Local Catholics to push social justice
Representatives from each of the 12 California Catholic dioceses will converge on Sacramento April 28 for the 11th annual Catholic Lobby Day. They will advocate for food aid for the poor, limits on prison time for juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole and an expansion of infant surrender laws to prevent harm to babies up to a month old.
Organizers expect as many as 700 Catholics to participate in the day's events, which include a Mass celebrated by Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton at Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, a march to the Capitol and meetings with legislators.
The day is a chance for Catholics to have a "mobilized, focused voice" in Sacramento, said Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference.
"We need to be a voice for those who have no voice in the state," said Dolejsi, whose group is the lobbying arm of the California Catholic bishops and the sponsor of Catholic Lobby Day. "We expect the deficit to grow again, and one of the solutions (lawmakers are considering) is cutting more people off needed social services. The safety net is not just being frayed. There are gaping holes in it."
Dolejsi said he plans to push legislators on budget priorities, looking to halt any plans to cut social services the CCC says are essential for the poor and marginalized. Dolejsi also said the budget crunch presents an opportunity to discuss life issues, with lobbyists pushing to defund state support for groups like Planned Parenthood.
George Wesolek, director of the San Francisco Archdiocese's Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns, said the day is a chance for ordinary Catholics to make a difference in the legislative process.
"It's an opportunity for Catholics to be in an environment with each other with a unity of purpose and power," Wesolek said, adding that the day can forge connections with legislators that aids in further contact. "We don't want it to be just one day a year. It will hopefully open up opportunities to do more throughout the year."
Voters sojourning from their districts are not as easy to ignore as the lobbyists who are part of the system in Sacramento, said Steve Pehanich, CCC's senior director for advocacy and education.
"It's important for legislators to know voters are backing what you say," Pehanich said. "When people from their home districts come all the way to Sacramento to visit, they know it's important."
The gathering focuses each year on a handful of policy issues important to Catholic social teaching. This year, participants will engage lawmakers on four issues: improvements to the state's food stamp program; sentencing and parole guidelines for minors; safe surrender of infants and state budget priorities.
Food aid - A lack of awareness and cumbersome paperwork contribute to low participation in California's food stamp program for eligible residents, according to the CCC. AB 1057, a bill sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Beall of San Jose, would reduce the number of required reports from four to two a year.
Sentencing reform - Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, is sponsoring SB 399, a bill which would, after 10 years of incarceration, allow for the review and resentencing of youth who were sentenced as minors to life without parole. The CCC backs the bill as a move toward restorative justice, an ethic that focuses on repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships between offenders and victims.
In its support of the bill the CCC cites a 2000 U.S. bishops' statement on restorative justice, which concludes: "We are all sinners, and our response to sin and failure should not be abandonment and despair, but rather justice, contrition, reparation, and return or reintegration of all into the community."
Protection for older infants - Under California law, an infant child may be surrendered anonymously without legal penalty until the child is one week old. Democratic Assemblyman Alberto Torrico of Fremont has sponsored a series of bills to extend the coverage to children up to one month old. These bills though passed by both the Assembly and the Senate, have been vetoed by the governor on the grounds that relatively few infants are abandoned after one week, according to a study from the Department of Social Services. The latest bill, not yet passed, is AB 1048.
Proponents of the extension, including the CCC, argue the statistics are misleading, and that several factors, including post-partum depression, geographic isolation and a lack of awareness of safe surrender laws present obstacles to mothers seeking to surrender their baby. Safe surrender laws in 22 states allow for up to one month, while North Dakota and Missouri give parents up to one year.
State budget - The CCC's work is focusing on protecting social safety net programs as the legislature heads for another intense, partisan budget battle. "Just as this is a time for serious evaluation of our personal budgets, it is also the time for government officials to focus on what are our most important budget priorities and expenditures," the CCC states. "Among those priorities must be the basic need for sustaining life, income, food, shelter and education-remembering that those who are poorest and most vulnerable in our communities have the greatest moral claim on our attention and resources."
For more information about Catholic Lobby Day, visit www.cacatholic.org. To register locally, contact Patricia Ribeiro at (415) 614-5572 or ribeirop@sfarchdiocese.org.
By Michael Vick
From April 24, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
