Catholics find bigotry, cause for hope in state lawmakers' actions

Published: 2006-04-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- While Catholic conference officials in Maryland were lamenting signs of religious bigotry in the state's recently completed legislative session, those in New Jersey were finding reasons to celebrate a commitment to the vulnerable evidenced in their governor's budget proposal. With the April 10 close of the legislative session in Annapolis, Md., Richard J. Dowling, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said the 90-day session was marred by a palpable sense of anti-Catholicism. But in New Jersey, the Catholic conference's associate director for social concerns said Gov. Jon Corzine's budget proposal now before the state Legislature was a result of much input from Catholic leaders. "We were at the table from the beginning and that was unusual, quite frankly," said Marlene Lao-Collins. In Maryland, the lobbying arm of the state's Catholic bishops helped defeat an emergency contraception bill and win an increase in the minimum wage while fighting embryonic stem-cell research and cloning. But the moves were challenged by some legislators who showed contempt for the church, Dowling said.

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