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April 9, 2007 • VOL. 45, NO. 7 • Oakland, CA
CCC president
says Church’s voice
is necessary in state’s public policy
 |
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire |
FAIRFAX, Calif.
(CNS) -- While the Catholic Church in California “does not seek
to impose our values on anyone,” it is nonetheless called “to
be a strong moral voice on what we believe is necessary for the well-being
of society and the good of the human family,” the president of the
California Conference of Catholic Bishops told an audience at St. Rita
Parish in Fairfax March 27.
The vast impact that the Church and Catholics have on the state makes
it all the more critical they have a voice in California public policies,
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton said, pointing out that:
• The Catholic Church is the largest provider of health care, social
services and private education in California, operating 41 hospitals,
31 health care centers, 13 colleges and universities, 115 high schools,
586 elementary schools and 181 social service units.
• Catholics make up 30 percent of the state population, approximately
11 million -- of whom nearly half are Latino.
Bishop Blaire focused his address on the work of the California Catholic
Conference which, he said, “resonates with the teachings”
of Pope Paul VI’s well-known document “Populorum Progressio.”
The conference is the state Catholic bishops’ lobbying arm, based
in Sacramento.
“Listen to the opening words of the encyclical,” Bishop Blaire
said, then quoted them: “The development of peoples has the Church’s
close attention, particularly the development of those peoples who are
striving to escape from hunger, misery, endemic diseases and ignorance;
of those ... looking for a wider share in the benefits of civilization
and a more active improvement of their human qualities.”
The encyclical’s exhortation, he said, has clear local application
where “the great material needs of our people in California are
still food, health, education, housing and employment.”
The bishop said “Populorum Progressio” “is not talking
about just acquisition of possessions but rather of an integrated fulfillment,
a development from less human conditions to more human conditions.”
That goal, he said, underpins the California Catholic Conference’s
priority-setting as it evaluates “the flood of bills before the
Legislature each year.”
Bishops in the state “as pastors” meet with the conference
staff “as experts” twice a year to “discern prudential
ways to bring the Gospel to bear on legislative, judicial or executive
matters,” Bishop Blaire said.
“We are careful to select only those issues which have a significant
moral component or affect the life of the church and her ability to freely
minister to our people and in the community,” he said.
High on the California Catholic Conference radar, he said, are efforts
to have conscience clauses removed from reproductive health legislation
which would force Catholic hospitals or individuals to take part in abortions
or other procedures in opposition to Church teaching.
Another issue is legislation that if passed would allow physician-assisted
suicide, he said.
The California bishops have also been “very involved in reform of
the prisons, a terribly broken system,” he said, as well as comprehensive
immigration reform, health care for children and vocational training,
especially for high school dropouts.
“The list goes on,” he said, “depending upon legislation
introduced, judicial decisions rendered, ... the governor’s priorities,
the state budget and cultural issues which weigh in on moral and Gospel
values.”
The state’s bishops also are looking at establishing “legislative
networks throughout the dioceses in the state.” While the plan is
in the early stages, he added, “it will be most interesting to see
what impact this will have upon governmental decision-making when there
is a wider engagement of Catholic people in the work of the conference.”
