catholic advocacy

Catholics Lobby National Issues on Capitol Hill

By Henrietta Gomes
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 4/26/07) catholic advocacy

Joining together in solidarity to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church, members of the Diocese of Arlington gathered with members of the Archdiocese of Washington, Baltimore and the Diocese of Richmond to lobby issues on a federal level for the Tenth annual Catholic Advocacy Day last Wednesday. Nearly 100 advocates were briefed on issues in the basement of St. Peter Church in Southeast Washington before prayerfully meeting with their respective legislators.
“We are echoing the positions of our bishops,” Anne Murphy reminded the participants. Murphy, director of parish social ministry for diocesan Catholic Charities, urged them to put all personal agendas aside. “We are speaking with our Catholic tongues,” she said.
Issues discussed with lawmakers included minimum wage, immigration, embryonic stem-cell research, human trafficking and others.
Explaining the perils of embryonic stem-cell research, Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, told participants that in the process of extracting stem cells from embryos they are destroyed. He also noted that despite nearly three decades of research no one has benefited from embryonic stem-cell research. Progress, however, has been made in the arena of adult stem-cell research, which has already been used to treat people with various diseases, he explained. The Church supports adult stem-cell research where stem cells can be derived from blood from umbilical cords, muscle, amniotic fluid and bone marrow among others. Adult stem-cells which do not require the destruction of a human embryo, are able to divide and self-renew.
Caruso urged participants to tell their legislators to oppose a bill which Senate approved earlier this month authorizing federal funds to promote embryonic stem-cell research.
Bob Ashdown, parishioner of Christ the Redeemer Church in Sterling, felt called to lobby for immigration issues.
“Justice calls for allowing people to have a path to legalization,” said the grandson of Polish immigrants. “Poor and powerless in their home countries, immigrants come here to work because the jobs are plentiful,” he noted after the day’s event. Immigrants, he said are often “willing to do the physically demanding, low-paying and sometimes dangerous work that ‘native’ Americans don’t want. We benefit from this work, but are unwilling to acknowledge the contribution that immigrants make. Our economy has absorbed an estimated 12 million undocumented migrants without raising the unemployment rate.”
He hoped to see a path for legalization of the undocumented, “make it easier for migrants to work here legally, reduce the waiting time for family reunification and ensure due process for the undocumented.”
Immigration issues were also close to home for Marlene Terreros-Oronao, a native of Ecuador who emigrated to the United States more than 35 years ago. The parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington attended the event to support the position of Catholic bishops on immigration reform. Terreros-Oronao said she hoped to meet with Sen. Jim Webb to discuss a plan for a new immigration agenda. Although she was unable to meet with the senator, she met with his legislative assistant, Maribel Ramos, who was receptive to the idea of meeting with newly arrived Latinos to get their perspective.
It was an invigorating experience noted Terreros-Oranoa, who came to lobby for the first time. She planned on going back to her parish to share what she learned that day and try “to get others involved and advocate for these issues that are morally important for us.”
The number of both soldiers and civilians being killed in Iraq was of monumental concern for Deacon Gene Betit, a veteran of Catholic Advocacy Day, who came to discuss war issues. The parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Arlington looked to discuss with legislators ways to end the war. Prior to the meetings, Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, briefed participants regarding the war.
“There is no easy route out of Iraq and no guarantee of success in Iraq, but there is a moral challenge to get out as soon as possible in a way that is responsible. We need to find a responsible solution.”
Regardless of whether the advocates were successful in meeting with their legislators, they each dropped off information packets regarding all the issues at hand.
Calling the lobbying effort a success, Murphy said she was grateful for all the first-comers as well as the number of young people that attended the event.

Henrietta Gomes can be reached at hgomes@catholicherald.com.