ALBANY, N.Y. — Catholic Church officials were mounting a full-court press Friday to convince lawmakers in Albany to vote against same-sex marriage legislation, which stands a vote or two from becoming law in New York State.
Dennis Poust, communications director for the New York State Catholic Conference, says it has a network of more than 60,000 people across the state emailing and making thousands of phone calls to senators’ offices.
“We’re trying to convince them, this is not right for the state,” he said.
Republicans hold a 32-30 advantage over Democrats in the state Senate. But two GOP lawmakers have promised to vote in favor of the legislation. And with one Democrat joining the GOP block, there are now 31 total yes votes, making the count even.
New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan on Wednesday equated the actions of lawmakers to restrictive Communist regimes.
“Last time I consulted an atlas, it is clear we are living in New York, in the United States of America — not in China or North Korea,” he wrote on his blog. “In those countries, government presumes daily to ‘redefine’ rights, relationships, values, and natural law.”
Brooklyn Diocese’ Monsignor Kieran Harrington says every diocese is now aggressively getting the word out to Catholics across New York, which make up 38 percent of the state population, to encourage parishioners to contact senators.
“Every diocese is speaking out to congregations to realize how significant this is,” he said.
Harrington also accuses New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and liberal lawmakers of misrepresenting not only the issue, but also those who would oppose it.
“They’re trying to say people of faith are bigots, and we think that’s offensive,” he said. “If they are convinced we were bigots they wouldn’t be giving a religious exemption. How can they be proposing an exemption for bigotry?…They can’t have it both ways.”
To read more, go to Fox News.