Lobby Night 2010 (Maryland Catholic Conferenc)

Each year, the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) organizes a Lobby Night.

That night, Catholics descend upon our legislators in Annapolis to advocate a number of positions.

There are those out there who believe that this will make a difference. Personally, I do not.

Now, the intentions of those who lobby are good and honorable. It is in the best traditions of democracy. However, I believe that they are wasting their time.

Why? Because until you elect politicians who are wiling to support our values, then you might as well stay home.

Take Sen. Richard Madaleno (D). Openly gay and has made no bones about the fact that those who wish to send their kids to Catholic school, have made a choice and it is not for him to provide you with any vouchers or credits. How many Catholics voted for him?

Take Del. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-18) who worked for NARAL Pro-Choice America. He called pro-lifers, during his primary run, extremists and has maintained his pro-abortion stand ever since. How many Catholics voted for him, simply because he was on the D ticket?

Folks, we can knock on doors, provide them with all sorts of meaningful stats, but until we start electing politicians who will vote with us on the issues that are important to us, nothing will change.

Catholic School and Their Teachers -- A Calling, Not Just a Profession

When I arrived home last night, the front page of the Gazette ran a story on Catholic Schools Week featuring a number of the local schools in Montgomery County. This is of course in commemoration of Catholic Schools week. (Note: The paper version is much longer than the online version.)

However, the one thing that is missing from the article: How much money Catholic schools save the state and the county each and every year. It is estimated that each child costs the State of Maryland apx. $10,000. A school of three hundred children saves a whopping $300,000.

Yet, Rep. Ana Sol Gutierrez (who also represents the illegal alien constituency in Mont. County), Rep. Jeff Waldreicher (a proud member of NARAL) and Sen. Richard "Legalize Marriage for Homosexuals" Madaleno Jr. refuse to even support a couple of small tax breaks for Catholic school teachers and supporters.

It is time that the Archdiocese of Washington and the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) draw a line in the sand and says "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH." Either support us or we will do everything we can within the law to encourage our faithful not to vote for you.

It is time you stood up to them. You may be surprised at the support you may find.

What have you got to loose? At this point, not much.

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Remember: Help stop the Montgomery Country Transgender Bill. Sign the petition (if you are a registered voter in MoCo.) Click here.

Traditional Marriage in Maryland - Under Attack Again

Although I find a number of things wrong with the Maryland Catholic Conference, let me take this opportunity to do applaud their statements on marriage.

Last year, there was a very concerted effort to change the definition. We were lucky, in so far as the Maryland Court of Appeals (the highest in the state) upheld the ban on same-sex marriage in Sept. 2007.

However, some in the homosexual community are looking for more smaller changes, which will eventually lead to bigger changes.

Others, such as Sen. Richard Madaleno Jr. (D-Mont. Co.), who is openly gay, stated in today's Washington Post: In the end, we decided that marriage equality is what we want. We need to educate people as to why it is marriage and not civil unions that we want."

Again, this brings me back to a much earlier posting on dealing with legislators in the Maryland Assembly: The MCC must remind every Catholic in the Archdiocese, that legislators like Madaleno are not friends of the Catholic Church. When they get into that voting booth, they in good conscience, should not vote for them.

Forget the lobbying day, forget the letters, they will not work. It is time we take the gloves off and target these guys for defeat. If not, we will keep fighting these battles each and every year. Even though we keep winning, there is a toll and we are slowly loosing ground.

Unfortunately, based on our current strategy lead by the bishops, we are fighting a loosing battle.

MCC Legislative Activity for Non-Public Schools - Part IV

In the last three parts, I outlined what the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) intends to do and my view of our State Senator and Delegates.

So, I guess some of you are saying: What do you think we should do? So, here are my thoughts...

1. If you really think that lobbying them will make a difference, feel free to do so but you are wasting your time. However, I do think that meeting with those who have supported us in the past is a very good thing. It shows them that we remember who are friends are.

2. The MCC needs to make the it clear to every parent, every brother/sister (of voting age) and every grandparent of a child enrolled in Catholic school (elementary and high school): Madaleno, Sol Guiterrez and Waldreicher are not friends of Catholic schools. Voting for them means you are voting against any sort of tax relief for you or funding of any aspect of education in Catholic schools.

