January 30, 2007
Dear
MNCAN User,
Welcome to the first MNCAN update from the Minnesota Catholic
Conference!
Comments from the
Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference
The 2007 legislative
session has gotten to a fast start with the Minnesota Catholic
Conference staff working on a number of issues (see
MCC Legislative Objectives). Throughout
the session,
the Conference writes a weekly column for the Catholic papers of Minnesota entitled "Faith
in the Public Arena" to keep Catholics up-to-date on current
public policy issues. We also look forward to keeping you
informed through this twice monthly email update and special
legislative alerts when necessary.
Archbishop Harry Flynn to
Speak at Global Warming Information Proceeding at State
Legislature
Archbishop Flynn will join explorer Will Steger, Bishop Craig
Johnson of the ELCA, and University of Minnesota scientists in
speaking at a legislative presentation in the Chamber of the
Minnesota House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 30, 2006
at 4 PM. This event will be televised this week locally on Ch.
17.
Newsletter from
the Education Director
Please click
here to read the Education Newsletter from MCC Education
Director Peter Noll.
Office for Social Justice’s
Legislative Agenda Information Briefings
The Archdiocese Office for Social Justice will be offering
briefings on its 2007 Legislative Agenda in the coming weeks –
for more information, please click
here .
News about the Minnesota Family Investment
Program (MFIP) and the Family Cap
The Minnesota Family Investment Program, commonly known as
MFIP, has been the subject of much review and discussion in the
first several weeks at the State Legislature. Legislators have
heard testimony from the Department of Human Services, MFIP
recipients, and front-line case workers and job counselors on
the benefits and shortcomings of this program. Senator Linda
Berglin has introduced legislation (Senate File 154) that would
reform several aspects of the MFIP program, including the repeal
of the Family Cap. Legislative hearings addressing S.F. 154
begin this week.
The Family Cap, which was written into law in 2003, denies,
with few exceptions, an increase in the cash portion of a
family’s MFIP grant in the event that a baby is born more than
10 months after enrollment in MFIP. We believe that this law
results in an increase in abortion rates among families who are
participants in MFIP. The Minnesota Catholic Conference supports
legislation that repeals the Family Cap, and we will keep you
updated throughout this legislative session on any developments
in achieving this goal.
JRLC’s Day on the Hill
The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s annual Day on the
Hill will be held on Tuesday, March 27 this year. For more
information, please click
here . We hope you can join us that day so that we can reach
our goal of 1,000 participants!
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