Inside the Capitol

Minnesota’s Catholic bishops have been watching the State’s budget negotiations unfold with great concern, and hope Gov. Dayton and legislative leaders overcome their differences and achieve a just solution soon.

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Now that our elected leaders have collided in a game of “chicken” and significant portions of state government are idled, a pall has been cast over Minnesota.

Although there was a shutdown in 2005, it was a “shutdown light”  and solved quickly. This one will likely go longer and is more serious: More services and functions are suspended, and the divisiveness and vitriol are deeper and louder.

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We hear it in various forms. Some complain that the church should not be speaking out on divisive issues, but in­stead should spend its time and resources feeding the poor and spreading God’s love.

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“If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will.” — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from A Knock at Midnight, 1963

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The following is a legislative update provided by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which advocates on behalf of the state’s bishops for public policies and programs that support the life and dignity of every human person.

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Last Monday was the final day of the 2011 regular session of the Minnesota Legislature with lawmakers and the governor at a virtual impasse regarding finance and revenue bills.

While we are fortunate that two parental choice in education bills have survived to this point, their prospects for passage are nil because they are contained in omnibus bills that are certain to be vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton by the time this article goes to print.

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In the past decade, the federal government has spent $117 billion on immigration enforcement, yet the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States continues to grow.

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