In our last article, we reminded you that the voting booth is where our faithful citizenship responsibilities begin, not end. We must take our citizenship seriously. So many in this world are not able to exercise the liberties of a democracy that we take for granted. This virtue is not something to be exercised only during elections.
Bishop Carlson understands the need to be active in shaping policies and laws. That is why it is part of our job to represent the diocese full time as lobbyists. The Church not only has the right, but the responsibility, to share its rich and fruitful teachings on a whole range of issues as bills are debated.
As we head to Pierre to live for the duration of this session, we do so with excitement and encouragement. This year is the second anniversary of the diocesan Catholic Advocate Network (CAN). If you don’t know what this is, now is the time to become aware.
CAN is the grassroots public policy initiative of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls. As is stated on the CAN website (www.sfcatholic.org/can), we hope to build upon the foundation of past lobbyists and many other committed individuals who have given their time to professing our Catholic faith to legislators in the public square, and to create a solid network of citizens committed to building a culture of life.
Through this network, we can then educate, inform, alert and inspire participation in state and national legislative processes, which, in our country, is the most direct and effective way of ensuring that our communities, states and nation are structured on sound moral principles.
The system we have developed is relatively simple, and similar to networks in other dioceses. Each parish or school, or other diocesan related ministry (such as the Newman Centers), has a designated person called a CAN legislative liaison. That person is our initial contact, who in turn, passes action alerts and information from us to the parish community through an email network. The result is the wide spread of information in a quick and efficient manner.
This is not partisan activity; this is not about being Democrat or Republican. This is not about supporting one person over another. This is faithful citizenship at its best. This is about having the Catholic intellectual tradition play a role in public policy. This is addressing issues such as abortion, the death penalty, just wage, social services for those in need, education and taxes. It provides all of us with the opportunity to educate legislators about what our faith tells us is best for the individual and for the common good.
Unfortunately, at the time, we only have about 60 active legislative liaisons. Now is the time to become active. Everyone loves to complain about politicians, but do we really take the time to hold up our end of the deal? This is a way for our public officials to talk with their constituents, and also a simple way to change the minds of those public officials that may not share our view on certain issues. The time commitment is not great, and your main responsibility is to form an email tree, check your email on a consistent basis, especially during session and pass on our action alerts to others.
If you are interested in getting involved in CAN, please contact your priest and ask him if there is a CAN legislative liaison for your parish. You can also contact our office. If your priest is unfamiliar with CAN, then share this information with him. If there is not a CAN legislative liaison assigned to your parish, please volunteer to serve in that capacity, or suggest a few names to your priest of people you feel would be a good fit for the position. If there is already one assigned for your parish, then contact that person and get on his or her email list. The legislators in your district need and want to hear from you. Often a vote is decided based on the response or lack of response from constituents.
South Dakota’s 80th Legislative Session begins January 11, 2005 and runs through Recess Day, March 5, 2005, with veto day occurring March 22, 2005. This is one of the shortest state legislative sessions in the nation. It is amazing how much gets done in such a short amount of time. Our legislators are to be commended. One way to do that is to aid them in the exercise of their duties through grassroots lobbying.
Please get involved. Include your children in the process so that they can learn our system of government. We understand how busy you are with family, jobs and other commitments. Sometimes there does not seem to be enough time in the day. But, again, this opportunity does not take much time, and the rewards are great. Contact us at 988-3755, or by email at dsieverd@sfcatholic.org.