12
The Message w for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
. ICC Board approves priority issues for legislative
Indiana
Catholic
Conference
A range of priority issues in-
cluding informed consent prior
to an abortion, assistance for
poor individuals and working
families, and gun control was
approved by the Indiana
Catholic Conference Board of
Directors last month for the
1994 legislative session. The
Board includes the state's
seven active bishops and a lay
member from each diocese.
Dr. M. Desmond Ryan, ICC
Executive Director and Lobby-
ist, along with many ICC net-
workers around the state, will
address bills that surface dur-
ing the session concerning
these issues.
Four of the approved issues
are part of the traditional focus
of ICC efforts:
• Informed consent to ensure
a pregnant woman considering
an abortion is informed about
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the abortion procedure, risks,
fetal development, and alter-
natives to abortion.
• Aid to Families with De-
pendent Children (AFDC) pilot
programs that would allow
AFDC beneficiaries who work
or find work to keep their
wages and receive AFDC pay-
ments up to the poverty level.
• Recommendations of the
Commission on Abused and
Neglected Children in Indiana
which would establish caseload
standards, reclassify child wel-
fare workers, and comprehen-
sive family preservation ser-
vices.
• Monitor legislation that
may require comprehensive
health education in elementary
and secondary schools.
New legislative issues se-
lected by the Board include:
• State earned income tax
credits that would be estab-
lished for working families who
earn less than $20,000, refund-
able if under $11,000, and
have at least one child living
with them.
• Gun control measures that
would prohibit anyone other
than law enforcement to pos-
sess a firearm on school
grounds; strengthen penalties
for gun-related crimes commit-
ted near schools; increase to 21
years the required age to pur-
chase or obtain a firearm; ban
semi-automatic weapons; and
require parental liability for
storing or leaving a loaded
firearm, or ammunition near
an unloaded firearm, easily ac-
cessible to children.
• Victims of Crime Constitu-
tional Amendment (VOCCA)
that would guarantee crime
victims a right to be informed,
present, and heard when rele-
vant at all critical stages of
criminal proceedings, unless it
interferes with rights of the ac-
cused. The ICC will support
VOCCA, although concerns
were raised about the status of
current Indiana victims' rights
and victims' assistance pro-
grams which lack funding.
The ICC Board also ap-
proved the drafting of a pas-
toral letter on the status of
poor children and families in
Indiana and the adequacy of
services available to them.
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Names, addresses, phone num-
bers, places, dates, offices, direc-
tors, parishes, schools, institutions,
vital statistics, financial statistics,
priests' assignments -- they are all
in the 1994 Yearbook of the Catholic
Diocese of Evansville.
You may purchase your copy at
the Catholic Center for $7.50. For
marl orders, include $1.50 for
postage and handling.
The Indiana Catholic Conference Board of l
cludes the state's seven active bishops and
from each diocese. Five bishops met during the
ing Dec. 11 at the Archbishop O'Meara Catholic
Indianapolis. They are Bishop William
Lafayette Diocese, Bishop Dale Melczek of
Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville, Bishop
of Fort Wayne-South Bend, and Archbishop
lein of Indianapolis.
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