The focus of the advocacy days will be to oppose legislation that is in conflict with the CCI's Catholics for Life Department — in other words, legislation that is in conflict with Catholic teaching and belief.

The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois will lead a local prayer campaign in parishes April 8-12, with representatives of the diocese attending the Wednesday, April 10 Advocacy Day. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has asked that pastors, parochial administrators, pastoral facilitators and parish pro-life chairs send at least two people from their parishes to attend the Springfield diocese Advocacy Day.

Parish pro-life representatives should submit the registration form (that was mailed to them and was also in the February and March monthly mailings) to the Office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life before March 20. That way legislative briefs and additional information on the advocacy days can be sent out to those who have registered.

Those diocesan advocates who are in Springfield on April 10 will gather in the Cathedral atrium for prayer with Bishop Paprocki and a briefing session by Zach Wichmann of CCI and will then visit elected officials at the Capitol. Lunch will be provided that day.

Schedules for other dioceses include the Archdiocese of Chicago the week of March 11-15 with a March 13 advocacy day; the Diocese of Rockford the week of March 18-22 with a March 20 advocacy day; and the Diocese of Joliet the week of April 15-19 with a April 17 advocacy day.

Additionally, the Diocese of Belleville has issued a Life Advocacy Days challenge to its pro-life networks, asking that groups travel to Springfield on one of the four days scheduled above to participate in advocacy at the time best suited to their schedules.

Bishop Paprocki has also asked that each parish support the Life Advocacy Days with prayer. In a letter to parish leaders he said, "The Feast of the Annunciation is on Monday, April 8 and I ask that you consider special prayer on that day; perhaps a Holy Hour, Mass for Blessing Unborn Children, a parish rosary etc."

At the request of Wichmann, who is his friend and a Cathedral parishioner, Father Stephen Thompson has composed A Prayer for Life Advocacy Days that the faithful from the Springfield diocese — in fact all the dioceses in Illinois — have been encouraged to pray.

Father Thompson, who is pastor at Holy Family Parish in Mt. Sterling and St. Thomas Parish in Camp Point, said that when Wichmann, who is director of Government Relations for CCI, asked for priests to write a prayer, he worked on it right away.

"Actually it only took me about a half-hour to write it," Father Thompson said. "I wrote it when I was still (parochial vicar) at Cathedral. Of course now I am asking my parishioners here to pray it."

It is CCI's intention that the prayer will help to unify the efforts of all and will offer individuals the opportunity to join the advocacy campaign spiritually if they are unable to attend their diocesan advocacy day physically.

Sister Jane Boos, director of the office for Social Concerns and Respect for Life, says she is pleased with the opportunities offered by Life Advocacy Days. "I am grateful to the Catholic Conference of Illinois for providing the opportunity for the people of our parishes to share our Catholic moral and social teachings with our legislature," she said.

"I strongly believe that strong advocacy — large numbers — does make a difference and that our elected legislatures have an obligation to listen and to represent us," Sister Jane said. "When we, as Catholics, unite together to witness the importance of our faith, it does make a difference.

"Also the prayer written by Father Steve Thompson is timely," she said. "By all of us in the diocese praying it, we can beg God to bring about a transformation in the hearts of our legislatures, our families and our country."

For more information on diocesan Life Advocacy Days, contact Sister Jane Boos, SSND, at (217) 698-8500, ext. 130 or .