Principles, practice, people determine WCC advocacy

By John Huebscher

	John Huebscher

Advocacy organizations employ a variety of tools to persuade in the public policy arena. While no two issues are identical in content or context, advocacy on different issues has common elements.

In faith-based advocacy, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference essentially employs three tools of influence:

Principles: the church's social teaching tradition.

Practice: the practical experience gained by Catholics through service to the community.

People: the collective voice of those who have been formed by the church and others who share our views.

These elements were present when the Wisconsin Catholic Conference engaged three issues in the closing weeks of the 2006 legislative session.

During the debates on a proposal to roll back regulations on the "rent-to-own" industry and the "Taxpayer's Protection Amendment," (where our advocacy succeeded), and an effort to schedule a statewide advisory referendum on the death penalty in Wisconsin, (where we were temporarily defeated) the WCC's advocacy blended a reliance on Catholic social thought and doctrine with the real life experience of Catholics themselves.

On the proposal to loosen regulations and consumer safeguards on the rent-to-own industry, WCC testimony addressed the Catholic principles of the common good and the option for the poor. The conference argued that an industry that targets economically vulnerable persons should not enjoy exemptions from our Consumer Protection Act.

Critical to our effort was the experience of men and women in the St. Vincent de Paul Society who testified from their experience in visiting with the needy families they have helped. Their arguments, that predatory lending practices increase the economic vulnerability of such families, made our case more persuasive. So too were the insights of Catholic Charities staff that offer family financial counseling services around Wisconsin.

As for the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, WCC was concerned that placing limits on government revenues in the constitution would inhibit the ability of public institutions to respond to community needs, which would undermine the common good. The Amendment's restrictive impact on local government also suggested it was not consistent with the principle of subsidiarity, which holds that local decisions are best made at the local level.

Here too, experience was critical to forming and expressing the conference's position. In this case it was the experience and insights of Catholics in Colorado. The Colorado Catholic Conference and diocesan staff expressed clear and definite concerns over how similar limits had affected the common good and the poor of that state.

As for the joint resolution to schedule an advisory referendum on the death penalty, the conference grounded its opposition in the consistent life ethic that human life is sacred from conception until natural death. Life is not ours to take, whether that life is too small to see or whether its dignity is shrouded by an evil act of murder.

Once again, the witness of lay Catholics buttressed our efforts. A radio editorial written by the brother of a murder victim and the views of the former director of the Kentucky Catholic Conference who lost her nephew in the World Trade Center both contributed to making the case.

In each case, WCC collaborated with other individuals and organizations. Our faith-based advocacy made its own contribution to a larger community discussion.

In the public policy arena, no victory or defeat is final. But the combination of principles, practice and people serve as constant tools of advocacy that transcend any given issue or any given time. At the end of the day, there is always another day and so we take our principles, practice and people and persevere.

(Huebscher is executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the civil arm of the state's five diocesan bishops.)