Guidelines for Advocacy, Lobbying, and Political Action
As elections all over the world have shown, using the Internet for political action involves an amazingly powerful medium. However, because our Church and schools are tax-exempt nonprofit religious entities, we are subject to strict laws and internal policies on lobbying and political activities, as well as special reporting rules. The archdiocese has guidelines on what kinds of activities are and are not permitted. As a general matter, during an election season the archdiocese uses only informational and voter education materials that are approved and issued by the California Catholic Conference. Therefore, before a location publishes anything using any medium, including a website, consult the archdiocesan guidelines and contact the Office of the Legal Counsel if there are any questions. See also the California Catholic Conference’s Guidelines for Advocacy, Lobbying and Political Action.