Catholic bishops in Minnesota are
preparing an anti-gay marriage campaign.
Bishops have yet to unveil their
campaign, which seeks to undermine the elections of pro-gay marriage
candidates in the general election, but the Minnesota Independent
is reporting that several dioceses have confirmed the plan.
“Within the next week or so, you will
receive a letter from me and a DVD,” wrote Bishop John Quinn of the
Winona Diocese in a recent newsletter. “The bishops of Minnesota
are alarmed by the continuing attacks on the institution of marriage,
and we are taking action.”
Quinn goes on to say traditional
marriage is under attack from efforts to legalize gay marriage.
“I hope that you will become one of
the thousands of Catholics who have contacted legislators and told
them that marriage is a lifetime relationship between one man and one
woman,” he adds.
While the Archdiocese of St. Paul and
Minneapolis are not talking details, the campaign is certain to touch
on the possibility of the state electing a pro-gay marriage governor.
Democratic (DFL) candidate Mark Dayton and Tom Horner, who is
running as an independent, support the legalization of gay marriage,
while Republican Tom Emmer does not.
Emmer is the GOP candidate closely
associated with a
boycott against Target for giving MN Forward, an independent
political fund supporting Emmer's bid to become governor, $150,000.
Gay
rights group the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) responded by giving
pro-gay marriage candidates an equal amount of money.
“Marriage equality is coming to
Minnesota, and they're clearly not happy about it,” Michael Bayly
of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, a
gay-inclusive Catholic group, told the Minnesota Independent.
“In many ways I see what they're doing as a last ditch effort to
try and get Catholic voters to turn the election away from a win for
the Democrats and thus marriage equality.”
The
National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most
vociferous opponent of gay marriage, has already spent heavily in the
state.
“This is our time to stand up and
defend marriage as a unique institution that, from the beginning of
human history and in every culture, is the union of one man and one
woman for the propagation of the human family and the upbringing of
children,” Bishop Quinn wrote.