March 5 - Maryland Catholic Conference

A few weeks ago now on President’s Day (February 15) several hundred Catholics from throughout the state of Maryland gathered to meet with our state legislators to put forward the Church’s position on several key legislative issues being considered by the Maryland General Assembly.  Let me present here what the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) staffers consider the most pressing issues during the current session.  I am relying on the summary of the issues written by Richard Szczepanowski in the February 23 issue of the Catholic Standard:

• Physician-assisted suicide.  We have reported in the bulletin that the General Assembly might consider legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide.  Well, now it is a fact that our state legislators are doing just that.  The bill is called The End-of-Life Option Act (HB 370). HB 370 will be heard in the Judiciary Proceedings Committee in the Maryland State Senate on March 7.  I encourage you to visit http://stopassistedsuicidemd.org/ to stay up to date on this very important issue.  I want to encourage you to urge our lawmakers to reject a proposal allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of pills to terminally ill patients. 
• The BOOST Scholarship Program.  MCC supports the Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) program that provides scholarship assistance for students from low-income families who attend a nonpublic school.  Gov. Larry Hogan has proposed increasing funding for the program to $7 million.
• The Healthy Working Families Act.  We as Catholics are encouraged to voice our support for the proposal that allows all workers to earn paid sick days.  The MCC said the measure supports the dignity of work and shows a priority concern for the poor and vulnerable.
• The “Trust” Act.  The Maryland Law Enforcement Government Trust Act would clarify and define when state and local law enforcement would take part in federal immigration enforcement activities.  The act would protect immigrants from being stopped, arrested, searched, or detained solely for determining whether or not an immigration violation exists.  The MCC supports the measure because “it works to restore trust within the immigrant community and to help individuals feel comfortable enough to reach out to local and state law enforcement for help or to report a crime.”

In reflecting on the gathering in Annapolis, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore noted that the Church’s stance on issues “is neither conservative nor liberal, nor is it Democrat or Republican.” He also noted that “Political discourse—as we have seen—has gotten pretty raw, pretty divisive and pretty unproductive.” He also expressed the hope that the Catholic Church would foster a common dialogue where we would bring to the public forum a consistent message of human dignity.
Archbishop Lori’s remarks echo what the Catholic Bishops of the United States wrote in paragraph 91 of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” which was approved by the US Catholic Bishops in their November 2015 General Meeting:
As Catholics, we are led to raise questions for political life other than those that concentrate on individual, material well-being. Our focus is not on party affiliation, ideology, economics, or even competence and capacity to perform duties, as important as such duties are.  Rather, we focus on what protects or threatens the dignity of every human life.
Those interested in receiving updates on the four issues mentioned above can sign up for the Catholic Advocacy Network, which can be found at www.mdcatholic.org/JoinCAN.
Until next week,
Fr. John Dillon
Pastor