Lobbying For The Bishops
CRISIS Magazine - e-Letter
June 24, 2004
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Dear Friend,
I apologize that I haven't written to you in two weeks, but I've
been doing a lot of traveling. Unfortunately, when I'm on the road, I
don't always get an opportunity to write.
But I do have some time right now, and there are two things I need
to bring to your attention...
First, the biannual meeting of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Colorado came and went last week. Of
course, you'd never know it from the minimal coverage. This is a
shame, since the bishops released a very important statement that the
mainstream media appear to have missed.
It can be found in "Catholics in Political Life," a preview to the
full report that the bishops will be releasing later this year (but
not until the election has already come and gone, unfortunately). The
statement answers a lot of questions that have been floating around
lately about the duties of Catholic politicians and our duties as
Catholic voters -- especially when our political and religious
priorities are crossed.
The bishops touched on the hot topic of denying pro-abortion
Catholic politicians Communion, but they ended up just punting it
back to the individual bishops. So each bishop will have to decide
how to proceed in his own diocese.
It certainly would have been nice to have something a little more
concrete here. But at least the statement doesn't play down the
danger pro-abortion Catholic politicians put themselves in: "To make
[abortion] legal is itself wrong. ...The legal system as such can be
said to cooperate in evil when it fails to protect the lives of those
who have no protection except the law. ...Those who formulate law
therefore have an obligation in conscience to work toward correcting
morally defective laws, lest they be guilty of cooperating in evil
and in sinning against the common good."
But the most encouraging -- and concrete -- part comes later in the
document. Regarding the public platforms that are sometimes given
pro-abortion Catholic politicians, the bishops clearly state: "The
Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those
who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should
not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support
for their actions."
This is important. As noted in an article in the June issue of
CRISIS ("The Enemy Inside The Gates," by Patrick J. Reilly), numerous
Catholic schools and institutions have invited pro-abortion Catholics
to speak or be honored. Not only does this undermine the Church's
position on important moral issues, but it also comes dangerously
close to sanctioning the anti-Catholic activities of these
individuals.
Now that the bishops have stated unequivocally that these
politicians should never be given ANY kind of award, honor, or
platform, we can start looking to Catholic institutions to fall in
line. While I won't hold my breath on the colleges, I'm certainly
happy to see the bishops taking a strong step in the right direction.
But that wasn't the only thing I wanted to tell you about in this
letter...
There's a battle brewing right now in the Senate, and it could have
a huge impact on all of us. I'm referring, of course, to the Federal
Marriage Amendment (FMA) -- which is a Constitutional amendment that
says marriage is restricted to a man and a woman.
As you may already know, the FMA will finally be put to a vote in
the Senate on July 15th. That means there's little less than a month
to rally the troops on this important issue in order to get the
required 67 votes needed for passage.
Enter the lobbyists... those individuals who try to shape public
policy to reflect the positions of their particular interest group.
The Catholic Church in America has its own lobbying arm -- the Office
of Government Liaison (OGL), directed by Frank Monahan. Headquartered
at the USCCB, the Office represents the bishops' (and, in turn,
Catholics') concerns before congress.
You probably remember that a few weeks ago, Monsignor William Fay,
the conference's general secretary, wrote us to insist that the
bishops were fully behind the FMA and were doing everything they
could to urge congressmen to support it.
Well, it's now time for the USCCB to step up to the plate and
deliver on their promise. Currently, the FMA only has about 30
senators behind it, with another 23 senators undecided. As I
mentioned, the bill needs 67 votes to pass, so it's still far from a
sure thing. The next four weeks will be crucial in determining the
ultimate success or failure of the bill, and that's where Frank
Monahan and his staff come in.
While the OGL should be petitioning all senators for their support
of the FMA, it's especially vital to focus on the 24 Catholic
senators. Shockingly, 15 of those 24 senators are currently OPPOSED
to the bill, and four more are undecided. (I'll tell you who in a
moment.)
Think about that: Only 1 in 5 senators who claim to be Catholic
actually support a bill that would enshrine marriage as the union of
one man and one woman. That's truly devastating.
And that's why it's crucial that the USCCB does its very best in the
next few weeks to lobby these senators -- to remind them of the
Church's clear teaching on marriage and their duty as senators in
light of that teaching (especially on the heels of the bishops'
statement from their Colorado meeting). For the record, those
senators currently opposed to the bill are:
Joseph Biden (D-DE)
John Breaux (D-LA)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Tom Daschle (D-SD)
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
John Reed (D-RI)
Four senators are still, astonishingly enough, undecided. They are:
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
John Sununu (R-NH)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
It's also important for us to recognize and appreciate those
Catholic senators who have already taken a stand in support of the
FMA. They are:
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Rick Santorum (R-PA)
Monsignor Fay, Frank Monahan, and the rest of the folks at the USCCB
certainly have their work cut out for them. But we're fully behind
their efforts to persuade these senators to act in line with their
self-professed faith.
Over the next four weeks, we'll be reporting on the conference's
progress in lobbying these senators. With God's grace, they will meet
with much success.
I'll write to you again in a couple days,
Deal
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