ARTICLES

Over a Million

Bishops Boost Signature Drive

On April 14 — the deadline for turning in signatures for the Parents' Right to Know ballot initiative — signatures turned in totaled over 1,001,000. (598,105 valid signatures are necessary for placement on the state ballot.)

Key leaders helped raise the count in the last weeks of the campaign.

Bishop Jaime Soto wrote to all priests of the Orange diocese on February 22: "The right of a parent to know and oversee the health care of their child should be protected. Your cooperation in qualifying this ballot initiative is most appreciated."

Ten days later, on March 4, the national headquarters of the Knights of Columbus announced that their California deputy sent a letter to all knights in the state urging them to "wholeheartedly support this initiative." Knights of Columbus in the Wilmington area, near Los Angeles, set up a mailing operation and sent out packages of petitions, posters, and flyers to every council in the state.

In response to a pro-lifer in the southern end of his diocese, Bishop Allen Vigneron of Oakland wrote to his pastors on March 8, "I applaud those who are working to gather the needed signatures and encourage you to give them whatever consideration you can if they ask to gather signatures at your parish."

One day later, on March 9, Bishop Sylvester Ryan of Monterey asked his priests to "support this effort in ways you feel will be effective."

The biggest surprise was Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, who wrote to his priests on March 14, "we have been provided with a valuable teaching moment: to advise mothers and fathers in our diocese that current law allows their young daughters to procure abortions. I encourage you to join this state-wide campaign and to promote signature gathering at your parish over the next several weeks. Time is short."

San Bernardino diocese officials mailed out separate packets of posters, flyers, and petitions to each parish pro-life leader and to each pastor.

Ironically the Sacramento spokesman for the California bishops, Ned Dolejsi, kept busy until the final weeks of the petition drive trying to stop the campaign. In a January 10 press release posted on the bishops' website, he asserted that "sanctions, record-keeping and reporting requirements" in the Parents' Right to Know initiative made "its passage unlikely." To phone callers in mid-March, Dolejsi attacked initiative backers as having a "checkered past."

In the midst of consoling Terri Schiavo and her family, Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life faxed a letter to all California pastors on March 29: "I encourage you to do everything to gather signatures this weekend, April 2-3, for the CA Parents' Right to Know ballot initiative. The deadline is next week and the number of signatures already gathered is quickly approaching the numbers that are needed! Your help can make the difference!"

For updated signature counts and campaign information, visit www.ParentsRight2Know.org

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