Thirteen-year-old St. Dunstan eighth grader Chloe de Guzman brought her views on abortion to State Sen. Leland Yee, speaking convincingly, not at all intimidated by political power, as archdiocesan elementary school students joined in Catholic Lobby Day, for the first time in recent memory.

“He was pro-abortion and it didn’t make sense to me,” said Chloe, about the Democratic state senator who represents District 8, most of San Francisco and San Mateo.

“She wasn’t a happy camper,” noted classmate Kaela Chavez, 14, of Millbrae. “She was crossing her arms and staring him down.”

Chloe and Kaela, along with Aaron Aquino, Lydia Ho, Tracy Ronquillo, Alexis Yee and Dylan Shannon traveled to Sacramento April 27 with St. Dunstan eighth grade teacher Trey Cosgriff, joining three students from All Souls School in South San Francisco, and a delegation from Archbishop Riordan High School. The All Souls students were seventh-graders Nicole Strupeni, Marrisa Azcenua and Adan Pena.

About 30 San Franciscans were part of 600 from around California who buttonholed state lawmakers and their staff on April 27. Colville, who also serves on the Archdiocesan Board of Education, began the initiative to involve junior high students in Lobby Day this year, noting junior high is when Catholic social teaching is first presented in detail. He hopes more schools will participate next year.

California is facing an estimated $24 billion shortfall between the end of this fiscal year and next. The California Catholic Conference argues that funding to family planning organizations, including Planned Parenthood, should be cut rather than programs to the elderly, the blind and the disabled. California spent almost $24 million for more than 80,000 Medi-Cal funded abortions in calendar year 2007, the most recent statistic available, and every year in its budget request Planned Parenthood argues abortions save the state money, the conference noted.

The California Catholic Conference’s other top legislative priorities this year are:

Change the law so that juvenile offenders, some as young as 14 who have been given a sentence of life without chance of parole mostly for homicide convictions, will be given the opportunity for parole if they demonstrate remorse and rehabilitation (SB399).

Simplify the food stamp program so poor people only have to apply every six months rather than every four (AB1642).

Block proposed cuts to the state supplement to federal Supplemental Security Income and instead discontinue funding for Planned Parenthood and abortion. Sixty nine percent of beneficiaries are disabled, 29 percent are elderly and 2 percent blind.

Pass the California Dream Act of 2010 (SB1460), so that undocumented students are eligible for state financial aid for college. Undocumented students are now eligible for in-state tuition if they have completed three years of high school, have a California high school diploma or GED, and have signed an affidavit saying they have applied or will apply for legal immigration status as soon as they are able.

“Everyone has a right to an education,” said Aaron Aquino, 14, St. Dunstan eighth grader from Daly City, of the California Dream Act, noting most undocumented students are here because they came with their families – who were looking for opportunity. “It doesn’t give them an unfair advantage; it just lets them compete for financial aid.”

The Catholic student lobbyists met with aides of Assembly members Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Jerry Hall (D-San Mateo), and Jared Huffman (D-Marin County). St. Dunstan’s students gave Senator Yee credit for meeting with them, but said they did not understand how Senator Yee could be so good in supporting all of the other Catholic Conference legislative priorities and not oppose abortion. “We didn’t think he would be pro-abortion,” Kaela said. “Hypocritical,” said Aaron, who noted that Yee is the main sponsor of the Dream Act.

“These kids weren’t blinking an eye. They were very, very articulate,” said St. Dunstan Principal Bruce Colville.

In a letter to the All Souls principal posted on the school’s website, Nicole Strupeni writes: “Through this experience I learned how our Catholic faith views many issues differently than many of our legislators. I also learned both sides to every problem and used my faith to choose what is the best ‘morally just’ thing for our community.”

Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto, who presided at Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and delivered the homily in Spanish and English, noted that the crowd gathered to represent those who are lost in the margins — children in the womb, the frail elderly, immigrants who can’t get into colleges and universities, young people floundering in prison — in short, “our brothers and sisters.”

“The life of California depends on recognizing the dignity of life for all Californians,” Bishop Soto said. “This dignity is not defined by state government. This God-given dignity defines the purpose of state government. Our social covenant should enable the life and liberty of the human person, not eliminate or exclude those who don’t fit in.”

The Catholic Herald of Sacramento contributed to this story.

From May 7, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
<<http://www.catholic-sf.org/news_select.php?newsid=&id=57196>>

Speakers in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and at a noon rally on the state Capitol steps called on Catholics to put their faith into action on behalf of the poor and powerless. The California Catholic Conference, the public policy office of the state’s Catholic bishops and sponsor of Lobby Day, asked participants to focus on three bills in the Legislature and on the issue of drastic budget cuts again facing the state. 

California will hold a special election on May 19 to vote on several initiatives that would provide temporary revenues. Current polls indicate that most voters oppose the initiatives. The initiatives’ defeat would drastically reduce the state’s income. 

