Prominent among representatives from California’s 12 dioceses pouring into the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on April 24 were a number of high school students, including large delegations from the Dioceses of Sacramento, San Bernardino and Orange.

The day began with four young people sharing personal reflections about the need for Catholics everywhere to be unconditional advocates for the dignity of human life.

The youth shared the stage with Sister of Charity of the Infant Mary Lydia Schneider, whose keynote speech addressed the Lobby Day theme, “Hope, Healing and Restoration.”

It was a theme echoed by Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles in a homily during Mass in the Cathedral, with Monterey Bishop Richard J. Garcia presiding.

“We come as a people of hope, confident we will be heard, that our legislators will be open to listening with ears that hear the voices of those who speak for what is right and just….willing to be touched by the plight of those who are poor,” Bishop Zavala said.

The ninth annual Lobby Day was sponsored by the California Catholic Conference, the public policy office of the state’s Catholic bishops.

One legislative measure garnering the focus of participants was the California Compassionate Choices Act, AB 374, which would allow a physician to prescribe a self-administered, life-ending drug for an adult who requested it and had been found by two doctors to be mentally competent and within six months of death.

Connie Koppes, a member of St. Anthony Parish in Sacramento, was among those speaking out against legalizing physician-assisted suicide during visits to legislators’ offices.

Koppes, who is a registered nurse, said “we show our compassion best” by providing hospice care which controls pain for people who are dying, and provides “death with dignity.”

“We’re progressing from the right to die to the responsibility to die,” she contended. “I think it is bad public policy that puts the poor, disabled and elderly at risk.”

Also speaking out against the bill was Kevin O’Conner, a junior at Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento.

“With this bill people could choose to kill themselves and they don’t know when they’re going to die,” said O’Conner, whose grandmother lived seven years after being diagnosed terminally ill with cancer. “My family and I had seven more years of life and happiness with her.”

O’Conner was one of nine Christian Brothers’ students attending Lobby Day with their religion teacher, Holly Peterson.

“I wanted students to see the Catholic Church has a voice in politics and for kids to get a taste of that,” said Peterson, who is also coordinator of evangelization and English catechesis for the Diocese of Sacramento.

Several Christian Brothers students accompanied Peterson in visiting the offices of Assemblyman Roger Niello (R-Sacramento.)

Asked for his opinion on AB 374, Assemblyman Niello said he views the Compassionate Choice act as a “proverbial slippery slope,” empowering physicians to make decisions he wasn’t convinced “mere mortals are competent to make.”

A legislative proposal which received support from Lobby Day participants is AB 1539, which would expand the grounds under which the court may resentence or recall the sentences of inmates diagnosed suffering a terminal disease with six months or less to live.

Marcy Coglianese, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Rio Vista, said she came to the Capitol supporting a bill which is “a compassionate, human thing to do” for terminally ill inmates.

She explained that under current law only about half of inmates who would qualify for recall or resentencing receive notices which are not given “in a timely fashion.”

“These are people who have an inherent dignity God gave them and haven’t lost it,” said Coglianese, who is active in prison ministry. “When a family has someone in prison, part of their heart is locked away.”

She added that it is her view the bill makes “good fiscal sense” due to the fact that intensive medical care is much more costly in prison than in the public sector.

Also receiving support from diocesan delegates was SB 160, called the California Dream Act. The bill would allow undocumented students, who are graduates from a California high school and qualify for in-state tuition at California state colleges, universities, and community colleges, to be exempt from paying non-resident tuition.

Juana Mora, 24, a member of Annunciation Mission Church in Williams, is a senior at California State University, Sacramento.

Born in Mexico, Mora, a daughter of farm workers and a U.S. citizen, is concerned for friends who have been denied a college education because they are not yet documented and are unable to pay for tuition.

“My parents migrated so their children could have a better life,” said Mora, who received financial aid and is now looking forward to a career in teaching.

“There should be an opportunity for people who want to further their education, get into the work force, and go on to do good for others,” he said.

Participants also lobbied in favor of AB 1060, the Food Stamp Program, which would repeal quarterly redetermination requirements and impose similar requirements semi-annually.

Currently by U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates two million Californians eligible for food stamps are not receiving them mainly because of the state’s reporting system.

Emmanuel Hunger, a junior at Christian Brothers High School, called the legislation “an outdated reporting system” requiring “people who barely have a job or enough money to take time off their jobs to report (quarterly) for food stamps.”

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