Diocese backs religious freedom in postcard campaign

Parishes to distribute postcards in March, parishioners urged to mail to Congress

Published: March 12, 2013

By Malea Hargett
Editor

Malea Hargett

Catholic congregants across the diocese will have the opportunity to express their opinion to their congressional delegation through postcards being distributed to Arkansas parishes.

Malea Hargett

Catholic congregants across the diocese will have the opportunity to express their opinion to their congressional delegation through postcards being distributed to Arkansas parishes.

The U.S. bishops have been working with the Obama administration to amend the contraceptive mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, which went into effect in August.

Now the bishops would like parishioners to lobby their senators and representatives to create laws that respect life and religious freedom. Bishop Anthony B. Taylor approved the distribution of postcards to all parishes. Sets of four postcards with instructions were mailed to parishes March 4-6. One card is for the representative, two for senators and the fourth card is to be filled out by Catholics who wants to get future alerts by e-mail on federal and state legislation.

Marianne Linane, diocesan respect life director, said 40,000 sets in English and 20,000 sets in Spanish were ordered and being mailed to all parishes based on their regular Mass attendance.

Pastors are encouraged to hand out the postcards during weekend Masses and allow their parishioners to take them home to fill out and mail directly to their congressmen. Parishes could choose to collect the postcards and mail them to Washington if they wish, but completed cards are not supposed to be returned to the Diocese of Little Rock or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

While Bishop Taylor is supporting the campaign, participation is being left up to the pastors.

The postcard campaign was initiated because of the HHS mandate.

The HHS mandate is being fought in courts right now, but the U.S. bishops believe that Congress could also address this issue through legislation.

“They are trying to do it through laws, not through the courts,” Linane said.

According to the U.S. bishops, the nationwide campaign is a collaboration between the Committee on Pro-Life Activities and the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. The last postcard campaign in 2009 generated millions of cards to Congress. This campaign focuses on preventing federal funding for abortion and promoting abortion and on protecting rights of conscience for health care workers.

The postcard to the congressmen states, “The new Congress should come together to respect life and religious freedom. Please support and strengthen laws that (1) prevent federal funding and promotion of abortion, and (2) protect rights of conscience in health care. Government must not force Americans to violate their religious and moral beliefs on respect for life when they provide health care or sponsor or purchase health coverage. As your constituent, I would appreciate a written response telling me how you will vote on these matters.”