3. The MCC must remind all parishioners of all parishes, and especially those with a Catholic school, that many Catholic schools are not self-supporting. Tuition cannot cover all of the expenses. They cannot make it on their own without support from the local parish. Therefore, if you decide to vote to any of these politicians, you are voting against any relief of your Catholic school.

4. The MCC must remind these representatives that if they want our support on any issues, they need to start showing some support for our Catholic schools. And that does not mean throwing us some crumbs - a $500 tax credit here or there. That means supporting our agenda -- at least 75% of what we want. Without it, we will do everything we can to remind Catholics, in every single parish, that you are no friends of the Catholic faith and that they should think twice about voting for you.

5. Catholics need to start to vote against these guys and not just blindly flip the switch. To be quite honest, the Democratic Party of today is not the party of my father. It is a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and an anti-Catholic party. (Actually, anti-conservative Christian.)

If that does not work, then I think that the MCC should begin to organize groups to protest them (legally -- no illegal activities) at ribbon cutting ceremonies, town hall meetings, etc.

I think it would be wonderful to have photos plastered in the Washington Post, NBC, etc. showing a couple of hundred uniformed Catholic school children with signs saying that politician X is no friend of children, that they don't care about us, etc.

I think it is time to start to take the gloves off as they say.


What do you think?

MCC Legislative Activity for Non-Public Schools Announcement - Part II

As mentioned in my last posting, the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) issued a statement on lobbying our legislators for a number of items in the upcoming session.

My take on it is that this is nice but really ineffective. Let's look at the "cast of characters" as they say.

Sen. Madaleno is living in a homosexual relationship. He may not advertise it like Ellen DeGeneris or Elton John, but he does not hide it. He is a member of the LGBT group in the Maryland Assembly. So, do you really think he is going to support funding for Catholic schools.

More importantly, about two or three years ago, I attended one of these town hall style meetings in which the MCC invites legislators to meet with parents of non-public school children. (Note that anyone can attend, this is not restricted.) The sessions usually leads off with a PowerPoint slide presentation reviewing how much money private schools save the state and what other states are doing to support private schools. At this particular session, Madaleno attended. At the time, he was a delegate.

That night, he was asked about using tobacco money (the settlement money from lawsuits against the cigarette manufactures) for non-public schools. He stated that the did not like to use money that would be spent on reducing tobacco deaths and health care for this issue. When pressed further, he was asked if tobacco money was not involved, would he still feel the same way. Realizing that he had been caught, he admitted that he was against the entire idea of giving back money to private school parents. Since we have the option to send our children to public schools, and we did not, then that is our decision and the public schools should not suffer because of that.

In addition, he was asked if he knew that parents who home schooled their children received a textbook credit, so why couldn't Catholic schools get the same? Since he did not know this, he wanted to check more into it. I wrote to him on three separate occasions about this. No reply.



More in Part III

MCC Legislative Activity for Non-Public Schools Announcement - Part I

Recently, I received a notice from the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC). It is abbreviated below:

Maryland Legislative Activity for
Non-Public Schools - November 2007

The Maryland general assembly will meet for the 2008 legislative session in January. With current state budget problems, funding programs for Catholic schools will be as difficult as ever to secure. We need your support to keep the following issues, identified by the Maryland Catholic Conference, in the forefront for our legislators to consider:

Textbook/Technology funding: currently funded at $4 million (approx. $22/student for St. John’s school) for fiscal year 2007-08. Ask legislators to restore a previous allocation of $6 million (approx. $30/student) or, at least, to maintain the current allocation for the 2008-09 school year.

Quality Teacher Incentive Tax Credit: This is a $1,500 state income tax credit currently available to public school teachers to offset cost of coursework needed to maintain or advance certification. Ask legislators to extend this benefit to non-public school teachers as a straightforward matter of equity.

BOAST Maryland Tax Credit (Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers in Maryland): This program would provide state income tax credit to businesses that donate to programs that benefit all of Maryland’s students and teachers – public and private. A similar program in Pennsylvania has been very successful in providing funds for Catholic schools.

Senator: Richard S. Madaleno, Jr.

Delegates: Ana Sol Gutierrez and Jeff Waldreicher. One delegate position is open due to the death of Jane Lawton.

Now, it is great that they want to lobby these folks, but let's be real about these legislators: They are no friends of Catholic schools.

More about this in Part II