Efforts to educate parishioners on Proposition 73, aka the Parental Notification Initiative, are going well, say local and state Catholic leaders.

"It's moving along pretty good," said Msgr. Timothy O'Connell, chairman of the archdiocesan commission for Catholic Life Issues, of the effort on behalf of the proposition whose full subtitle is "Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment."

According to Msgr. O'Connell, archdiocesan officials alerted pastors in mid-September of the availability of downloadable Proposition 73 backgrounder documents from the California Catholic Conference which can be reproduced and inserted into Sunday bulletins or used as talking points during sermons.

"The most important way to inform Catholics is on Sunday morning. It's our job to educate parishioners on the issues," said Msgr. O'Connell, pastor of Visitation Church in Westchester, who spoke to his congregation last weekend about the parental notification initiative. "I think parishioners are open to [supporting] Prop 73. There's a concern about minor daughters and parental rights."

He noted a SurveyUSA poll released last week indicates Californians overwhelmingly support Proposition 73, including a surprising percentage of pro-choice voters. The poll, sponsored by KABC-TV (Los Angeles) and KPIX-TV (San Francisco), shows that 59 percent of Californians support the measure and 39 percent oppose it.

Poll data indicates more than 40 percent of pro-choice voters support parental notification while 90 percent of pro-life voters are in support. The strongest support revealed in the survey data comes from Hispanic voters with 64 percent favoring Proposition 73 and 36 percent opposing it. (See above story.)

The Knights of Columbus, one of the signature-gathering organizations that put Prop 73 on the ballot, has held 30 public information nights around the state educating the public about the initiative. The Catholic philanthropic group's e-newsletter this month (www.kofc-california.org) encourages its 62,000 members to vote in favor of the parental notification proposition. Grand Knights heading California's 520 councils are also receiving printed information to share with their members.

"We need to get the word out to all good Catholic men, whether they're Knights of Columbus or not, to educate themselves about this initiative," said Marvin Hayes, Knights of Columbus state pro-life director. For the last two weeks, in his fast-growing parish in Murrieta (in the San Bernardino Diocese), Hayes and other Knights of Columbus have been registering voters to qualify them to vote in the upcoming Nov. 8 special election.

"We represent a sizable block of votes in California," said Knights of Columbus state deputy, Gary Nelson. "We organized and we got the word out. While Proposition 73 doesn't end abortion, it's certainly a major step in the right direction."