THE GOP PRIEST'S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

I went down to see [Terri Schiavo] in September 2004....

When her mom first introduced her to me, she stared at me intently. She focused her eyes. She would focus her eyes on whoever was talking to her. If somebody spoke to her from the other part of the room she would turn her head and her eyes towards the person who was talking to her. ...

--Father Frank Pavone at the Priests for Life Web site

Hours prior to addressing an overflow gathering at a pro-life banquet Sept. 18, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, and an outspoken right-to-life advocate, visited with Terri Schiavo.

... Medical experts differ on whether changes in Schiavo's eye movement and verbal and facial expressions are voluntary or involuntary. Father Pavone seemed to agree with the former assessment.

"She was following everything that was going on," he said. "She talks with her eyes. She's very much aware and alert."

--Florida Catholic

Even today, although, of course, with the effects of the dehydration, her response was much less. Nevertheless, her eyes were open, her eyes were moving, and as I prayed with her, her eyes were shifting over toward my direction--even until the last moments that I was with her.

--"Frank Pavone Discusses the Last Moments of Terri Schiavo," Fox News, March 31, 2005

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In the morning, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican Party; Matt Schlapp, a top White House political aide; Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; and a number of Republican elected officials addressed a gathering of about 300 Catholics at the Westin Hotel near the convention....

In an invocation, the Rev. Frank Pavone, the founder of Priests for Life, who is seeking to organize voter registration efforts in Catholic churches around the country for the first time, said, "Isn't it great to be with Catholics who aren't afraid to be political?"

--David D. Kirkpatrick and Michael Slackman, "Republicans Try to Expand Appeal to Religious Voters," New York Times, September 3, 2004

Sipping apple cider and cranberry spritzer in martini glasses, about 800 supporters of the president gathered to "break bread" at the Christian Inaugural Eve Gala and thank "a gracious God" for George Bush’s re-election....

...Karl Rove, Bush's re-election guru, thanked the celebrants for helping mobilize the Christian vote....

Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life gave the invocation, praying for Bush's presidency and thanking God for defining marriage as a union between "one man and one woman."...

--Medill News Sevice, January 20, 2005