The Maryland Catholic Conference will host a Virtual Catholic Advocacy Day Feb. 19. Instead of bringing people to Annapolis for briefings on issues of importance to Catholics during the legislative session, interested people can access the day remotely.
“Hearing from constituents is incredibly powerful when it comes to state politics,” said Jenny Kraska, MCC executive director. “Catholic Advocacy Day packs a big punch by mobilizing thousands of parishioners statewide to support – or oppose – key legislation introduced in the General Assembly. The great thing is participation is virtual. It takes just three minutes to make an impact through our alert program.”
With the state budget a primary concern this year, “a big part of our advocacy will be obviously focused on protecting that social safety net,” Kraska told editors of the state’s Catholic publications Jan. 8. Gov. Wes Moore has said that he will propose $2 billion in cuts to state programs.
Although it is not clear where or how much the cuts will be, Kraska expects them to have a significant impact on people served by dioceses and Catholic Charities agencies. Such programs are “vitally important” and depend on a partnership Catholic entities have with the state to combine government funding with dollars from the church.
“We’ll be watching those programs and those funding levels extraordinarily closely in a way that we just haven’t had to for the last several years,” she said.
Catholic Advocacy Day is sponsored by the Maryland Catholic Conference, the public policy organization representing the Catholic Church in Maryland before the state government and General Assembly. The conference selects key bills covering nonpublic education, respect for life, and social and economic justice, then prepares emails to legislators.
The MCC represents the bishops and dioceses in Maryland on public policy, including the Archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., which includes Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
The Maryland General Assembly runs Jan. 8 to April 7.
Parishioners choose the topics they want and in a couple of clicks, their legislators will hear from them. Members of the free Catholic Advocacy Network get advance notice of the topics. Sign up at www.mdcatholic.org/joincan.
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