Schedule includes time for lobbying

For some Catholics from the Albany Diocese, the March for Life in Washington, D.C., was only part of a long day. They also spent time lobbying for the pro-life position with their U.S. senators and congressional representatives.

Pro-lifers walked from office to office and wrote letters, exhorting congressmen to support such actions as bans on human cloning, abortion drugs like RU-486 and coercive abortion. They also urged a "yes" vote on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

For example, the Stevens family -- Scott, Cecelia and Andrew, parishioners of St. Mary's Church in Nassau -- left messages for their representatives: Democratic Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY).

Sharing their views

"Why not say what's on our minds?" asked Mr. Stevens. "We came all this way, after all. It's important to keep our representatives' minds on the matter."

Andrew, 12, also had something to tell his legislators, especially the Democratic senators, who have a history of pro-abortion voting.

"I basically wrote, 'if you were one of those babies that were aborted, you wouldn't be the important person for our country that you are today,'" he said.

Concerns

Linda Ridzi, religious education director at St. Mary's, is concerned that children aren't being adequately taught about abortion, and her husband, Frank, is disquieted about the portrayal of abortion in the media. Both wrote letters on those subjects.

"The children learn about Free the Children, and they know about what happened in Bosnia. But they don't understand what abortion really is," said Mrs. Ridzi.

Mr. Ridzi agreed, saying, "The media portray abortion like brushing your teeth."

Face-to-face

Some Catholics accompanied Brother Vincent Reese, CSC, to a meeting with David Torian, the chief of staff of Rep. Michael McNulty. They thanked the congressman for voting in agreement with the pro-life position on such issues as cloning, partial-birth abortion, and the unborn victims of violence act.

Theresa White, a first-time lobbyist and parishioner of St. Mary/St. Paul's in Hudson Falls, called the session "so interesting. A lot of stuff comes from both sides at one time."

Shirley Allen, a parishioner of St. Matthew's Church in Voorheesville, called the lobbying process "so complicated, but fascinating."

After the meeting, Brother Reese traveled with Walt Wojtowicz of Immaculate Conception Church in Schenectady to deliver 20,700 signatures on a pro-life petition to Senator Schumer.

In the halls

Some Catholics had to skip the march in order to attend a meeting with Senators Clinton and Schumer. Both voted against the partial-birth abortion ban and against a ban on abortion in military medical facilities.

"We have more and more issues; it's not just abortion anymore," said Brother Reese before the meeting. "There's euthanasia, cloning. Neither senator is friendly towards [the pro-life position].

"We need to urge our senators to support Laci and Conner's Law [the Unborn Victims of Violence Act], ask Senators Schumer and Clinton to ban all human cloning, and ask them to oppose any 'clone-and-kill' bills which would allow human embryos to be created and harvested just to kill them for experimentation, which is immoral and unethical."

Aftermath

Joyce Maddalone, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in Glenville, was not satisfied with Senator Schumer's explanations as to why he votes against pro-life bills.

"Schumer kept on saying this was a religious issue, and that he couldn't base his vote on a religious belief, that he needed scientific proof," she said.

Kerry Martin, an eighth-grader at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady, said that she wasn't pleased with the answers the two Senators gave to questions.

"I would have expected more from them," she said.

(1/29/04)