Pennsylvania
Bishops Launch Institute For Public Policy
With High-Tech Website
Site uses tools to educate, evangelize and
advocate Catholic issues
HARRISBURG – Describing new digital
technologies as “truly a gift to humanity,”
Pope Benedict XVI implores the faithful to
“endeavor to ensure that the benefits they
offer are put at the service of all human
individuals and communities, especially
those who are most disadvantaged and
vulnerable.” In the spirit of this message
for the 43rd World Day of
Communications observed on May 24, the
Bishops of Pennsylvania have launched
www.pacatholic.org, the new, high-tech
website of the Pennsylvania Catholic
Conference Institute for Public Policy.
The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (PCC)
is the public affairs arm of the Catholic
Church in Pennsylvania. The Institute is an
initiative to bolster one of PCC’s
long-standing missions of fostering a public
understanding of the Church’s teaching and
concern about issues within the public
policy arena.
The Bishops expect the Institute to
facilitate opportunities for people to learn
more about the Catholic perspective on
public affairs and bring together experts to
shed the light of Catholic social teaching
into the public debate. Along with the
website, seminars, publications and other
occasions for learning are planned in order
to help people pass the knowledge on to
others.
The website is a repository of the articles,
newsletters and news alerts regularly
published by the PCC. Material is organized
into categories such as Life and Dignity of
the Person, Catholic Education, Faith and
Politics, Health Care, and Marriage and
Family.
It also includes articles from the
newspapers or magazines of all 10
Pennsylvania dioceses. For example, an
article on stem cell research recently
published in The Catholic Light is
posted in the Life and Dignity of the Person
category.
Catholic Television: CTV helped to produce a
video featuring Cardinal Justin Rigali of
the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Amy
Hill, communications director for the PCC,
giving a guided tour of the new website.
Visitors are able to read statements from
the Bishops, download resources for Church
bulletins, and with a few clicks of the
mouse, send a message to their state
legislators or Congressmen. Visitors may
also subscribe to receive email notices
whenever new content is posted to the
website.
“Lay Catholics, clergy, religious, and all
interested citizens can use the website’s
technology to seek answers to questions
about the Catholic perspective behind the
headlines, stay up-to-date on many current
affairs, and easily spread the word to
others,” said Dr. Robert J. O’Hara,
executive director of the PCC. “This new
tool for electronic evangelization has the
potential to increase the reach and
efficiency of our advocacy on behalf of the
disadvantaged and vulnerable, and change the
hearts and minds of many.”
The website is publicly accessible through
the link on this homepage or directly at
www.pacatholic.org
