The first issue of the digest has been sent to every Catholic member of the House of Commons and House of Lords — about 500 politicians and legislators in all.
«Its purpose,» said Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, general secretary of the bishops’ conference, «is to provide Catholic parliamentarians and others working in the public policy arena at Westminster with up-to-date information about what briefing papers are available from the bishops’ conference secretariat and three of its agencies — CAFOD, Caritas-Social Action, and the Catholic Education Service — on current bills or government consultations.»
«We have taken this initiative in response to requests from a number of Catholics who said they did not know what was available from the bishops’ conference or its agencies to support them and nor did they know to whom to go with queries,» Monsignor Summersgill said.
«Our aim is to produce a short digest of this kind three times a year during a parliamentary session,» he added. «It is available electronically on the bishops’ conference Web site at www.catholicchurch.org.uk and the briefing papers referred to can be downloaded from there.»
