Utah parishes respond to call for action during diocesan social justice postcard campaign

Friday, Feb. 03, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — In January, Catholic constituents throughout Utah were asked by the Diocese of Salt Lake City to sign postcards opposing legalizing assisted suicide and supporting the repeal of the death penalty in the state.  

Both of these issues are addressed in Catholic social teaching, which states that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death. 

The signed postcards were to be returned to the diocesan office to be presented to legislators.

At Saint Francis of Assisi Parish, Yara Betancourt and Karina Alonso, who organize the parish’s social ministry, worked intensively during the two-week postcard campaign to invite every parishioner to participate.

“This campaign is very important because it is based on our faith’s teachings about the respect for and dignity of each life; that is the reason that we decided to take on this so everyone can participate, raising their voice, letting our legislators know that we are against the death penalty and assisted suicide,” said Betancourt.

As part of their efforts they went to each of the parish’s ministries to invite people to participate. They also promoted the postcard campaign in every Mass at the parish, inviting people to sign the postcards when the Mass was over.

Alonso went even further, translating the content of the postcards into Spanish.

The result: More than 500 postcards were signed at St. Francis of Assisi Parish.

“The response was great, even though at the beginning there was a bit of confusion, thinking that only registered voters could sign the postcards, but after this was cleared up, almost everyone was happy to participate,” Betancourt said.

Alonso added that the campaign was a way of educating people about the Catholic faith’s social justice teachings.

“We solidified our faith by reinforcing our Catholic teachings, and at the same time we learned a bit more about our legislature here in Utah,” Alonso said.

This is the third year that the Utah Legislature is considering assisted suicide legislation, and the second attempt at repealing capital punishment. 

“The campaign was also a way of telling people that their and our voices count,” Betancourt said.

She added that this was the best way to start the year and “as minorities being able to express how we are opposed to capital punishment and to assisted suicide. It was a very good way to start being heard.” The post card campaign combined the two issues “to help us present very clearly the Catholic position on life issues, which is that all life has dignity, all life deserves protection and we should not be encouraging intentional killing of anyone, including those who are on death row and those who are terminally ill,” said Jean Hill, government liaison for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

She said that response at many parishes was very positive, and many asked for more postcards.

“I am so grateful to the pastors and parishioners who have embraced this opportunity to put their faith in action,” said Hill, who plans to present the postcards to the legislators in early February. “The majority of parishes responded enthusiastically, sending back most of their cards with signatures.”

“If we don’t take this type of action, nobody will,” said Betancourt, adding that “we can’t be waiting for others to come to make a difference; making a difference is in us.”