Life
and Dignity of Human Person and Marriage and the Family
Our belief
in the sanctity of human life, and the act that transmits that
life within the sacred covenant of marriage, is foundational to
the principles of Catholic social teaching. The measure of any
society is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity
of the human person. We have separated the most sacred act of
co-creation from its purposes: to create between a man and a woman
a loving family. Family must be supported, not undermined by proposals
that equate this most sacred institution to same-sex unions and
domestic partnerships. At all stages of development, the human
person must be protected, whether the smallest embryo, not yet
implanted in her mother's womb, or an adult in a hospice or on
death row. Proposed legislation impacting this respect for human
life and family are:
SB445:
An Act Concerning Emergency Health Care for Sexual Assault Victims
(Requiring Catholic hospitals, although compassionately providing
care, including contraceptive treatment to victims of sexual assault,
to provide medications at a time when they would cause an abortion).
OPPOSE
SB447:
An Act Concerning Indoor Tanning (Requiring parental consent
for minors using tanning devices; should be amended to include
reproductive medical and surgical procedures). AMEND
SB699:
An Act Concerning Recognition of Foreign Contracts (Requiring
Connecticut to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages of persons
in this state, as equivalent to civil unions). OPPOSE
HB5597:
An Act Concerning Discrimination (Require all persons, agencies,
corporations, entities in the State to treat gender identity and
expression as a protected class, similar to marriage, race, etc.;
e.g., a Catholic school teacher could present himself as a male
teacher one day, and as a female teacher the next day). OPPOSE
HB5788:
An Act Concerning Health Care Decision-Making (Revising protocol
for advanced directives in health care, and the appointment of
a health care representative; as drafted this revision would allow
the withdrawal of oral nutrition and hydration from someone who
still was able to ingest them; and amendment to prevent this is
required). AMEND
Rights
and Responsibilities: The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Labor
Every person
has a fundamental right to those things required for human dignity.
We each have corresponding responsibilities to one another, to
our families, to the poor and the vulnerable, especially the elderly
and the young, and to the larger society. The right to maintain
basic human needs, including health, must be protected. Immigrants
also have a right to have these needs respected, including health
care access through Medicaid. We oppose increased Medicaid and
HUSKY co-pays, monthly premiums, and registration fees, and excessive
deductibles for prescriptions for the impoverished elderly. Providing
adequate reimbursement for our mission driven health care institutions,
which serve the most vulnerable, is a responsibility of society.
In providing these vital services, our ministries and our employees
must be free of coercions that violate consciences. Employers
should not be prevented from engaging employees in the faith-based
missions of their agencies. Proposed legislation impacting these
rights includes:
Nursing
Facility User Fee (Increasing funding for nursing homes, with
consideration of the needs of other health and human service ministries).
SUPPORT INCREASES
Adequate
Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments (Increasing uncompensated
care that our hospitals are providing, to those who have no other
source of health care). SUPPORT INCREASES
SB28: An
Act Concerning Cooperative Health Care Arrangements (Allowing
cooperative health care agreements without subjecting providers
to anti-trust claims). SUPPORT
HB5030:
An Act ConcerningCaptive Audience Meetings (Restricting employer
communications about religion, politics, or labor issues with
employees; religious employers do not have an adequate exemption
to carry out their faith-based ministries). OPPOSE
HB5721:
An Act Concerning Consultations Between Hospitalists and Primary
Care Physicians and Banning Nonprofit Hospital Advertisements
(Discriminating against our ministries, and our right to
inform the public of our services). OPPOSE
HB5789:
An Act Concerning the Establishment of a Public Umbilical Cord
Bank and Umbilical Cord Blood Donations (Establishing a public
cord blood bank for parents as an ethical and moral alternative
to embryonic stem cell harvesting; these stem cells and other
adult stem cells are the only stem cells that have had therapeutic
success; currently parents have to pay to bank their baby's blood,
useful in the event of a disease of the baby or a sibling). SUPPORT
Call to Family, Community,
and Participation
As human life
becomes expendable, the natural consequences emerge: school violence
is rampant, and a culture of death is presented as a "good" through
sex education programs in schools. Families have lost the right
to be the first educators of their children, especially in matters
of human sexuality. Increasingly, parents are demanding their
rights to educate their children in the setting they deem best,
from PreK through college, from home schooling, to environments
for children requiring special education. Our goal is to empower
the family, as a participating member of the community. Proposed
legislation impacting this call includes:
Abstinence
Education (Supporting family life curriculum in public schools
which fosters abstinence, not the misnomer of "safe-sex").
