Catholics from across Ohio gathered in Columbus on Tuesday, April 9 for “Catholics at the Capitol” 2024.

The day, organized by the Catholic Conference of Ohio, which serves as the official voice of the Church in Ohio on matters of public policy, was an opportunity to advocate for policies that support Ohio families and promote the common good.

State legislators were urged to support pregnant women and families, abolish the state’s death penalty and assist incarcerated Ohio citizens returning to society.

The day began at the Catholic Conference of Ohio’s office with prayer and remarks from Bishop Earl Fernandes.

State Sen. Stephen Huffman (R-Tipp City), who represents Ohio’s fifth Senate District in southwestern Ohio outside of Dayton, addressed the group and spoke about his Catholic faith and legislative priorities.

Huffman was raised Catholic and his father was a deacon. He said he often attends morning Mass at St. Christopher Church in Vandalia, located in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Huffman, also a practicing physician who works in emergency rooms throughout western Ohio, has introduced Senate Bill 101 to abolish the death penalty.

He also introduced Senate Bill 220 to designate Jan. 22, the day the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right of privacy protects a woman’s right to abortion in all 50 states in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, as the “Day of Tears,” which, he said, would be a day of prayer with flags flown at half-staff.

Throughout the day, groups of Catholics from various parts of the state sat down with local state representatives and senators in the Ohio Statehouse and Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, located across the street from the Statehouse, to ask for their support.

Some of the Columbus participants met with an aide for state Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Dublin), who represents the 16th Senate District. Located west of Columbus, the district comprises all of Madison and Pickaway counties as well as a portion of Franklin County northwest of Columbus.

The group advocated for abolition of Ohio’s death penalty, urging Kunze to help pass Senate Bill 101 and House Bill 259.

“We’re here to really advocate for support of two bills that are out there: the Senate bill and the House bill that would abolish the death penalty,” said Mark Huddy, Episcopal Moderator for Catholic Charities and Social Concerns in the Diocese of Columbus. “We believe that abolishing the death penalty is more in accord with the sacredness and dignity of every human life.

“Human dignity comes from our being created in God’s image, and it can’t be lost or traded away. As (Pope St.) John Paul (II) says in Evangelium Vitae (his papal encyclical “The Gospel of Life”), not even a murderer loses that personal dignity that comes from being created by God.”

Huddy acknowledged that while crimes deserve punishment the offender deserves an opportunity to repent, and perhaps, reenter society.

“The death penalty really cuts off the opportunity for someone to come to grips with what they’ve done and be sorry for it,” he said.

The group also discussed barriers to housing and assistance for individuals returning to society from the prison system. They asked Kunze to join them in supporting Senate Bill 198.

Catholics at the Capitol participants are pictured with the Ohio Statehouse in the background. Photo courtesy Abigail Pitones

Huddy said the bill “is about having returning citizens able to get the documentation they need in order to show their educational background, to show a variety of things.”

Senate Bill 198 would help returning citizens avoid recidivism, or repeating previous criminal behavior, by providing them copies of a birth certificate, vocational training records and a Social Security card or replacement.

Catholics who advocated at the Statehouse also urged support for House Bill 50. If passed, the bill would assist individuals with criminal records in overcoming housing barriers by creating a Certificate of Qualification for Housing and provide relief from certain bars on housing.

Nick Borchers, the chief operating officer at Catholic Social Services (CSS), which helps poor and vulnerable seniors and families in central and southern Ohio reach their potential, spoke to a high demand for housing that caseworkers at CSS have witnessed and are working to meet.

He said many caseworkers are assisting older individuals in securing housing.

“That is the number one thing,” Borchers said. “We’re trying to get people into housing, and they’re waiting forever because it’s just not there.

“It’s been a significant increase over the last few years as the area’s grown and costs of housing have skyrocketed. There’s just not the space available, so we hear a lot of frustration from our clients.”

Borchers said the clients have a standard income, but there is no space and affordable housing available for them.

Shane Hoffman, one of the participants who lives and works in Plain City, noted that the population there is expected to quadruple in size in the next 10 years but that there is a lack of affordable housing.

“Even though we have the space and it’s getting bought up and developed, that is not the housing that is profitable for the developers to put in, and we need to be looking for a way to get that attainable housing,” he said. 

“We’re very much in danger of not being able to have people work in town because there is no place affordable to live within driving distance.”

Gina McCauley, executive assistant at Mommies Matter who oversees donor management, said the organization often receives four or five calls or texts a day from pregnant women in need of housing.

Mommies Matter, which journeys with single mothers through their pregnancies, the birth of their child and beyond, did not foresee such an extensive need for housing when the organization was founded about six years ago, she said.

Catholics asked the aide for Kunze, who is co-chairman of the Commission on Infant Mortality, to assist pregnant women in securing stable housing and parenting supports by passing House Bill 7 to enact the Strong Foundations Act, which would address maternal and infant mortality and expand prenatal, postnatal, infant and toddler health care.

“The organization, Mommies Matter, has done an excellent job of resourcing pregnant women not only before birth but for a couple of years after birth and providing the support that is needed,” Huddy said.

“There’s just not enough funding to handle the need right now, so any help that the state could provide to organizations like Gina’s would be a wonderful, wonderful way to help women and their families succeed.”

Other Catholic advocates from Columbus met with state Sen. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus), who represents the 15th Senate District. The district comprises much of Columbus.

Birthright of Columbus director Barb McMullen asked Craig to join her in helping save infants’ lives by passing House Bill 7.

“The state of Ohio is number three in infant mortality,” she shared. “Among the black community, we’re number one. We’ve got to help those ladies.”

She said Birthright is a friend to any pregnant woman. McMullen sits down and talks with each woman and asks what her needs are, whether she has clean housing, if she is safe, if she is employed or needs help searching for employment and if she is receiving prenatal care.

She also offers referrals to women in need.

“I have a lot of pregnant women out on the street and in shelters,” she said. “I’ve got to help them. I’m their friend.”

McMullen calls the women at least once every two weeks, if not more, she said, to check on them and ask how they are doing. She continues to check on them after they have given birth.

“We are also in support and asking for your support of funding for pregnancy care in the One Time Community Investment package, and it’s a way to budget this community investment in helping pregnant women … in the most direct way,” said Jerry Freewalt, director of the Diocese of Columbus Office for Social Concerns.

“It could be some ultrasound funding in this package. It could be all kinds of material support for pregnant women or parenting mothers.”

Father Daniel Bowen, O. de M. (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy), who serves at Columbus Holy Family Church and as vocation director for the Mercedarian order, asked for Craig’s support in abolishing the death penalty through the passage of House 259 and Senate 101.

“We should be wanting to allow that man or that woman who’s incarcerated – right now there is presently 118 of them (on death row) here in this state of Ohio – to allow them to live their life until God calls them,” he said.

Father Bowen said no one should assume the role of God in putting other individuals to death. He pointed out that the death penalty contradicts Christian beliefs.

“As believers in Jesus Christ, there’s always a possibility for repentance and conversion if they’re alive, so we don’t want to end that prematurely,” Father Bowen said. “There could be in that last moment they’re looking to begin anew.

“God loves to hear from us as people who pray. God likes to hear … prayer not just from you, Senator, or me, or anyone in this room, but from that person on death row.

“Each inmate is a person. They have families. They have a mom; they have a dad. … There’s people that still pray and love them on the outside.”

“This all comes from our faith,” Freewalt said. “That’s our starting point. … It comes from that command to serve the poor and vulnerable and to reach out and be the face of Christ.”