the local Catholic community.
They should have a communications mechanism set up so that they can respond to news within 60 minutes of it happening. They should be able to get news and messaging and interpretation of events to everybody in their network within an hour of it happening.
So on that team should be someone who handles communications, not just the email, fax, and phone, but someone who is in charge of getting what’s called earned media, through letter-writing and op‑ed writing to print media, callers who get on local radio shows and push the message of pro-life, pro-family.
I think actually, these teams should set themselves goals, weekly and monthly goals for earned media hits, and keep lists, daily, weekly, and monthly hits of their earned media.
Finally, they should hold voter registration Sundays at parishes. Again, they should set themselves goals of the number of voters to register. They should be passing out literature. We’ve already talked about the church parking lot and the voter guide distribution.
They should be holding local events with local and national surrogates to build networks and educate Catholic voters, they should be holding prayer groups, and they should, through all of these efforts, distribute the Priests for Life literature and voting guides.
Then at the end of the day, in the 72 hours before the November 4th election, they should participate in getting out the vote efforts.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Yes. Well, that’s a perfect lead-in to what we’re going to talk about next and our next panelist, but before we transition, Deal, tell our participants about your latest book and how they can obtain a copy.
Deal Hudson: Two months ago, Simon and Schuster published a book I wrote called Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States.
What everybody on this call should be aware of is that all of you are participating in this power right at this moment. You are one of the best examples of exactly what I wrote about in this book. The key thesis of this book is that the religious conservative movement, which arose in the late ’70s, arose to protect the family and all that the family represents: obviously, life, marriage, the education of our children.
But the same thing that gave rise to this movement has not gone away. The threat to the family is, if anything, even worse, especially now, since we have an infanticide candidate.
This movement, as I document in my book, was not just a movement of evangelicals; it contained Catholics and evangelicals who worked side-by-side, both in leadership positions at the top and in the grassroots, although it was the Catholics who brought the abortion issue into that movement. A lot of people don’t realize that.
And that the power in the numbers, this 30 million number – keep that number in your mind – this 30 million number is still there and it can still determine the outcome of every national election, including the one coming up in November. Why? Because of the residing strength of the Christian faith in this country.
You can get it from Amazon directly. It’s called Onward, Christian Soldiers. Or you can go to our website, the InsideCatholic.com website, and you can click on the cover of the book on the right-hand side of the home page.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Deal, fantastic. Thanks for the guidance, the encouragement, and for everything that you have done and continue to do. We look forward to continuing to partner with you in the important weeks that are ahead of us. Thanks for joining us tonight.
Deal Hudson: Thank you, Father. Don’t ever forget the tremendous historical significance of what you’re doing.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Thank you. Well, brothers and sisters, Deal has laid it out for us quite clearly, and there are only, as of now, 109 days left until Election Day. So as Deal said, forming effective teams is critical for us to do, not a few weeks from now, but right now.
That’s why, for those of you who have just joined us or those of you who have been on already through your computers, on the lower right-hand section of the screen, I ask you again to go to the big button that says Elections Info and you will see our political action center. PoliticalResponsibility.com is the name of the website.
Now, I ask you to go there and to look right now towards the top of the page. You will see a form that you can fill out to create and to help us create precisely the kind of teams that Deal was just talking about as being crucial to making progress in this election.
In a moment, I’m going to have Janet Morana read to us a testimonial of some of the results of these kind of efforts in the past. So, Janet, please stand by for that.
But, friends, you’ll see a sign-up section right on this Web page, PoliticalResponsibility.com, and you’ll see that you can fill out your name and address and information. But then there’s a box where you can put comments, questions, or ways that you can help.
If you are inclined to set up a voter registration Sunday in your parish, which we’re going to talk about in a moment with an expert in that area; if you are inclined to say, “Hey, I want to pound the pavement and go out there and hand out on the public sidewalk literature about the candidates, just like our legal expert, Jim Bopp, just told me I can do and nobody can stop me. Well, then, Father, sign me up for that. And I want to get involved in” – whatever the activity is, whatever your skills are, whatever you want to really contribute to this particular effort.