“We are not here as budget experts,” said Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, in his remarks to the crowd that filled the cathedral. “We are here as people of faith, common sense and hope, and we are here to tell legislators not to shred the safety net.”  

When legislators make tough decisions about which programs get funded, Dolejsi said, Catholics must remind them to take care of the poor and vulnerable. 

On the 11th annual Catholic Lobby Day, the Catholic Conference focused participants’ efforts on three bills affecting the acutely vulnerable: newborns up to a month old, poor families who need food stamps and children who are prisoners in the California correctional system. Presenters discussed the bills in a morning assembly at the cathedral. 

Speaking on Assembly Bill 1048, the bill that would expand existing law to permit a newborn’s surrender up to 30 days after birth, was John Watkins, coordinator of social justice for the Diocese of Oakland. Watkins is the foster father of three-month-old John Douglas Garcia Watkins, a child born on Jan. 26 of this year and surrendered by his birth mother on Jan. 28. Watkins and his wife, Christine, are in the process of adopting the infant. 

Watkins argued that the current 72-hour window for surrendering an infant doesn’t take into account barriers of language and transportation, the lack of public awareness regarding the option of surrender, and the timing of post-partum depression, which can set in after the 72-hour window has passed. “AB 1048 is about helping women in crisis, helping babies and saving lives,” he said. 

To illustrate the necessity of passing Senate Bill 399, a resentencing bill for young offenders, Jesuit Father Michael Kennedy had 15-year-old Peter Wolf stand next to him as he spoke. Wolf, a freshman from Loyola High School in Los Angeles, held a plastic garbage bag while Father Kennedy, co-chaplain of Sylmar Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, read excerpts from letters written by incarcerated boys Wolf’s age. After reading aloud from a boy’s letter, Father Kennedy would drop it into the garbage bag. 

“These boys are thrown away,” Father Kennedy said. “They are 15 and 16 years old, and they are never, ever, ever going to leave prison.” 

Father Kennedy noted that the United States is the only country in the world that incarcerates kids for the rest of their lives. Young people make mistakes, but they can change, he said. SB 399 would allow for the review and resentencing, after 10 years of incarceration, of youth who were sentenced before the age of 18 to life without parole. 

Speaking about Assembly Bill 1057, the CalWORKS and Food Stamp program, was Maria Rangel, director of the nutrition program at Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Stockton. The grant-funded outreach program assists people in the registering for food stamps.  

Rangel noted that more than 10 million Californians are either currently hungry or don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In today’s economy, that number is increasing, she noted, and many families are applying for food stamps for the first time in their lives. 

“Only half of the families in California eligible for food stamps use them,” Rangel said. “The program’s bureaucratic hassle and red tape is itself a barrier to families’ receiving benefits.” AB 1057 would simplify the food stamp program administrative process, in part by changing the reporting requirements from quarterly to every six months. 

Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton called on Christians to show compassion and solidarity with the poor and vulnerable. 

In his homily during a bilingual Mass in the cathedral, Bishop Blaire urged the faithful to action. “Indifference is as deadly as violence,” he said. “We are not in the world to observe, but to serve.” 

Lobby Day participants were far from indifferent.  

Art Guerrero, a computer science teacher at John Paul II School in Sacramento, brought 28 sixth grade students with him to Lobby Day. It was his eighth year at Lobby Day, he noted, and his second year to shepherd children through the Capitol’s halls. “I do it to show them what’s going on the world,” he said. 

John Paul II students Nicolas Lopez and Eduardo Galva explain that they’ve studied the bills and hope to influence policymakers. “We’re ready to meet them,” Lopez said with confidence. Their language arts teacher, Patricia Guerra, concurred, adding that she chose to bring this group of students because “they’re not afraid to speak up.” 

Justine Portillo, a senior at Marysville High School, and her mother Judith Mendez, attending their first Lobby Day, were there “to stand up for what we believe in,” Portillo said. Portillo and Mendez, who are members of Sacred Heart Mission in Dobbins, read about Lobby Day in The Catholic Herald and contacted the Diocesan Pastoral Center to register. 

Portillo, who will attend Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., in the fall, said that she looked forward to bringing what she learns at Lobby Day back to her high school friends in Marysville. “Not a lot of people there know what is really going on,” she explained. 

Bringing information back to the community is one of the central goals of Lobby Day, Dolejsi of the Catholic Conference said. 

Lobby Day is the kickoff event, he said, but the goal is to involve people in shaping public policy all year long. He urged people to join the Catholic Legislative Network, a newsletter and e-mail alert system that tracks policy issues in state Legislature. The network is a joint project of all 12 California dioceses. 

“We have to find ways to empower laypeople to bring their voices to these issues as people of faith,” Dolejsi said.