Posted on 01/14/2014 2:12:55 PM PST by Welchie25
The Maryland Catholic Conference is on board with Gov. Martin J. O’Malley on his top legislative priority: raising the state’s minimum wage.
As the state’s largest provider of social services, the Catholic Church has a unique vantage on the challenges facing low-earning workers, said Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the MCC, which advocates for public policy on behalf of the state’s bishops.
Russell and the MCC’s associate directors spoke with the press Jan. 10, two days after the start of the General Assembly’s 2014 session. The following issues are among those they highlighted as legislative priorities in this year’s session.
Minimum wage
Maryland sets its minimum wage at the federally mandated level of $7.25 per hour. Jurisdictions in the state, including Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, are phasing in higher minimum wages, and efforts are underway within Congress to raise the wage nationally. The U.S. bishops have long advocated for all workers to have the opportunity to earn a “living wage,” which they generally agree is not met by the current minimum.
The MCC is not advocating for a particular new wage, but an increase in general, Russell said.
“We all recognize that a decent paying job is the best way out of poverty,” she said.
The conference also plans to advocate for paid sick leave for low-wage workers, Russell said.
Education tax credit
In the past decade, the state’s nonpublic school enrollment has dropped by 40,000 students with the closing of approximately 150 schools, especially in lower-income parts of Baltimore City. To remedy the decline, the MCC backs a business tax credit, said Garrett O’Day, associate director for education and family life.
The Maryland Education Credit would provide businesses a 60 percent tax credit on donations to mediating nonprofit organizations created to provide financial assistance to schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
Can we all just admit that the Catholic Church is socialist at heart?
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Do you spend all your time peering through FR for postings that don’t conform to your orthodoxy?
Did you just make a post about my post that doesn't conform to your orthodoxy?
You saw something you didn't like and made a comment.
Isn't that what I did?
I don't see it that way. I think it is a misunderstanding of Christ's intentions, hence the Schism.
Catholicism and Christianity go back a lot farther than newfangled ideas like socialism and capitalism.
Can we all just admit that the Catholic Church is socialist at heart?
***
No, as a Catholic, I happen to know that is not true. OTOH, there are a bunch of clowns in the Church hierarchy right now who give outsiders that impression.
The people quoted here who claim to be speaking for the church are socialist fools.
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