And then what we’ll be able to do as we receive that information from you about what you want to do or what you want to help others do, we’ll be able to connect you together with other people in your own area who may not know you and they may be total strangers, and this may be the only way that you can find each other and coalesce, and we can together get the job done.
Speaking of people who’ve been getting the job done, we’re happy to have Janet Morana, our Associate Director, on the phone tonight. Our first conference call, Janet was not on with us, because she was flying to Rome, where she spoke in Rome to a group of students over the course of several days, and political action for the cause of life was among the topics that she did address.
Janet, I understand you have some testimonials for us from the last election cycle that are pretty encouraging.
Janet Morana: Yes, they are, Father. I think everyone listening right now could be greatly encouraged, and this will inspire them to really go full speed ahead.
The first testimonial I have is from a gentleman named Brian. He writes:
“Dear Father, Thank you so much for your bold and unwavering voice and work in the protection of the unborn. We watch you regularly in our home on EWTN. And although you have energized me several times before on the pro-life movement, your most recent homily at Daily Mass convicted me to vote.
“Although usually blasé about political involvement, I felt a strong compulsion to go and make my voice and vote for all the pre-born babies that will never get the chance to vote.
“I thought that it was very interesting that as strongly convicted as I felt, I found that my tire on my car was flat, it was raining, and I had to stop at five different locations to get it fixed.
“Now, normally, something like this before would have made me infuriated, and I would have skipped the voting station. But when I pulled up, I knew I was responding to God’s call to do my part. I was so energized when leaving the polling station, I completely forgot about all the obstacles impeding me casting my vote. I just wanted to say thank you for all you can do. May God bless you and your entire organization.” And that’s from Brian.
So you see, Father, this is what we talk about is so key about early voting, because look what happened to Brian. I mean, he was really trying, jumping hurdles, jumping hurdles, jumping hurdles. He managed to get his vote cast.
But for those that are listening, if you have early voting in the state, take advantage of it. Don’t be caught in this eleventh hour, like where Brian was, like he was convicted to vote and thank God, he got to cast his vote. But it’s not too soon, if you have early voting, the first day of early voting, just go ahead and cast your vote.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, thank you, Janet. We’re going to have another testimonial a little later in the call that we’ll ask you to share with us. But, again, 109 days until Election Day November 4th, but as Janet points out, in many states, you can start voting well before that.
On that website, PoliticalResponsibility.com, you can find links to your specific state’s laws and guidelines and dates for voting, for early voting, for voter registration.
Now, voter registration is critically important. We’re going invite our next panelist, Dr. Kenyn Cureton. He is the Vice President for Church Ministries at the Family Research Council.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: Pleasure to be with you tonight.
Fr. Frank Pavone: It’s a pleasure to be with you. Let me just tell our participants here tonight, you’ve served as a pastor for some two decades and are particularly well-versed in the Biblical and historical basis for Christians to engage in the civic arena, to engage in the political process.
You’ve spoken and written extensively on these subjects. You and I, of course, are together when we have the meetings of our pastors’ council at Family Research Council.
So I’m delighted that you’re able to be with us tonight. We want to talk about encouraging our folks on the phone tonight and on the teleseminar to do voter registration in the churches. You’ve got some experience in this. Tell us how easy and how successful it can be.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: Well, it really is. Tony Perkins, our president, one of the great values that he brought to the organization is his focus on the grassroots, on the churches, and particularly, bringing pastors in connection with public policy.
One of the things that we began to do immediately with those pastors is that we began to focus on some priorities, as far as getting the principles of Biblical citizenship in front of their people.
We developed a took kit, a voter impact tool kit, that we give to each of the pastors in our network, which is basically a Christian citizenship Sunday in a box, if you will. It has a full sermon for the pastor, a PowerPoint that goes along with it, a video message on the importance of registering to vote and voting your values, the voter registration forms that you need.
