In Minnesota a Catholic priest contacted his Representative - John Kriesel [R-Cottage Grove] - urging him to withdraw his opposition to allowing the people to vote on marriage. Here's the snide response the priest received from a Kriesel staffer:

Mr. Echert, 

I would like to respectfully remind you that the Internal Revenue Service frowns upon churches and religious organizations devoting time to influencing legislation. Your admission of the commencement of a politically involved "campaign" will probably violate several state and federal tax provisions.

The priest writes in his parish bulletin that "Representative Kriesel stands by this response and stated that he does not care if this exchange is made public..."

Churches and other charitable groups may spend up to 10 percent of their budget on lobbying, and speaking up for moral issues generally they can do in an unlimited way. What would have happened if churches were disallowed from speaking out against slavery, abortion or civil rights?

Moreover Catholic priests, like everyone else, are U.S. citizens and have every right to contact their legislators. Rep. Kriesel should be ashamed of himself for threatening a constituent for contacting him.

ACTION: Join our efforts to encourage Rep. Kriesel and all MN representatives to Support the Marriage Amendment! The vote could be any day!