Respect for Life

Marriage

• Marriage is a social, legal and spiritual union between a man and a woman.
• Rights ascribed to marriage are given solely because of the special place in society of marriage.
• Marriage fosters the wellbeing of future societies, as child bearing and rearing is a major service to societies of the present and future.
• In 1996, Congress affirmed that the United States federal government recognizes marriage only as a union between a man and a woman.
• Thirty-five states have enacted laws defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman.
• Benefits given to married persons can be, and already are being, protected for non-married persons, without providing special benefits to homosexuals. For example, advanced directives provide for health care decision making; and the inheritance tax is being phased out.
• Threats to the special place marriage has in society have been rendered by domestic partnership laws in some states, and now the initiative to legally recognize same-sex unions in Connecticut.
• Such threats to the sanctity of family life must be prevented.

  Death Penalty

• We support a moratorium on Capital Punishment, until the study of demographics of those charged with Capital felonies, as recommended by the 2001 General Assembly, can be carried out.
• Currently on death row in CT, over 50% are persons of color.
• Federal data indicate that for interracial crimes a black person will receive the death penalty 55% of the time compared to a white person's 11% of the time.
• Inequities demand a moratorium, until further studies can be completed.
• Ultimately, the death penalty violates our consistent life ethic.
• We oppose the number of crimes, which would be classified as a capital felony.

  Abstinence Education

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 75% of the reproductive aged population are infected with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a non-curable sexually transmitted disease.
• This virus is one agent of cervical cancer.
• Condoms do not prevent transmission, and once the virus enters the body, it cannot be eradicated.
• Funding is needed for state based abstinence education.
• The goal is to make teen abstinence the culturally accepted norm.
• Our young men and women deserve to be told the truth: There is no such thing as safe sex.

  Protection of the Unborn

• Laws are needed to protect the unborn from acts of violence to the mother.
• There are those who would deny that right of the unborn to protection from violence because they fear it would lead to an end to abortion rights.
• It shows how far society has gone in denying rights to the unborn.
• How a society treats the most vulnerable among us is a sign of the humanness of that society.

Social Justice

Immigrants Assistance

• Legal Immigrants, who become ill or destitute, lost their federal assistance in 1996.
• One-third of those in need are elderly or disabled and two-thirds of this group have children.
• They need access to such federal programs as Food Stamps, General Assistance and Medicaid.
• There has been an influx of elderly immigrants to Connecticut, especially from eastern Europe, due to the changing political structures in that region of the world.
• Many times these immigrants are unable to pass a citizenship test due to language or health difficulties that occurred after immigration.
• The Catholic Church in Connecticut has been successful in having state funding allocated to this population, but the funds will be sunset in June of 2002.

  Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Hunger Relief

• Connecticut has the shortest life-time period allowed for a person to remain of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (21 months total).
• Although "Safety Net" legislation allows for minimal extensions, with our recession families are experiencing drastic scenarios.
• Shelters and food pantries are seeing tremendous increases in working families needing food and shelter.
• We are asking for a moratorium on termination of benefits until economic indicators demonstrate the possibility for families to be gainfully employed.

  Affordable Housing

• Connecticut, the wealthiest state in the union hosts three of the poorest cities in the country: New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford. The scenario equates to scarce and non-affordable housing.
• There is a shortfall of 68,000 units.
• The cost of housing and childcare alone for a parent in New Haven, with two young children requires an income of $24,000/year, just for these two expenses (well below the income at minimum wage ($6.70/hour), leaving nothing for all other expenses).
• Affordable housing developers may appeal the denial of permits by towns. We are opposed to laws which would weaken the appeals process.
• There is a desperate need for increased funding of rental assistance certificates.

Health Care

Catholic Health Care

• Increasingly, under the guise of civil liberties of women, Catholic civil liberties are being eroded.
• State agencies threaten to deny licenses to provide care, or resources to carry out that care because they object to the adherence of Catholic healthcare to its own Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care.
• Our Catholicity is the last acceptable prejudice.
• Our right to deliver health care is being threatened, merely because we hold to our Catholic beliefs.
• Our Catholic civil liberties must be protected.

  Mental Health Needs

• Enhanced case management and therapeutic services for those with mental, behavioral and developmental disabilities are needed.
• However, included in this latest round of proposed budget cuts are a total of $13 million from the 2001 approved Community Mental Health Strategic Investment Fund of $25 million.
• There are cuts for supportive housing and various community mental health programs.
• We cannot afford to be short sighted concerning the non-correctable impact on individuals and society from not addressing these critical needs.

  Prescription Coverage for the Elderly

• ConnPACE A provides for seniors and those with disabilities, with incomes under $14,200, prescription coverage, with a $12 co-payment per prescription (235% of the Federal Poverty Level).
• Governor Rowland has recommended expanding eligibility to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level and the Connecticut Dept of Social Services is applying for a federal waiver.
• We oppose proposals that would require prior authorization for prescriptions in ordering, and loss of personal assets before eligibility.

Environment

Pediatric Asthma and Other Environmental Health Issues

• Asthma rates among children across Connecticut have risen dramatically in recent years.
• While the cause of asthma is still unknown, air pollution can make the condition worse and trigger attacks.
• Cleaning up our older power plants, the "Sooty 6" by requiring them to meet current emissions standards will reduce air pollution.
• Another threat to vulnerable children comes from emissions from school buses.
• Connecticut's 3-minute bus idling regulation must be enforced, and action should be taken to move toward cleaner diesel and alternative fuel school buses.
• Coal burning power plants and municipal incinerators are sources of mercury, a toxic metal which accumulates in rivers and becomes concentrated in fish, which are then potentially harmful to pregnant women and small children.
• Mercury-containing products must be phased out or properly recycled so they do not enter the waste stream, and emissions of mercury must be reduced.
• Proposed aquifer protection land use regulations, which will protect public water supplies from activities that could contaminate them, are needed to ensure public health.
• Principles of Environmental Justice require that low-income and minority communities are protected from discriminatory siting and concentration of facilities that cause hazardous pollution. CT Department of Environmental Protection's Environmental Equity Policy should become law.
• In all these issues, the unintended consequences of our otherwise useful technology and of our unplanned patterns of land development have been found to threaten our health, especially that of our most vulnerable citizens and children. The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops has said: "Our tradition calls us to protect the life and dignity of the human person and it is increasingly clear that this task cannot be separated from the care and defense of all creation."

Education

Parental Choice in Educating Children

• Governor Rowland has proposed that parents in under-performing schools should have the right to take one-half of the tax funded educational money (approximately $4000) and place their child in a school of their choice.
• The public school district would keep the other $4000, but not have the cost of educating the child.
• Everyone benefits from such a proposal, but public school and union advocates want to deny such choice to our parents.

  Textbook Allowance to Private School Students

• Current law provides for towns to loan books to non-public schools, but it is not mandatory. Providing $50 to each private school student for the purchase of non-sectarian books is fair, since all children have a right to public resources for education, this is a civil right of private school children.

Contact Your Legislator

• Senate: Republican: 1-800-842-1421; Democrat: 1-800-842-1420
• House of Representatives: Republican: 1-800-842-1423; Democrat: 1-800-842-1902
• Members of Congress may be reached at: Senate: 202-224-3121 (Washington, DC) ; House of Representatives: 202-225-3121 (Washington, DC)