The legal dos and don’ts that you discussed earlier in the call are in there, as well. You name it, we’ve got it in the box. You can get that thing at IVoteValues.org and click on the Resources, and I think we’re only asking for five bucks for the thing, and that pretty much just covers the shipping.
So we’ve got a kit that we put in the hands of the pastors and the church people. Basically, there are just basically five steps to hosting a church voter registration drive.
For those who don’t have the pastor on board yet, the first step, of course, is to ask for permission. You need to get the leader’s permission to do the voter registration drive, and stress that it’s Biblical, it’s simple, and it’s legal. We talked about the legal, but that it’s Biblical. Seeking Godly leaders is rooted in Biblical principle. You can find that in Exodus 18:21, Proverbs 29:2. We all know those Scriptures.
But it’s also simple. When you look at the national registration form that’s acceptable in most states, it’s really easy to fill out. In fact, I’ve got one in my hand right now and I can tell you that it’s a lot easier to fill out than the release form for the church mission trip my kids are going on.
Fr. Frank Pavone: (Laughter) I was just going to say the same thing. (Laughter)
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: So it’s Biblical, it’s simple, it’s legal. And then secondly, the second step is to prepare. The first part of that is to contact the county clerk or the Secretary of State’s office to get these registration forms that are state-specific.
Learn about the collection procedures, because they are a little bit different in each state. Some states, like Texas, you’ve got to be deputized before taking up voter registration forms. Other states need a valid ID, but you can check that out very easily by going to the government websites.
Then secondly, schedule the drive. Now, what we do – in fact, we just came out of a season with our pastors where they were doing these Christian citizenship Sundays.
We asked them to do them around July the 4th. Natural time, because you’re already having a patriotic-type service. And use the voter impact tool kit, where the pastor would preach that patriotic message and do the voter registration drive about that time.
Now, Focus on the Family suggests that you also make this available through the election season, up through the date of the deadline for voter registration in each state, which is usually about 30 days out in most states. So you can do more than one voter registration Sunday.
And then thirdly, as far as preparation, advertise. You need to get the word out. Put it on the church website, in the newsletters, the PowerPoint slides that are going in the church, the bulletins, other church communications. But there’s nothing that can replace the pastor promoting it.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: Because certainly, as the pastor goes, so goes the church. In that tool kit that I mentioned, the CD’s got a lot of promotional resources, including a video, if the pastor doesn’t feel comfortable preaching on the subject of patriotic duty.
So then step number three – not only ask and then prepare, but step number three is register on that day that the pastor’s preaching on the Biblical responsibilities of citizenship. There are several ways that you can conduct the actual voter registration.
Now, I’ve done it two ways, and I’ll tell you those two. One is to just put the voter registration forms in the pews, right there where the people are sitting, and have them pass them to each other and fill them out while they’re sitting there in the pew. Just like they have to pass the plate, they pass the voter registration form.
But then secondly, there’s another way you can do it – and I think that’s actually the best way. You’re going to get your best response if you put them in the pew and then collect them up immediately afterwards.
But then secondly, you can also use tables, like a patriotic-themed table in a high-traffic area of the church, having plenty of the voter registration forms and pens, and having friendly people staff that table and be forward. Not just sit back and let people pass the table, but just basically engage people and ask them to come and fill out the forms, and keep a good record of who comes and fills out the forms, so that you can maybe contact them later when some issues come up that you want to get people in the church to engage.
And then there’s another way to do it, and that’s person to person. You can obtain information on who isn’t registered in your church, compared with your church mailing list, as far as the voter registration records are concerned. A final way you can actually do it is point people to the web.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: In fact, I’m sure your website, PoliticalResponsibility.org, and these other websites – I know IVoteValues.org, you can click on “Register to Vote” and you can actually fill out the form online, print it, and then sign it, and then stamp it, and then mail it, or take it in, so people can actually begin the process online. You can’t complete it there, but they can begin it there.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Right.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: So there are several ways that people can register within the church that are effective. And then the fourth step, I would say, is to stay legal, and we’ve already heard about that. Emphasize registration, not politics. Allow people from every party to register. Don’t make issues statements and don’t try to make an endorsement. Don’t tell people who you’re voting for while you’re sitting at the table and helping them out.
