News Release: Michigan Catholic Conference Launches Catholic Legislative Advocacy Network

LANSING—The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) today announced the launching of a web-based grassroots action center intended to familiarize users with legislative issues deemed critical by the Church in Michigan and allows citizens to become active in communicating with their legislators. The Catholic Legislative Advocacy Network is located on the homepage of the MCC’s Web site at www.micatholic.org

“Catholic responsibility is to evaluate all candidates, policies and parties by how they protect or undermine the life, dignity and rights of the human person—whether they protect the poor and vulnerable and advance the common good,” said MCC Vice-President for Public Policy Paul A. Long. “The Catholic Legislative Advocacy Network gives Catholics in Michigan the opportunity to become more familiar with important issues as they relate to Catholic social teaching and allows users the easiest opportunity to communicate with their elected officials.”

The web-based program offers Catholics the ability to read about issues of interest to the MCC, grasp key message points, send a letter-to-the-editor to their local newspaper and, most importantly, electronically submit concerns or thanks to their state representative, senator and/or governor.

The program also allows for users to rapidly locate their local and statewide elected officials and offers the opportunity to automatically receive e-mail alerts when action is needed on legislative issues considered important by the MCC.

According to Faithful Citizenship 2003, a statement by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: “In the Catholic tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue; participation in the political process is a moral obligation. All believers are called to faithful citizens, to become informed, active and responsible participants in the political process. A Catholic moral framework does not easily fit the ideologies of ‘right’ or ‘left,’ nor the platforms of any party. Our values are often not ‘politically correct.’ Believers are called to be a community of conscience within the larger society and to test public life by the values of Scripture and the principles of Catholic social teaching.”

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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