Round-up
by
Christopher Dodson
Executive Director, North Dakota Catholic Conference
November 2005
This month’s column looks at several issues and
developments.
Last month I wrote about the wisdom of appointing a health
care agent to make health care decisions for you if you
cannot make or communicate those decisions yourself. The
North Dakota Catholic Conference now has a health care
directive form for use by the state’s Catholics.
The form meets the requirements of North Dakota law and
incorporates Catholic concerns regarding ethical
decision-making and spiritual issues. The form also
reflects practical advice church, health care, and
community leaders have shared with us. The form, for
example, starts with the option of appointing a health care
agent, since that is the preferred method.
You may also come across a “statutory form” and
information resource developed by a coalition of
organizations that have worked to improve the use of health
care directives in the state. Catholics can look at this
“non-sectarian” information as an additional
resource. No one is legally obligated to use the statutory
form for a health care directive. Catholics in the state
are encouraged to consider using the form prepared by the
North Dakota Catholic Conference. However, the statutory
form includes some open-ended questions that might be
useful for discussion purposes.
Anyone can get the Catholic health care directive materials
by downloading them at http://ndcatholic.org/CHD/
or by calling the
North Dakota Catholic Conference at 1-888-419-1237.
******
Wake Forest University sociology professor, David Yamane,
has written a book on the work of state Catholic
conferences. People interested in how the Church engages in
public policy questions at the state level, should read
this book. Currently in the United States, state
governments, rather than just the federal government,
address most of the public policy issues of concern to the
Church. Yamane’s book, however, is the only recent
serious study of the activities of state Catholic
conferences.
The book, The Catholic Church in
State Politics: Negotiating Prophetic Demands &
Political Realities is published by Rowman &
Littlefield and is available through most on-line
bookstores.
******
The federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes
North Dakota, will hear arguments in a case involving
Nebraska’s definition of marriage. A lower court
struck down Nebraska’s constitutional amendment,
contending that it violated the U.S. Constitution. North
Dakota’s constitutional language on the issue is
different, but an adverse ruling could impact our
state’s law.
The North Dakota Catholic Conference joined the Nebraska
Catholic Conference and all the other state Catholic
conferences and dioceses in the Eighth Circuit to file
an amicus curiae
(“friend of
the court”) brief in support of Nebraska’s
appeal of the lower court decision. One of the issues on
appeal is whether the state has a legitimate interest in
defining marriage as between a man and a woman and
preventing “quasi-marriages” through another
name. The amicus
brief explains the
state’s interest this way:
Marriage, by its nature, is
an institution derived from the complimentarity of the
sexes that exists when one man and one woman commit
themselves, before the community, to each other and the
possibility of children. Because the institution is rooted
in the community and serves as the basis of the family, it
is an essential component of the common good. The State has
legitimate, indeed compelling, interests in ensuring a
stable legal and societal framework for the creation of
healthy families, providing a suitable environment for the
development of children and in promoting social investment
in the community. In light of these interests, the State
may seek to safeguard the institution of marriage from
being undermined or its functions compromised by same-sex
marriages or same-sex, quasi-marital legal relationships
such as civil unions and domestic
partnerships.
A year after North Dakota voters overwhelmingly approved
its constitutional definition of marriage, there are some
who still think that the measure was based in hostility
toward homosexuals or rooted solely in religious dogma. The
above statement, which reflects Catholic social teaching on
the matter, convincingly demonstrates that this is not the
case.
Incidentally, several states also filed an
amicus
brief in support of
Nebraska’s position. North Dakota Attorney General
Wayne Stenehjem signed on to that brief on behalf of North
Dakota.
