Hundreds of Catholics bring concerns to Capitol

In one huge room, Catholics clustered at tables marked "Albany," "Buffalo," "Rockville Centre" or other New York dioceses, quietly reading position papers on critical issues.

Down the hall, Rev. Robert Longobucco, a priest of the Albany Diocese, told a group of young people that they may not need health insurance or other services themselves, but they have to connect with those who do.

The teens started to pray the "Our Father" together as, in a lobby nearby, Catholics from different dioceses handed out name tags and information packets to new arrivals. The newcomers headed into a workshop on issues of concern before a special Mass celebrated by Cardinal Edward Egan of the New York Archdiocese.

Lobbying

This was the Public Policy Forum, an annual lobbying day that brought more than 700 New York Catholics to the State Capitol in Albany on March 11 to meet with their elected officials. The event was sponsored by the New York State Catholic Conference, which speaks for the state's bishops on issues of concern to the Church.

Attendees at this year's Forum wanted their voices heard on seven issues:

* reform of the harsh, Rockefeller-era drug-sentencing laws;

* passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act to protect mothers and unborn children from assault;

* parental choice in education;

* better access to health insurance for the uninsured;

* maintaining the public/private partnership to support the poor and vulnerable;

* meeting rural New Yorkers' transportation and housing needs; and

* protecting faith-based ministries from threats to religious freedom.

'Mind-boggling'

"This is my first time [at the Forum]. It's mind-boggling," said Jack Egan, a parishioner of St. Pius X Church in Loudonville. A newly retired senior citizen, he'd been involved in advocacy work at his parish for years but never had the opportunity to attend the Forum.

He hoped to lobby Assemblyman Pat Casale (R,C-108th) on health insurance, the aim being to simplify the enrollment process for Family Health Plus, Child Health Plus and Medicaid, and to reach out to uninsured people to help them enroll.

"I just came back from a vacation in South Carolina. I visited a parish [St. Pius is] sistering with down there," Mr. Egan told The Evangelist. "There are a lot of migrant workers; they don't have health insurance. It sort of put a face on it for me."

In this year's executive budget, Gov. George Pataki proposed limiting eligibility for Family Health Plus and moving 234,000 children out of Medicaid.

Issues of concern

Nancy Acemoglu, a parish nurse at St. Ambrose Church in Latham and representing the diocesan Commission on Aging, came to the Forum to urge more funding for mental-health services and services for people with HIV/AIDS -- as opposed to more than $6 million in cuts to those services proposed in this year's budget. Lobbyists also wanted to preserve services for the poor through the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) fund, instead of accepting the Governor's proposal to use surplus funds to help close the state budget gap.

"These are issues that affect so many people," Mrs. Acemoglu said.

After decades of news reports on the disease, she added, many people think AIDS and the need to fund research and services is "just something you read about in magazines. That's not so. People are suffering; whole families are suffering."

Drug laws

Mrs. Acemoglu also hoped to encourage reforming the Rockefeller drug laws. Under the current laws, she said, one-time drug offenders may end up serving 25-year prison sentences.

"This is destroying families," she said.

Sentencing more non-violent drug offenders to addiction treatment instead of prison also brought Regina Willis to the Public Policy Forum -- for the second year in a row. The teen from St. Mary's Church in Coxsackie believes state lawmakers should support "what the Church teaches and people believe" on modifying the overly-harsh Rockefeller laws.

"I'm going to ask to talk about the Rockefeller drug laws and how they're not fair to the poor," she told The Evangelist, adding that "maybe" this is the year that reform will become a reality.

Rural needs

For Don Brooks of St. Joseph's parish in Greenwich, lobbying is worthwhile simply to "keep abreast of some of the priorities we have for our localities" and to "sound out legislators in terms of their biases."

A member of the board of directors of Catholic Charities' Warren/Washington County agency, he was particularly interested in reminding Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) about the needs of rural New Yorkers when he met with her. He also hoped to speak with Assemblyman Roy McDonald (R-Wilton).

Mr. Brooks' Washington County parish, he said, is "close to Albany and Saratoga, but it is a rural parish. Transportation becomes a real factor, just for senior citizens to get around."

The Catholic Conference is advocating improving transportation in rural areas, especially through the "Wheels to Work" program, and by creating more low-income housing and jobs.

Young people

Another issue, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, would ban the assault or homicide of an unborn child through an attack against its mother. Hanna Etzel, a teen from St. Peter's parish in Troy, was firm about the need to protect the unborn.

Walter Wojtowicz of Immaculate Conception parish in Schenectady carefully planned his strategy for meetings with Assemblymen Jim Tedisco (R,C-Schenectady) and Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam).

"We need some help from the state to foster alternatives to public education," he stated. "It's very difficult for the average working family to support state schools and try to send their children to private school. There ought to be some kind of relief."

The "relief" proposed by Forum-goers included computer hardware aid; funding for Academic Intervention Services (AIS); better transportation; and vouchers, scholarship or tax credits to help parents choose their children's schools.

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