The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research announced that the signing of the 2022-2023 budget established the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC).

The California Catholic Conference lobbied for the creation of the office to bolster public outreach and prioritize funding for statewide community organizations and partners.

“Catholics are the largest nonprofit providers of healthcare, education, and social services for the state's common good,” said CCC Director of Social Justice and Environmental Stewardship Linda Wanner. 

“We play a critical role in ensuring families have access to information and resources to improve their lives. As the COVID-19 pandemic made all too clear, addressing these challenges requires a strong collaboration between the state and partners on the ground, especially reaching communities that are disproportionately impacted and experience the greatest health and social inequities,” Wanner said.

The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications has an initial $65 million in funding from the budget and will work on the State’s most pressing issues, including climate justice and COVID-19.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California voters will have the opportunity to approve or reject a strongly pro-abortion amendment to the state constitution in November. The state’s Catholic bishops said the proposal gives a “boundless scope” to ending the lives of the unborn when human lives should instead be protected “at every age in every stage.”

The proposed amendment “looks to enshrine the most extreme forms of abortion into the California Constitution,” the California Catholic Conference warned in a statement signed by the 12 archbishops and bishops leading the state’s 12 dioceses and archdioceses.

“This constitutional amendment, as written, will legalize and protect abortion up to the point just prior to delivery,” the conference said. “It is distressing that so many California legislators would sign their names to legislation that allows the taking of a human life moments before birth.”
 
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WASHINGTON - On Friday, July 8, the President of the United States signed an executive order on abortion access in response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued the following response: 

“In response to the Dobbs decision, I called for the healing of wounds and repairing of social divisions, for reasoned reflection and civil dialogue, and for coming together to build a society and economy that supports marriages and families, and where every woman has the support and resources she needs to bring her child into this world in love.

“And as religious leaders, we pledged ourselves to continue our service to God’s great plan of love for the human person, and to work with our fellow citizens to fulfill America’s promise to guarantee the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people. 

“It is deeply disturbing and tragic that President Biden is choosing instead to use his power as President of the United States to promote and facilitate abortion in our country, seeking every possible avenue to deny unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life. Rather than using the power of the executive branch to increase support and care to mothers and babies, the president’s executive order seeks only to facilitate the destruction of defenseless, voiceless human beings. 

“I implore the president to abandon this path that leads to death and destruction and to choose life. As always, the Catholic Church stands ready to work with this Administration and all elected officials to protect the right to life of every human being and to ensure that pregnant and parenting mothers are fully supported in the care of their children before and after birth.”  

In January 2021, Pope Francis declared the fourth Sunday in July as World Day for Grandparents after praying the Angelus The date has been chosen to be near the liturgical memorial (July 26) of Saints Anne and Joachim, grandparents of Jesus. 

The date falls within the week of raising awareness of Natural Family Planning and Church teaching. For more information about World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, please visit the Vatican website or view prayers and other parish tools from the USCCB here. 

Pro-life panelists see unintended consequences from Dobbs decision 

"If you're asking a woman to recognize the dignity of her unborn children, what are we doing to make her recognize her (own) dignity?"

To view a recording of "The Consistent Ethic of Life after Dobbs: Directions and Challenges" dialogue, go to [link removed].

Public Policy Insights will publish every other week while the California State Legislature is on summer recess. Please be sure to visit cacatholic.org for the latest public policy news. 

July 18, 2022
 
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