The Catholic Faith in Action Advocacy Day is less than two weeks away. We have a new  advocate letter resource available that you can use to contact your legislators and voice your support for the day.  Click here to download the letter. It includes information on how to find out your legislators' names and contact information. You are also welcome to publish and share the Advocacy Day press release, available online here. Don't forget to continue to stay engaged through our most important advocacy tool - PRAYER! Next week, we'll have a call-in and email script that you can use to contact your legislators prior to our Advocacy day to let them know of your support. Click here for more information on the Advocacy day and  how to get involved with your diocesan delegation.

Payday Lending Press Conference and Hearing 
On Monday, March 21, leaders from Texas’ faith communities came together today as the “Texas Faith for Fair Lending” coalition to call for reform in the regulation of short-term loans such as payday and auto title loans. Bishop Joe Vásquez of the Catholic Diocese of Austin said predatory lenders confound the efforts of Catholic Charities and similar ministries to help those in poverty. “While we are providing $300 cash assistance to a family for food and utilities, that same family has payday loan debt of an average of $455. In effect, our assistance was helping a client pay for a need such as electricity or water, so that our client could continue to pay off a payday lender. Our charitable dollars are in fact funding the profits of payday lenders rather than helping the poor achieve self-sufficiency,” said Vásquez. Read more >>

On Tuesday, March 22, 8 payday and auto title regulation bills heard in the House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services (PIFS) committee. Jennifer Allmon, TCC Associate Director 
(read testimony), and Kelly Rand, of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Worth (read testimony), testified in support of HB 410 (click their respective names to read their testimony). Jennifer also testified in opposition to HB 3021 and HB 2593, you can read her testimony here.

This week we also provided testimony on several abortion-related bills and on a bill that would expand the use of the death penalty. Click here to view these testimonies on our Testimony Archive.