SUPPORT
SB380:
An Act Concerning Special Education (Amending State statutes
to comply with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act,
concerning special education due process for families). SUPPORT
SB626:
An Act Concerning Educational Policy Concerning School Readiness
(Addressing funding needs, and assisting school readiness
programs to achieve/maintain accreditation; making provisions
for school readiness of children in shelters). SUPPORT
HB5139:
An Act Concerning Tax Credits For Donation Of Computers To Schools
(Expanding an existing tax credit; presently corporations
are afforded a credit if they make a donation of computers or
books to a public school; expand to non-public schools). SUPPORT
HB5144:
An Act Concerning Funds for Additional Seats in the Open Choice
Program (Expanding the Open Choice program, allowing public
school choice to students in under-performing schools; this is
a vehicle to provide transportation of non-public school children
to schools across district lines). AMEND
HB5499:
An Act Providing Funding for Early Childhood Education Programs
in the City of Hartford (Funding early childhood education
programs in the City of Hartford). SUPPORT
HB5517:
An Act Concerning Universal Preschool (Providing preschool
for all three and four year olds; we support voluntary universal
PreK, that utilizes non-public as well as public programs). SUPPORT
Expand
Access to the Connecticut Education Network (Expanding this
computer network, available to all public schools and all private
and public colleges; non-public primary and secondary schools
are not eligible; this system could be used to protect our children
in a state emergency or Amber Alert). SUPPORT
Option
for the Poor and Vulnerable: Solidarity
A society
will be judged by how its most vulnerable members are faring.
As a people of God, when we turn our backs on the most vulnerable,
we also turn our backs on ourselves. Vulnerable poor urban children
are forced to live in unsafe housing, or even shelters. Those
in need of mental health services are left to find shelter in
the streets. The integrated supportive services needed to permanently
move people out of chronic homelessness must be provided. These
obligations are not defined by national origins of persons. Immigrants,
whether legal or undocumented, have the fundamental right to those
things necessary to meet their basic needs. Catholic Charities
and Catholic health care are the safety nets. Government must
partner with the Church to meet the needs of those who have no
other access to services vital to their well being. Proposed legislation
impacting this call includes:
SB336:
An Act Concerning
Rental Assistance for Supportive Housing Developments (Providing
direct contracts by the CT Dept. of Social Services with supportive
housing providers, who afford rental support to their residents).
SUPPORT
SB339:
AAC Burial Allowances Paid by the Dept. of Social Services (Increasing
funeral burial allowance for the poor, even those whose families
will contribute to their burial; burying the dead, including the
impoverished, is a corporal work of mercy of the Church). SUPPORT
SB357:
An Act Increasing Funding for Rental Assistance and Supportive
Services for Elderly and Disabled Persons (Providing additional
funding for rental assistance and supportive services for the
elderly and disabled, which is a ministry in which the Church
is engaged). SUPPORT
HB5038:
An Act Restricting The Use Of Eminent Domain And Authorizing Municipalities
To Establish Separate Rates Of Taxation For Real Estate (Revising
the process for taking property by municipalities for redevelopment
and economic development). SUPPORT
HB5108:
An Act Concerning
the Rental Assistance Program
(Restoring the rental assistance program to the service level
of 1990). SUPPORT
HB5818:
An Act Concerning
Lost or Stolen Firearms (Requiring
that when a firearm is not in the actual physical possession of
the owner it be stored or kept in a manner so as to reduce the
risk that it will be stolen; requiring the reporting of the loss
or theft of a firearm). SUPPORT
Care
For God's Creation
The world
that God created has been entrusted to us. Our stewardship of
the Earth is a form of participation in God's act of creating
and sustaining the world. We show our respect for the Creator
by our care for creation. We support policies that protect the
land, water, and the air we share. Proposed legislation impacting
this call includes:
SB642:
An Act Concerning
Clean Diesel and Biodiesel
(Reducing diesel emissions from school buses and construction
vehicles and equipment working on certain state-funded construction
projects). SUPPORT
HB5276:
An Act Concerning
Lawn Care Pesticides at Schools
(Banning application of certain lawn care pesticides in all schools).
SUPPORT
For
more information, visit the Connecticut Catholic Conference's
website: www.ctcatholic.org
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to Breaking News
HARTFORD
- Thousands of Catholics from all walks of life and all corners
of the state will converge on the State Capitol for the eighth
annual Catholic Concerns Day on Wednesday, April 5.