And then step five is follow-up. Have a plan to translate voter registration into values voting. That involves collecting the forms and delivering those to the election office, asking the pastor to continue to urge voter participation as the election approaches, encouraging those voters who are going to be out of town to get an absentee ballot. Contacting those on your list that you took when you got the voter registration forms a week before the election and reminding them to get out and vote. And then provide a sign-up sheet and transportation to the polls for those who need it.
So follow up so that the voter registration forms are not just going to sit in a stack somewhere. People actually go out and vote their values.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, Dr. Kenyon, I’m just always amazed each election cycle when I hear about the nightclubs doing voter registration drives, the rock concerts.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: Yeah.
Fr. Frank Pavone: I mean, if these folks are doing registration drives and mobilizing people to get out there into the voting booth and to vote according to their convictions, well, for goodness’ sake, the Church of Jesus Christ needs to be out front and center doing that 100,000 times more.
I want to thank you for your guidance, your encouragement, the long, long years of experience that you’re lending to us tonight. Folks, this is a simple call to action. At the bottom right-hand corner of the page, if you’re joining this teleseminar through your computer, you’ll see the button that says Elections Info. It goes to PoliticalResponsibility.com. If you’re joining us just by phone, please jot that website down.
Also, what Dr. Kenyn Cureton has just told us, IVoteValues is another key website, IVoteValues.org. You’ll be able to foster individual voter registration and you’ll be able to approach your pastors with the urgent suggestion and the tools to do this on a congregation-wide basis.
Kenyn, thanks so much for joining us tonight. I know that you, as well as my team, will be available for folks to actually carry this out in the weeks to come.
Dr. Kenyn Cureton: Thank you, Father Frank. You’re a great ally. We really appreciate you.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Folks, our next panelist is Marjorie Dannenfelser. She is the President of the Susan B. Anthony List, which is a major force for promoting the kinds of political responsibility we’ve been talking about here tonight, and particularly, placing into public office women who will advance these values.
Marjorie, you and I have worked in this arena for quite a few years now in different election cycles. I’d like you to share with our participants here tonight, just very simply, the importance of doing what we have encouraged many groups to do, and that is to take their lists and to see how many of the people on those lists are registered.
Speak to us just for a moment about that particular kind of activity and its value.
Marjorie Dannenfelser: Well, yes, as you say, it is extremely simple. It is shocking to find out how many of our friends have not availed themselves of the God-given and American founder-blessed right of the right to vote. The people who are so impassioned with this issue who simply have never registered and leveraged the power that they have to save lives.
We had a hunch that this might be the case, but I think, Father, you and I had no idea the extent to which this was a problem. And in 2004, with the help of some friends, we decided to run our membership list, about 100,000 members at that point, through the voter files and find out exactly who’s registered to vote among these impassioned pro-life people and who not.
We were astounded to find that around 40 percent of our own membership was either not registered to vote or registered and literally had never taken the steps to get themselves to the polls that day.
So it is extremely simple. It costs a little bit of money and for that reason, it’s really been fabulous that some people have stepped up to the plate to offer money to actually allow organizations to do that. It’s about $5,000.00. For our membership, it’s $150,000.00 now. That’s what it will cost for us. But it’s not that much, really, to find that information out.
And then what you do with the information is extremely important too, because those 40 percent have to be communicated with. If you don’t mind, I’ll just sort of let you know what we do.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Sure.
Marjorie Dannenfelser: On our website, we have a – right on the front page, there’s a button where you can go and find out whatever you need to register to vote. I think it sounds like you may have something similar.
But, for instance, if you’re in Alabama and you are not registered to vote, you can click on that button, find out exactly what the law there is, find out when the registration deadline is, say – it’s actually October 24th for Alabama – and how far out from the election you must make sure that you get that done. And also, if you can early vote, when can you do that? You’ve covered this tonight. You know how important that is.
