Advocating for the poor and voiceless in California: the work of the California Catholic Conference

I'm a fifth generation Californian who loves any excuse to reflect on my home state, so I was thrilled when the California Catholic Conference commissioned me to draft some stories to celebrate the conference's 50th anniversary. There will be several more throughout 2021, but the opening overview of CCC history has just posted.

It was a particular pleasure to interview some of the retired bishops, who have such a long, deep and wide perspective on the work of the conference. On the day it opened its doors in 1971, the public affairs arm of the California bishops was defending the rights of migrant farmworkers, doing all in its power to protect the lives of unborn children and urging all lawmakers in Sacramento to prioritize the needs of the poor. And it is still doing so.