My Brothers
Please see the attached message addressed to our State Deputy. He is 100 % behind this program and would like us all to do our part. Please contact everyone in your address book and get the word out. We must not lose this fight.
Larry
Dear Worthy State Deputy,
We are respectfully inviting the State Council to participate in the leadership for Catholics for ProtectMarriage.com in ways that you feel would be most beneficial to the over all campaign.
We appreciate the support of the State Council for the long-term Stand with Children effort. While it remains a critical state and national educational priority, the more immediate business of passing Proposition 8 has required us to suspend operations until the beginning of 2009. We hope to resume our partnership on that effort at that time.
Turning to the Prop 8 campaign, Ned Dolejsi and ProtectMarriage.com have asked me to organize and chair Catholics for ProtectMarriage.com – the lay-led Catholic organization and recruitment effort in support of Prop 8. The Knights played a critical part in the qualification effort for Prop 8; it is an understatement to say that brother Knights are crucial to the success of the campaign in November.
With much of the preliminary work on the campaign completed, the grassroots volunteer effort is slated to begin the weekend of August 16 with neighborhood canvassing throughout the state. That does not leave much time for a major organizational effort to support that. In addition to recruiting tens of thousands of Catholic volunteers, we are currently working on identifying and appointing Catholic leaders in every diocese, region and county.
Part of the strategy is to solicit endorsements from every parish ministry and every Catholic fraternal, service, devotional, ethnic, and social organization in the state. We are asking each group to appoint a liaison and encourage their members to volunteer directly for the campaign. That will enable coordination on Catholic projects as well as overall campaign efforts in the community. This lay-led effort will be coordinated closely with the California Catholic Conference and diocesan programs.
If you wish, we would be happy to list the Knights of Columbus as a co-sponsor of this Catholic coalition and include its logo on Catholics for ProtectMarriage.com material along with the logos of the California Catholic Conference and Catholics for the Common Good. We are already extending the same offer to the National Council of Catholic Women, which as you know is a coordinating council for many women’s groups including Catholic Daughters and the Young Ladies Institute. Others may be added in the future in the future, but this will be a very selective group.
Most importantly, Ned Dolejsi and I would like to offer the following suggestions for ways in which the State Council can help move the “Yes on 8 -- ProtectMarriage.com grassroots campaign ahead rapidly:
1. Announce the formation of Catholics for ProtectMarriage.com by email so that brother Knights will know of this coordinated Catholic effort and can connect more directly with the campaign that will start shortly in the communities surrounding their parishes. This is essential for the implementation of the campaign’s grassroots plan. Through you, we would also like to extend an offer to brother Knights for leadership positions in the top campaign hierarchy at the regional or county levels.
2. Establish a liaison at the State Council level to facilitate communications between the campaign and state officers, and through them with Chapter Presidents and District Directors.
3. Arrange a state leadership conference call to brief Chapter Presidents, District Deputies and representatives from Councils on campaign strategy, timelines and the imperative of grassroots participation and leadership. We propose to have a bishop, Ned Dolejsi and a senior campaign professional participate on the call. Because of the shortness of time to get organized, it would be best to arrange the call within the next 10 days.
We know this is a busy time as you and fellow officers prepare to leave for the Annual Convention. Since we are about to print large volumes of literature for Catholics for ProtectMarriage.com, please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to have the Knights represented as a sponsor of the coalition.
Ned and I would be happy to discuss this with you, but he is out of town until Thursday or Friday.
For the Common Good,
Bill May
415 651 4171
415 738 0421 (Fax)
ccgaction.org