So what you do with that information once you get it is huge. But I think it says something profound to us about the gift that we’ve been given and how little some of us value it. When we have everything we need at this point in history to save not only 4,000 children a day, but the families that would come from those children, and some of us don’t have the will yet to do anything about it. But I think it’s because they don’t realize their power.
Fr. Frank Pavone: That’s exactly our key theme tonight, and I thank you for sharing that. We look forward to a lot more interaction with you as the weeks go on now towards Election Day.
But, friends, it is up to you. You have the power – those of us on the call tonight can decide the outcome of this election. That’s why, on PoliticalResponsibility.com, we have a form there. We’re trying tonight to create some teams, people that are willing to go the next step from participating in a call like this to registering voters and getting the lists checked against the voter files and getting the voter’s guide distributed.
Go to PoliticalResponsibility.com. Sign up right now. Let us know what you’re willing to do, how you want us to help you. People like Marjorie and Dr. Cureton and Deal Hudson and all our experts tonight, we’re gonna help you. We’re going to work with you. We’re going to make progress this year in this election.
Thank you, Marjorie, for being with us.
Marjorie Dannenfelser: Thank you.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Time goes so fast on these conference calls, but let me just take a couple of minutes for our special guests, Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo. These are the siblings of Terri Schiavo.
Bobby and Suzanne, we’re just delighted that you could be with us this evening. Obviously, elections have an impact, not only for the unborn, but for those who are, like Terri was, disabled and somehow considered worthless by some segments of our society. Give us a word of encouragement tonight registration this upcoming election.
Bobby Schindler: Well, thank you, Father. I appreciate you having us on. Well, for the same reason we fight so hard against abortion, Father, is why these elections are so important for the disabled. Unfortunately, one of the problems that we’ve had since Terri’s death is really just putting euthanasia and what’s happening in our hospitals across the country on the radar of most people, including the presidential candidates.
I don’t think people realize how widespread this issue – this is happening across the country, and there’s a lot of confusion about this issue that exists. We’re finding that in a lot of the speaking that we’re doing since Terri’s death.
As we all know, the value and dignity of all life is important – just as important for the disabled and the elderly as it is for the unborn. It certainly is important for our presidential candidates to recognize the disabled and doing what they can to protect their lives.
Because right now, the laws are really moving in a direction that’s making it easier and easier to kill these people that are in similar situations to Terri.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Exactly. Suzanne, are you with us?
Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo: I am here, Father, thank you.
Fr. Frank Pavone: I’m sure many of our participants tonight are wondering, how are your mom and dad doing? How’s your family doing?
Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo: Oh, they’re doing okay, Father. It’s been tough for the past three years. I mean, not a day goes by, obviously, that we don’t think about Terri and what she went through, but they’re hanging in there.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, good. Well, assure them of the prayers of everyone who’s on our seminar here tonight and our ongoing support. I thank you for pointing out, both of you, that elections matter. They matter as far as the lives of people like Terri.
And as your foundation does all the time, at TerrisFight.org, you’re networking with people who are facing these challenges every day, we’re certainly going have more of these cases. Who we elect in November is going determine whether these cases go well or go badly. So we’re with you, thank you, and God bless you, once again.
Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo: Thank you, Father.
Bobby Schindler: Thank you, Father. Thank you.
Fr. Frank Pavone: We also have Dr. Alveda King with us tonight. She is a Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life, and niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. Alveda, just give us a brief word of encouragement. We’re so short on time, but I wanted you to say a word to our participants here tonight, as well.
Dr. Alveda King: Well, I’m so encouraged by the call, by all of the participants. I believe that we’ve all learned that we can boldly go on with the work that we have to do and know that we’ll be okay in the legal areas that were discussed.
So I think the call is just very inspiring, and I want to encourage everyone who’s here to do all that you absolutely can do and to be encouraged knowing that you’re making a difference. As a Pastoral Associate at Priests for Life, we get to see life-changing work every day, and it takes each and every one of us praying and working together.
