The Window
on November 1, 2005
A Catholic Look at Society, Culture and Politics

Deal W. Hudson


In This Issue:

Catholic Leaders Speak Out on Public Policy
 

 

Over 100 Catholic leaders from over 22 states, Canada, the Virgin Islands, and Austria, representing 60 organizations, unanimously endorsed statements on pro-life politicians, marriage, and internet pornography.

These leaders, meeting at the Catholic Leadership Conference in Phoenix on Oct 27-28, affirmed the obligation of Catholic voters to support pro-life candidates, oppose gay marriage, and seek better protection for our children against pornography on the internet.

The Catholic Leadership conference, now in its eighth year, meets annually to encourage cooperation among Catholic apostolates. Those attending included Karl Keating, president of Catholic Answers; Judie Brown, president of American Life League; Fr. Terence Henry, O.P., president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Tom Monaghan, founder of Ave Maria University. Bishops Thomas J. Olmstead of Phoenix, Arizona and Robert F. Vasa of Baker, Oregon celebrated Mass for CLC members.

Meeting in Phoenix, the CLC issued these statements to assist and enable Catholic leaders faithful to the Magisterium to "go on the record in support of our Bishops and our Church in matters of public policy," said steering committee member Paul Henkels of Philadelphia, PA.

The "Statement on Political Action" was adopted unanimously after two days of discussion. Most of the debate centered on the "incrementalism" in political action. Coleen Parro, president of Republicans for Life, insisted that any mention of incrementalism should not be interpreted as an invitation to "compromise our principles." Thus the last sentence of the CLC statement reads, "The ultimate political goal for Catholics must be the achievement of public policies and laws that result in the legal protection of all innocent human life and that promote the dignity of each human person without exception and compromise" (for the full text go to Catholic News Agency

The draft of the CLC marriage statement was written by well-known columnist Maggie Gallagher who is also president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. (The final version will be released shortly.) The draft contains a pointed rejection of the homosexual marriage initiative that began last year when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ordered the Massachusetts legislature to legalize same-sex marriage. "Marriage is not a conservative or liberal idea, the plaything of passing ideologies. Marriage is a fundamental human idea, a universal human social institution that exists in virtually every known human society."

The discussion on internet pornography was led by Curtis Martin, president of FOCUS, a Denver-based apostolate to Catholic college students. The CLC statement urges parents to take charge of their children's access to the internet: "The Internet must be parented: parents have the duty and right to extend their parental influence over their children's Internet use."

Another panelist, Ken Ferguson, a former film producer for National Geographic, announced a new project that will provide technology to concerned parents who want to delete offensive scenes from all cable television stations (more on that story in a later Window).

As the conference ended, several conference attendees remarked to me that they hoped public statements by the CLC can help to offset the inaccurate portrayal of the Catholic Church so often found in the media. "The media needs to hear from Catholic leaders who support Church teaching so they will realize the Fr. Richard McBriens of the world cannot speak for the Church," said Paul Henkels.

Next year's Catholic Leadership Conference will be held Oct 25-26 in Denver, Colorado. For further information on CLC you can contact Liz Kenny clcconference@aol.com. And watch out for their new web site that will be announced in The Window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Window is published by the Morley Institute for Church & Culture.

 

For the latest Catholic news, the Window recommends the Catholic News Agency. Click here to visit their site.

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