The Communications Office of the Archdiocese of St. Louis has produced an outstanding video featuring St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson urging support for the Children's Education Initiative (CEI). Feel free to email this link to others and to post it on any websites you may host. Let's get the word out about CEI.  

Perhaps because the offices of the Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) are headquartered in Jefferson City, MCC staff has been called on to provide hands-on assistance in gathering CEI signatures in this area. We have welcomed the opportunity to help. Going out and gathering signatures ourselves has confirmed for us that this is a fairly simple process. (In case you missed it in past updates, here again is the link providing Instructions for Circulators.)

This past Sunday we set up a booth at the pancake breakfast sponsored by the Holy Name Society of Immaculate Conception. As people sat down for the breakfast, we gave them a one-page flyer explaining CEI and told them that after breakfast we would be available at a nearby table to help them sign the petition. We got a great response. The Immaculate Conception pancake breakfast will not be the last chance for parishioners to sign the petition. Volunteers will be taking signatures after each the parish's six Masses on the weekends of November 16-17 and 23-24.

How is your parish collecting CEI signatures? Email us and tell us your story. These stories can be inspirational, but they also can give other parishes ideas on how to go about collecting signatures. 

Any parish volunteer wishing to gather signatures should fill out the simple one-page registration form. The CEI parish coordinator should collect the registration form from each volunteer and send them to the MCC. You can send these forms to the MCC at the same time you send in your completed petition pages. The MCC will take care of submitting both the petition pages and the registration forms completed by each volunteer Circulator to the Missouri Secretary of State.

Each parish and Catholic school received a bulk mailing of the official CEI Petition Page. (Click here for the official petition page.) The official petition page is an 8 1/2 x 11, one-page, two-sided document. The Secretary of State's Office will only accept Petition Pages that replicate the original Petition Page.

Hence, copied petition pages that leave the backside of the petition page blank (so it does not include the text of the proposed constitutional amendment) will be invalid. Petition Pages copied on legal size paper also will be declared invalid. Use the petition pages we sent you, or be very careful to copy the Petition Page so that it is in the exact form as the original.

John Schwob

The Missouri Children's Education Initiative (CEI) is a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution that will provide financial assistance to elementary and secondary school students throughout the state of Missouri. This proposal has the potential to generate significant assistance for private school children, for public schools, and for students with special needs. 

The money raised for public schools will be in addition to money already received through the normal tax-based funding process. And in many financially strapped public school districts, new programs can be initiated and financially threatened programs can remain in place.

Taxpayers will receive a 50% tax credit for the dollar amount of their donation to a nonprofit foundation that assists schools and school children. In addition to claiming the tax credit, taxpayers will continue to be eligible for the tax deduction granted under the federal income tax for charitable donations.

The funding of our elementary and secondary schools is very uneven and educational opportunities for our children are not the same for all. Families with financial means can choose to live in neighborhoods with good public schools or can afford to send their children to private or parochial schools. What about families of modest means or poor families? Their children are often stuck in poorly performing public schools without the same options that our wealthier citizens have. Is that fair? Equal opportunity of education should be a basic human right. The Children's Education Initiative is an attempt to provide more educational opportunities for more children.

I was blessed to attend Catholic elementary and secondary schools at great sacrifice from my parents. If I were a school-age child today, I question whether my parents could afford Catholic school tuition. My four children went to Catholic elementary and high school and the education they received and the moral and religious values instilled in them have paved the way for their being successful young men and women today. And at significant savings to tax payers!

With costs and tuitions rising, I want all children to have the same opportunities and choices that my children have had. The Children's Education Initiative will be a bold attempt to level the educational playing field and provide educational opportunities for all Missouri families.

John Schwob is the Director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and a member of the Public Policy Committee of the Missouri Catholic Conference. He has previously served on the St. Louis Archdiocesan Board of Catholic Education. He is married to Melanie and they have four grown children. He is a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Valley Park, a suburb of St. Louis.

You may be hearing a lot about CEI but wonder how you personally can get involved in seeking its passage. The first step is to contact your pastor and Catholic school principal and volunteer to gather signatures from parishioners and Catholic school parents. Your parish and Catholic school have all the tools you need to become a volunteer and help. Contact them today.

You can also help by making a contribution to the secular campaign committee--Missourian's for Children's Education. No successful campaign can depend solely on volunteers and good will; significant funding is also absolutely necessary. Make your check payable to Missourians for Children's Education, PO Box 144, Jefferson City, MO 65102. This donation is not tax deductible.

The Illinois legislature passed a bill this week re-defining the institution of marriage to recognize marriage between "any two persons," making Illinois the 13th state to recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.

St. Louis federal circuit court judge Jean Hamilton has dismissed a lawsuit brought by State Representative Paul Wieland challenging the HHS Mandate, ruling that he did not have legal standing to challenge the law. Wieland alleged in the lawsuit that as a result of the HHS mandate he has been denied the ability to opt out of having coverage in his state-issued health insurance plan for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, which he objected to having included in his health plan and the plan covering his wife and minor daughters. Missouri law allowed individual employees to opt out of having such coverage in their health plans prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.