ROCKFORD—Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, spoke to an Aug. 21 “All Hands” meeting of Catholic Charities staffers, held at St. Elizabeth Catholic Community Center in Rockford.
Gilligan explained the duties of CCI, the public policy arm for the six bishops in the State of Illinois, as “representing Catholic Church interests in Springfield.”
Many of the around 10,000 bills introduced each year affect life issues, including housing, immigration, abortion, assisted suicide, and also Catholic education and other Church concerns, he said.
Many things have changed since Gilligan began at CCI in 2003, including the loss of state contracts for adoptions.
He spoke of his interactions with the bishops, some of the effects of Pope Francis’ recent encyclical and anticipated impact of the pope’s upcoming visit to the U.S., including the issue that Gilligan said was most important: religious liberty.
The media will play his visit out for two days, Gilligan said, “and we’ll have to react to it for years. These are very exciting times, (with) a lot of challenges as well. We are called to evangelize and become leaders in our own way.”