So be encouraged and continue so that the Lord’s work and will can be accomplished. I just want to say thank you to everyone.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Thank you, Alveda. We shall overcome.
Dr. Alveda King: Amen.
Fr. Frank Pavone: (Laughter) And Janet Morana, our Associate Director, do you have another testimonial to share with us as we wrap up our call tonight? And we encourage people to sign up for these election teams, to grab that voter’s guide from PoliticalResponsibility.com, download it. You can ask us for more copies. We’ll network with you, as far as how to distribute it. But, Janet, give us one more testimonial.
Janet Morana: Okay. This is from Rosinda. She writes:
“Dear Father Frank, thank you for your leadership in this election. You are my new hero. I do not know if you had my name down as your grassroots helper, but I worked very hard with you for our cause.
“I watched you on EWTN and you spoke to my soul. I checked your website and obtained the information I needed. I printed the attorney’s letter, and my husband carried it in his pocked when he distributed the flyers to the churches.
“I read your emails and followed your advice. I watched your programs. We called and emailed churches to put your program information in church bulletins. I listened to your homilies. The last two days of the election, I repeated over and over to my family and friends and myself, ‘Drop everything you normally do in these days and work on the election.’ Thank you, Father Frank, for giving us direction.” And that’s from Rosinda.
Finally, I want everyone to remember, it’s not just the churches to give out these voter guides. Soccer moms, hit the soccer fields. If your kids are in basketball, hit the basketball courts.
The point is, there’s a whole bunch of other places, other than the church on Sunday, that you can distribute these voter guides. You’re a private citizen. You have freedom of speech. Go to it. Download these voter guides and get to it. Start with your circle of influence and convert them, and tell them the positions of the candidates.
Fr. Frank Pavone: Well, thank you, Janet, for all you do. Friends, you see Janet on EWTN with me often. She’s going be on Marcus Grodi’s program again, The Journey Home. She was on this past Monday, but it’s going to repeat – what is it, Janet, Saturday night?
Janet Morana: Yeah, Saturday night, 11:00 Eastern Time.
Fr. Frank Pavone: And you’ll hear Janet’s personal story on EWTN.
Brothers and sisters, this conference call, this teleseminar has been recorded. The recording will be available on the event page to which you have logged in, and right from the front page of PriestsForLife.org, as well.
You will see several other links at the bottom there. You can sign up starting now for our next teleseminar. Our next national one will be on August the 19th.
If you’re joining us by computer, you’ll see in the lower right-hand section of the screen, August 19th conference call. You can sign up even now. We certainly will be in touch with you between now and then to follow up on all the excellent advice and suggestions that have been given to us tonight.
But now, the ball is in your court. We need to hear from you what you’re willing to do, what questions you have. We’ll communicate with you by email. Contact us and together, we’re going to work to make a difference in this election.
It is about not a contest between candidates. It’s a contest between teams, and our team needs to be the stronger one, the more motivated one, the one that is ready to advance the kingdom of life against any odds. The power is in our hands. Let’s ask the source of that power now, the Lord Himself, to be with us and to bless us.
Father, we thank You for every person represented in this call here tonight, for all the organizations that they are part of and that they lead, the various churches, congregations, and parishes.
Lord, for everything that everyone here can do, we ask You to send the power of the Holy Spirit, to multiply our courage, to increase our confidence, to open many more doors of opportunity for us to advance the culture of life.
The Holy Spirit gives speech to the tongue. Lord, let us not be silent. Let us not be afraid. Bless especially the pastors, but bless all of us, as well, that we may communicate with our neighbors the truth about life, the importance of the election, the information about the candidates, and the responsibility that we have in You, O Lord, to exercise our rights as citizens, and as citizens who are Your disciples. We ask all of this in the precious name of the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Well, friends, thank you for joining us. We’ll make available the transcript of this call, as well as the recording. August 19th will be our next national teleconference, but we will certainly be in touch with you between now and then, and we look forward for you being in touch with us. Thanks for joining us. God bless you.
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