Catholics from a variety of cultures spoke with one voice and extraordinary passion for the hungry, the vulnerable and the working poor during Catholic Lobby Day.

More than 500 people from parishes and cities throughout the state came together May 2 in downtown Sacramento for event, sponsored by the California Catholic Conference (CCC), public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops.

Keynote speaker Marina Herrera, a consultant on ministry education and parish programs for multicultural communities for the U.S. Catholic Conference, set the tone for the day. She challenged participants to heed the Christian call to “be inspired anew” to work for social justice.

“We have to be passionate about who we are,” she said, “and take satisfaction in building communities where there are no children abandoned in garbage dumpsters, no students who arrive hungry at school, no workers of the land who don’t have fair living conditions or people begging on streets. What matters is that the seeds be planted.”

A Catholic delegation meeting with legislative aide Megan Wong (right) of state Senator Deborah Ortiz’s staff included (left to right) seminarian Loreto Rojas, Therese Smith of St. James Parish in Davis, and Christine Cipperly, diocesan respect life coordinator. Ernesto Flores/Herald photo

During an orientation on issues of specific concern to the bishops and the Catholic community, Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the CCC, pointed to the opportunities legislators will have in making decisions about the current state budget surplus.

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill has estimated the surplus will reach $11 billion to $13 billion by next year. The Legislature has until June 15 to review and amend Gov. Gray Davis’ budget proposals for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“Our challenge is to be of one mind and of one heart,” Dolejsi contended. “We have a chance to go over to the Capitol and do some prophetic work, some practical work and some evangelization.”

Specific legislative issues addressed during the day included child abandonment, assistance for immigrants not covered by federal programs, school nutrition, increased housing for farm worker families and an earned income tax credit for working poor families.

Two measures endorsed by the CCC address the abandonment of newborns. Companion bills, SB1368 by Senator James Brulte (R-Cucamonga) and AB1764 by Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove), would provide that a parent or other person having lawful custody of a baby 72 hours old or younger may voluntarily surrender custody of the child at a designated hospital reception area without fear of prosecution.

Six members of a delegation from St. James Parish in Davis and Loreto Rojas, a seminarian for the Diocese of Sacramento, met with consultant Chris Tapio of Assemblywoman Helen Thomson’s (D-Davis) staff to discuss the bills.

“Current law compels law enforcement to make every effort to find the abandoner so the mother can be punished or re-united with the baby she doesn’t want. In neither case is the baby well served,” noted Priscilla High, a member of St. James’ gospel justice committee.

Tapio said a benefit of the proposed bill would be to discourage abortions by offering a legal option to a birthmother for care of her child.

During the meeting Rojas also voiced support for a measure that would expand housing and health services to agricultural worker families.

“Farm workers are living in rooms with one fan, suffering in 120-degree heat and eating food that has spoiled because there is no refrigeration,” said Rojas, who had participated in a diocesan-sponsored tour of farm worker housing in Marysville and Yuba City last August.

The group also lobbied in support of AB 788 by Assemblyman Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), which would revise the purposes of juvenile court law to enable victims, the community and offenders to work together to ensure community protection, hold offenders personally accountable for reparation, and assist juvenile offenders to become law-abiding citizens.

Christine Cipperly, respect life coordinator for the Diocese of Sacramento, was among those who met with staff of Senator Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) to discuss SB 1945, sponsored by Ortiz, which would mandate that anti-abortion crimes and hate crimes be addressed “in concert” by law enforcement by adding support of abortion rights to the list of victim characteristics required to be reported to the Attorney General.

Cipperly told legislative aide Megan Wong that as one who has been active in the civil rights movement, opposed the death penalty and spoken out for the poor, she is alarmed about a bill that asks law enforcement to treat anti-abortion crimes as hate crimes.

“There are literally millions of pro-life, anti-abortion people…and to lump us with people who are racists or Nazis is very divisive, insulting and frightening from a constitutional point of view,” she said.

Wong said that the intent of the bill is not to change the definition of a hate crime but to protect victims of crime.

“Part of what this bill is doing is to educate law enforcement about what the current law is dealing with abortion-related violence,” Wong said.

Cipperly requested an amendment to the bill to address not just anti-abortion protestors but pro-abortion protestors who have committed crimes.

During the day Sacramento Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia and Dolejsi visited several offices of legislators and met with Assemblyman Anthony Pescetti (R-Sacramento) and Senator Hilda Solis (D- El Monte). Both legislators have shown support for in the past for measures endorsed by the CCC and were asked to consider the merits of current bills backed by the CCC.

Among those traveling to the lobby day from the far north part of the state were Joseph and Maile Nail, members of Sacred Heart Parish in Red Bluff. The couple, who have opened their own shelter for the homeless, made the trip to the Capitol to speak out for the poor and against child abandonment.

Rojas, who is graduating from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, was one of 25 seminarians from the state’s dioceses and two seminary professors hosted by the CCC for the lobby day. The seminarians joined delegations from their home dioceses in visits to the Capitol.

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