Since its debut just six months ago, the Catholic Legislative Network has already made an impact in the partisan halls of Sacramento, where Catholics are considered swing voters whose opinions are valued by both political parties.

"Catholics have a very large influence in California right now," said Steve Pehanich, CLN director and California Catholic Conference senior director of advocacy and education. "The Catholic Church can talk to both [political] parties. It's a good position to be in, and it's made a difference."

Pehanich spoke at a July 2 workshop at Blessed Sacrament Church where keynote speaker Joan Rosenhauer, associate director of the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development, gave a presentation on the U.S. bishops' 2007 document, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, A Call to Political Responsibility."

According to Pehanich, many Catholics are reluctant to get involved in the political process, believing it's a futile endeavor. "It's not hopeless," he declared. He told how an assisted suicide "stealth bill" was amended just a few weeks ago by its author after facing overwhelming opposition from medical, disability rights and religious lobbying groups strongly supported by CLN emails targeted to Senate Health Committee members,

Action Alerts had been emailed to CLN members whose elected representatives sit on either the Senate Health or Senate Judiciary Committee where the bill was heard. CLN alerts encourage network participants to contact their elected officials by using CLN's email service or writing their own letters.

Because of the messages sent by CLN members to their representatives, Pehanich explained, the legislators sought out Catholic lobbyists and gave them an opportunity to explain their objection to the bill. The lobbyists argued that AB 2747 End-of-Life Care (Berg) provided a framework for assisted suicide since it mandated that physicians give patients end of life information that included the rare practice of palliative sedation and the non-medical "treatment" of VSED (the voluntary stopping of eating and drinking).

After AB 2747 failed to get enough votes on the first try in the Senate Health Committee, the author amended the bill to remove all references to palliative sedation and VSED. The amendments also removed the clause to provide mandated one-size-fits-all information about final end-of-life approaches to patients with a full year prognosis.

"A lot of times in Sacramento, issues have been forced upon us, like assisted suicide [defeated in the legislature three times in the last three years]," said Pehanich. "[Often], we can't pick and choose what comes out, but we can be prepared for them."

He said CLN helps people to make difficult political decisions that benefit from a well-formed conscience, which requires a three-step approach: thoughtful reading of Scripture, the gathering of information about public policies, and prayerful reflection of how the implementation of policies will negatively or positively affect the common good. "CLN is about that middle step of gathering information," said Pehanich.

Launched Jan. 28 as a joint statewide initiative of all 12 California dioceses, CLN educates Catholics on the church's social teaching and encourages them to advocate on public policy issues based on those principles. Its free weekly emailed newsletter, Public Policy Insights, educates subscribers on how proposed/mandated public policies address or ignore the church's concerns in seven key areas: life and dignity of the human person; the call to family, community and participation; rights and responsibilities; option for the poor and vulnerable; dignity of work and workers; solidarity; and caring for God's creation.

CLN officials hope to sign up 100,000 California network subscribers in the state, which currently has 11 million Catholics. Participants will receive emailed newsletters and invitations to special events, forums and workshops. People can sign up at www.cacatholic.org.