The Massachusetts Catholic Conference is beginning its first statewide voter registration drive, in hope of ousting lawmakers who favor gay marriage or otherwise fail to follow the church's moral teaching in the State House.
The drive is designed partly to send thousands of new Catholic voters to the polls this fall to vote for or against state legislators who have been grappling with the gay marriage issue. The new strategy, announced in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese, is surfacing just as lawmakers prepare for another set of votes on Monday when the Constitutional Convention resumes to consider a proposed amendment banning gay marriage.
"A lot of people are frustrated; they felt they wanted to have a say in this," said Maria Parker, associate director for public policy at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the advocacy arm of the church in this state. "The feeling is mushrooming throughout the state, and some feel politically homeless because they feel neither party reflects their views and values. They are not being listened to, and this frustration has led people to say, `You know what, I need to participate more in the political process.' And of course that's fine with us, because in the Catholic tradition, participation in the political process is a moral obligation."
About 67 percent of the Legislature is Catholic, but lawmakers do not appear to be following the church's repeated calls to both ban gay marriage and block civil unions for gay couples. The most popular measure in two sessions of the constitutional convention has been an amendment to ban gay marriage and allow civil unions. The church opposes both gay marriage and civil unions, calling civil unions the equivalent of marriage.
"Legislators who decide to vote to harm the institution of marriage -- either by allowing same-sex marriage to stand unchallenged or by creating civil unions -- will feel a backlash in November," The Pilot said in an editorial yesterday.
The voter registration drive would be the first effort on a statewide scale, said Gerald D'Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. The controversy has sparked intense interest in politics, he said, priming Catholics for a registration push.
"It hasn't happened on a large scale, where we ask each of the dioceses to do voter registration," he said. "I think we have many more Catholics interested in issues that are of a public policy nature. Laws are going to be made, and they want to participate in it."
The local effort will be buttressed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which encourages voter registration drives in churches across the country each year.
Catholic legislators welcomed news of the drive yesterday, but Senator Mark Montigny, who is Catholic and supports gay marriage, said he would like to see Catholic voters galvanized over other important issues.
"Everyone ought to be registered to vote," said the New Bedford Democrat. "But what has been troubling for me is that the first real effort I've seen in years has been a reactionary one, the first time in history they're trying to change the constitution and create a second-class citizenry. I would love to have seen that kind of activity help me pass a bill on [requiring] the church report child abuse. I think that energy should be used to lobby for human service and poverty programs."
Another lawmaker treaded carefully when he heard about the registration drive.
"I think it's great that more people will be involved in the democratic process," said Representative Martin J. Walsh, a Dorchester Democrat. "I just hope they register Democrats. I don't think any politician should be viewed on one issue. I feel comfortable that I do an awful lot of work in my district to ensure the voters continue to send me back to the State House. I know not everyone agrees with me on this issue, but I will get enough votes."
The effort is aimed at making Catholic voices heard not only on gay marriage, but on other issues also important to the church, said D'Avolio, including abortion, capital punishment, stem cell research, and casino gambling. But gay marriage is the most important issue right now, he said.
"Our intention is to have them become responsible citizens on all issues of interest to church and society, and we have a right to do that," he said. "It just so happens this issue is at the forefront, and in our view it is the most important one of the day, and we had to respond to it."
The drives will be made through parishes, said Dan Avila, associate director for policy and research at the Catholic Conference, in hope of reaching the recent immigrants who attend in large numbers and young parishioners who may not yet have registered to vote.
"Churches typically serve the most underrepresented populations in terms of the rate of voter registration," Avila said. "Parishes are among the few institutions that can reach groups that are notably under-registered, racial and ethnic minorities, new citizens, youth."
The registration drive is the latest in a series of attempts by the church to sway legislators on gay marriage. Last year, the bishops directed priests to urge Catholic legislators to comply with the church's teachings on the issue, and to encourage parishioners to lobby those legislators.
In January, a Globe survey found that 67 percent of the 199 lawmakers are Catholics, a disproportionate share in a state where roughly 50 percent of the population is Catholic. As the gay marriage debate approached, legislative leaders told the Globe in January that the Catholic Church's clout had weakened because of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Fifty-one percent of the Catholic lawmakers supported an amendment by Representative Philip Travis that would ban gay marriage, an analysis by the Globe has found. By contrast, 56 percent of lawmakers of other Christian faiths supported it. The Travis amendment failed 103-94.
Sixty-six percent of the Catholic lawmakers backed an amendment by Senate President Robert E. Travaglini and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran that would ban gay marriage and allow civil unions, the analysis found. That amendment won preliminary passage at the end of the last Constitutional Convention, 121-77.