Minnesota
Marriage Amendment Postcard Campaign February 11-12; bishops urge active
participation
Our (MN bishops) motivation for proposing this legislation is not to be
“anti-anyone.” We are pro-life, pro-family and pro-marriage. However, in order
to protect the definition of marriage from the judiciary, a State
Constitutional Amendment is the only sure solution.
- Bishop John C. Nienstedt
In December of 2005 the Catholic bishops of
/news.html for text of entire statement)
The bishops urged members of their dioceses, and all men and women of good will, to join them "in protecting and promoting the authentic meaning of marriage in our society," by supporting a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution, H.F. No. 6: "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota. Any other relationship shall not be recognized as a marriage or its legal equivalent by the state or any of its political subdivisions."
The bishops asked parishes to participate in a postcard campaign petitioning state senators to support the proposed amendment, which passed the House, and to place it on the November 2006 ballot so that citizens could vote on it.
The postcard campaign is slated to take place over the weekend of February 11-12. Postcards will be available at or after the Masses that weekend. Each voting-age adult is encouraged to sign and send a postcard to his or her senator, before the Legislature opens on March 1.
There are six legislative districts within the Diocese of New Ulm, served by Senators Steve Dille, Dennis Frederickson, John Hottinger, Dean Johnson, Gary Kubly and Thomas Neuville.
If you are uncertain who your senator is you can obtain this information from the Web. Go to http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html and enter your street address and zip code. You can also contact the Senate Information Office at 1-888-234-1112.
Bishop Nienstedt has asked the New Ulm Diocesan Councils of Catholic Women and the Knights of Columbus to offer their assistance in this campaign. It is recommended that the campaign be conducted as an Area Faith Community project, but some parishes may choose to act individually.
Pastoral leaders were asked to designate someone in their parish/area faith community to serve as the contact for the campaign, and to order enough postcards for voting-age adults who were likely to attend the weekend Masses. The diocesan Family Life Office will mail the campaign postcards and simple instructions to the designated contact person.
Pastoral leaders received campaign promotional materials,
including a schedule and bulletin announcements, a copy of the
For further information about the Postcard Campaign contact Chris Loetscher, diocesan director of the Office of Family Life, (507) 359-2966; cloetscher@dnu.org.
Related resources may be found at the Web sites of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis & St. Paul www.mncatholic.org, the Minnesota Catholic Conference www.mncc.org, and the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops http://www.usccb.org/laity/marriage/samesexunions.shtml.