The 4 Roman Catholic bishops of Missouri, from left: St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, Kansas Metropolis-St. Joseph Bishop James Johnston Jr., Jefferson Metropolis Bishop Shawn McKnight and Springfield-Cape Girardeau Bishop Edward Rice
JEFFERSON CITY — In the event you’re tempted to vote subsequent month to legalize the leisure use of marijuana — don’t, say the leaders of Missouri’s 4 Roman Catholic dioceses.
In an article printed by the Catholic Missourian on Monday, the bishops, appearing as officers of the Missouri Catholic Convention, raised issues concerning the social prices of legalization and stated voters ought to reject the plan.
“We urge Catholics and all individuals of excellent will to oppose Modification 3,” the bishops stated, mentioning issues about public well being, marijuana use by minors and folks unable to carry jobs.
Modification 3, on the Nov. 8 poll, would legalize possession and cultivation of marijuana for people 21 and older.
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“We consider that marijuana legalization will negatively affect Missouri households, well being outcomes, communities and employees,” the bishops stated in a press release.
A container of marijuana product is photographed at Star Bud marijuana dispensary on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, at its Festus location.
St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, Bishop of Kansas Metropolis-St. Joseph James Johnston Jr., Bishop of Jefferson Metropolis W. Shawn McKnight, and Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau Edward Rice signed on to oppose Modification 3.
The Missouri bishops famous that Pope Francis has opposed drug legalization.
“Let me state this within the clearest phrases potential: the issue of drug use is just not solved with medicine,” the pontiff stated at a drug convention in Rome in 2014.
Roman Catholic leaders usually have condemned drug use and supported abstinence. Generally alcohol has been the goal. For instance, Pope Leo XIII in 1887 endorsed the temperance motion, encouraging the devoted to abstain from “each type of intoxicating drinks.”
However many Catholic leaders declined to endorse authorized prohibition. St. Louis Archbishop John Glennon, whereas criticizing the proliferation of saloons, opposed the 18th Modification, which banned the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic drinks from 1920 till its repeal in 1933. Glennon, who died in 1946, led the church in St. Louis throughout the Prohibition period and later World Battle II.
Requested to distinguish between alcohol and marijuana, Jamie Morris, government director of the Missouri Catholic Convention, stated Wednesday there have been “clearly” issues with alcoholism and drunken driving however that he didn’t know if pointing to alcohol and saying “‘nicely that’s authorized, so marijuana must be … legalized’ is perhaps the strongest of arguments.”
“The bishops actually don’t have a … particular place on the legalization or criminalization” of alcohol, Morris stated, including the query isn’t earlier than voters.
“I believe the aim of the assertion was actually simply to” give undecided voters, or those that help the query due to elevated tax revenues, “factors to contemplate of the larger social value,” Morris stated.
Whether or not Missouri’s Catholics will observe the bishops’ name to oppose Modification 3 is unclear.
On abortion, for instance, Catholics maintain various views although church management opposes the process.
Sixty-eight p.c of normal churchgoers surveyed stated they have been against abortion in most or all circumstances, in keeping with a ballot launched in Could by Pew Analysis. Those that attended Mass much less typically have been much less prone to help strict anti-abortion legal guidelines, with 34% of these respondents saying most or all abortions must be unlawful.
Based on the Missouri Catholic Convention, there are 754,325 “registered Catholics” inside the 4 Missouri dioceses and roughly 490,000 inside the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
A spokeswoman stated there was no strategy to know what number of “energetic” Catholics there are, however that the figures mirrored “individuals who have registered with their parish.”
Proponents of Modification 3 have stated the proposed system is preferable to present legislation, by which marijuana use can carry felony penalties.
John Payne, marketing campaign supervisor for Authorized Missouri 2022, has stated Modification 3 will “release legislation enforcement to concentrate on critical crime” as a substitute of creating “tens of hundreds of arrests and citations” yearly for marijuana possession.
“Modification 3 creates a radical system of regulation, which can shield public well being and security much better than our present illicit and unregulated system,” he stated.
Plenty of organizations have endorsed the plan, together with the ACLU of Missouri, the Missouri Affiliation of Felony Protection Legal professionals in addition to St. Louis-area chapters of the NAACP.
Different teams have both raised questions or have come out in opposition to the plan. The Missouri Democratic Get together and the Missouri Libertarian Get together are each staying impartial, citing points with the wording of the proposal.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson has known as the plan a “catastrophe,” and the Missouri Affiliation of Prosecuting Attorneys stated final week it opposes the poll measure.
The prosecutors later walked again a declare their affiliation made that individuals who promote marijuana to center schoolers would solely be cited with a civil penalty below Modification 3, the Kansas Metropolis Star reported earlier this week.
If a easy majority of Missouri voters approve of Modification 3, Missouri will change into the twentieth state to legalize marijuana for leisure use.
