Boston, Mass., Jan 18, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In anticipation of a vote in the state Legislature on a constitutional amendment regarding same-sex marriage Feb. 11, the state's Roman Catholic Church began a direct-mail campaign last week, encouraging Catholics to take action.
The direct-mail campaign was sponsored by the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops and the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the Church’s political advocacy arm. The flier suggests three actions: visiting legislators, calling them, and writing them a letter or e-mail.
The four-page fliers, mailed out Jan. 16 to almost one million Catholic Massachusetts families, also explain the bishops’ position in the same-sex marriage debate. The bishops said they have been misrepresented in the media as bigots and wished to clarify their position.
At a news conference that same day, Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley said the Supreme Judicial Court’s November decision, which ruled that barring same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, "ratifies a trend that will only harm children," reported the Associated Press.