Nearly 4,000 Catholics have registered to participate in Catholic Advocacy Day, to be held Tuesday, April 4 at the Texas State Capitol.
The day will include a rally with the state’s bishops, who lead the 15 Catholic dioceses in Texas, on the steps of the Capitol beginning at 11:30 a.m. The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, which is organizing the day, will livestream the rally on its Facebook page, TXCatholic.
During the day groups of Catholics will visit each of the Texas Senators and Representatives, carrying the Church’s position on a variety of bills before the Legislature. “This is an exciting opportunity for many of our constituents,” explained Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. “They are able to stand in solidarity with their bishops, and meet their local legislators who are interested in hearing their point of view on these important issues.”
Priority bills of the 85
th Legislature for the TCCB include those that address pro-life concerns, immigration reform, the state’s foster care system, environmental issues, parental choice in education, death penalty sentencing instructions, mental health services and human trafficking issues. A full list of the priority bills is available at
www.txcatholic.org/priority-bills-for-the-85th-legislature/.
More than 1,500 Catholic school students will be part of the delegation. They will have an opportunity to participate in a mock hearing on payday lending regulations, an issue that has been a priority for the Church in recent years.
The bishops will gather the evening before to celebrate Mass with some of the delegates who are arriving early. They will also be meeting individually with several key legislators, and Bishop Michael Mulvey of Corpus Christi and Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria will be offering the opening prayers for the House and Senate on
April 4.
“Many legislators tell us how much they look forward to the Catholic Advocacy Day,” Allmon said. “We try to bring a hopeful, polite and positive spirit to the Capitol.”
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops is the association of the Roman Catholic bishops of Texas. Through the TCCB, the bishops provide a moral and social public policy voice that includes monitoring all legislation pertaining to Catholic moral and social teaching; accredit the state's Catholic schools; and maintain records that reflect the work and the history of the Catholic Church in Texas.