Caruso is executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, a public-policy group representing Virginia’s two Catholic dioceses. The organization is gearing up for a lobbying effort on a wide range of issues important to the church during the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session.
What does the election of a Catholic governor and attorney general mean for Catholics in Virginia?
We look more at an individual’s position on policy issues rather than what their religious affiliation is. I can certainly say in the case of Gov.-elect [Bob] McDonnell and Attorney General-elect [Ken] Cuccinelli that many of their policy positions align with ours and we certainly look forward to working in partnership with them.
Other than lobbying, what other roles does the Catholic Conference take on?
A lot of voter education. In Virginia, every year is an election year. And we like to make sure that Catholics have the information that they need to make informed decision. We never instruct anybody to vote for or against, but we do provide principles of Catholic Church teachings and we try as best we can to provide the position of candidates, where they stand on wide varieties of issues. For example, during the recent election cycle, we did a candidate survey for the governor’s race, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the contested house seats … and printed the answers the candidate provides.
What are the top issues on the horizon?
Five of our top priorities would be stopping state funding of abortions and Planned Parenthood, also stopping death penalty expansions, establishing a tax credit for businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship foundations, limiting car title and payday lenders to 36 percent annual interest rate, and providing better access to Medicaid funding for lawfully residing immigrants.
That doesn’t quite fit neatly into a Democratic or Republican platform.
That’s exactly right. We like to say that we have a consistent moral framework that is essentially linked to human life and dignity throughout all stages. It does cut across party lines as well as ideological categories.
– William C. Flook
