The Catholic Spirit: Affordable housing, education choice included in bishops’ discussions with lawmakers

(March 6, 2015, The Catholic Spirit, Maria Wiering)

Bishops from each of Minnesota’s six dioceses met with Gov. Mark Dayton and state lawmakers March 5 to discuss legislation on a range of issues, from immigration and education to poverty relief and commercial gestational surrogacy.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis said the meetings focused on particular bills in committees, not broad policy positions.

“All the legislators and the governor would know our strong positions on marriage, on life, our support for the poor,” he said. “We want to focus on specific pieces of legislation in this particular legislative period that are going to be practical.”

The bishops’ day at the Capitol is an annual event coordinated by the Minnesota Catholic Conference. MCC staff advocates for public policy on behalf of the bishops, who serve as its board members.

Participating this year were Archbishop Nienstedt, Bishop Andrew Cozzens and Bishop Lee Piché of St. Paul and Minneapolis; Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston; Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth; Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm; Bishop Donald Kettler of St. Cloud; and Bishop John Quinn of Winona.

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