Inside the Capitol

By the time you read this column, legislation to redefine marriage (HF 1054/SF 925) will likely have been passed out of committees in both the Minnesota House and Senate, and sent to the floor of each chamber, where it could receive a full vote at any time. (Have you called or visited your elected officials?)

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On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in an Italian youth prison, where he will wash and kiss the feet of 12 inmates.

Our new pope has made the mercy and forgiveness of God the Father —  the divine “justice” that we must also show to one another — an early theme of his pontificate. Our system of civil justice, if it is to be humane, must incorporate mercy and forgiveness into its policies as well — never as an abrogation of justice, but as its fulfillment.

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When Pope Benedict XVI announced he was abdicating the papacy, the speculation immediately began about the qualifications of the next pope. Many, of course, have strong opinions.

Whatever one thinks or hopes for in a new pontiff, it will be a blessing if the next pope is able to skillfully apply the perennial wisdom of the Catholic faith to the deepest challenges of our time, just as Pope Benedict XVI has done and for which he will long be remembered with gratitude.

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The Sandy Hook school massacre of 20 innocent children and seven adults by a troubled gunman — who used a semi-automatic “assault” rifle to kill his victims — has ignited a national debate about gun control.

America has a problem with gun violence. A culture that celebrates violence, coupled with a society in which guns are too easily accessible, has contributed to one gun tragedy after another — whether in the form of workplace shootings, street violence, domestic strife,  school massacres, or innocent kids just playing around like their “heroes” and getting killed.

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It seems odd that any nation would reject an international treaty titled, “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” But, that’s what happened when the ratification of the UNCRPD failed to receive the required two-thirds approval in the U.S. Senate in early December.

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Earlier this month a coalition called “A Minnesota Without Poverty” convened an  anti-poverty conference involving some 40 non-profit advocacy groups to collaborate, reinvigorate and bring fruition to the recommendations of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020, issued in 2009.

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Statewide Immigration Sunday Minnesota is being held again on the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, which is Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. This year’s observance is significant considering that 2013 may be one of the best opportunities for comprehensive immigration reform in more than a decade.

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During the 2012 election season, the Church actively supported a number of issue-oriented ballot referenda initiatives around the country. Most of them failed to pass.

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