April 16, 2010
Postcards urge immigration reform, delivered to legislators
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
More than 2,000 postcards were signed by Catholics in the Diocese of Evansville, to en-courage U.S. lawmakers to pass immigration reform legislation.
Although there is currently no legislation under active consideration in the U.S. House or Senate, the postcards urged current senators and congressional representatives to “support immigration reform legislation that keeps immigrant families together, adopts smart and humane enforcement policies, and ensures that immigrants without legal status register with the government and begin a path toward citizenship.”
The postcard campaign was originated by Justice for Immi-grants, part of the United States Conference of Catholic Bish-ops. Postcard packages were made available to every parish in the Diocese of Evansville, with varying degrees of participation.
A total of 190 postcards was collected for Ninth District Congressman Baron Hill; 518 cards were addressed to Eighth District Congressman Brad Ellsworth; 716 cards were collected to be presented to Sen-ator Richard Lugar, and 717 cars were addressed to Senator Evan Bayh.
The overall total was 2,141 cards collected from parishioners. No tabulation was made of cards that may have been sent by individuals directly to congressional office holders.
The postcards for Senators Bayh and Lugar, along with those for Representative Ells-worth were delivered to their offices at the federal building in Evansville during the Easter recess.
Arrangements for delivery of postcards to Representative Hill were made by Benedictine Sis-ter Karen Durliat, who is the di-rector of the diocesan Guadalupe Center in Huntingburg.
Sister Karen coordinated the campaign with the assistance of the diocesan Office of Commu-nications.