Mahony Calls for No Retreat From Affirmative Action : Politics: In a pastoral letter, cardinal urges Catholics to vote against any attempt to weaken laws in next year’s election. He says church’s duty is to help shape ‘the moral and human dimensions.’

With one eye on moral teaching and the other on grass-roots politics, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony warned Thursday against any retreat on affirmative action laws and called on Roman Catholics to make their votes felt in next year’s election.

“It will be unacceptable to support any proposals that communicate--even implicitly--that further progress toward the elimination of racial discrimination is neither necessary or possible,” Mahony wrote in a pastoral letter, which was directed primarily at Catholics but invited others to join in seeking “equitable” affirmative action laws.

“We cannot allow changes to be made that are based on premises which deny that racial discrimination continues to exist in society today,” Mahony said.

He called on the parishes serving 3.5 million Catholics in the Los Angeles archdiocese--the nation’s largest--to mount a major nonpartisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote drive next year. He also urged the archdiocese’s 284 parishes and 11 missions to sponsor an 18-month-long voter education program on affirmative action, beginning as soon as possible.

The cardinal’s pastoral letter comes as the state’s politicians brace for what promises to be a bruising electoral battle next year over the volatile issue of affirmative action.

Gov. Pete Wilson, a prospective candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, is supporting a proposed ballot measure that would prohibit state and local government from using race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin to either grant preferences or to discriminate against individuals in hiring workers or awarding contracts.

On the national level, Republican Sens. Bob Dole of Kansas and Phil Gramm of Texas are calling for revamping federal rules on affirmative action.

Affirmative action is destined, Mahony said, to be at the center of next year’s political controversies. But while others speak of the political and emotional implications, Mahony said it was the church’s duty to help shape the debate by addressing “the moral and human dimensions.”

How successful he will be even among Catholics remains to be seen. A Los Angeles Times poll found in March that Catholics differed little from other Californians in their views on affirmative action.

When asked about the proposed ballot initiative favored by Wilson, 61% of Catholics said they favored the proposal, compared to 70% of Protestants and 66% of all Californians.

When asked whether they favored affirmative action programs that use quotas to help women and minorities get jobs or affirmative action programs without quotas, 46% of Catholics favored programs without quotas, compared to 51% of Protestants and 49% of all Californians. Another 25% of Catholics favored affirmative action programs with quotas, and 19% of Catholics opposed affirmative action programs entirely.

The Times poll was conducted between March 4 and 9 and interviewed 1,390 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Mahony said three principles should guide discussions of affirmative action:

* “Although progress has been made, we must not fail to remember that societal and institutional racism and discrimination, and their effects, remain deeply woven into the fabric of society.

* “Any proposal to reform the status of affirmative action policies and programs must not fail to advance society toward the elimination of discrimination against those who have historically and systematically suffered from it.

* “Society, including government, has a responsibility for eliminating the discrimination historically suffered by certain groups of persons and an obligation to take an active role in setting standards and providing mechanisms for relief.”

Mahony did not specifically endorse or oppose the proposed ballot initiative. That decision will only be made if the proposal qualifies for the ballot. But the cardinal, long known for social activism, has taken on the political Establishment before.

Last year, he was among many religious leaders to oppose Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative that was approved by voters in November.

More recently, in discussing welfare reform in last week’s issue of The Tidings, the archdiocesan newspaper, the cardinal cautioned against caps on welfare spending and inflexible deadlines that would cut off financial assistance before recipients have jobs.

On affirmative action, he made it clear Thursday that he believes that government continues to have a major role in redressing social and racial inequities.

“When government fails to provide the necessary initiative to combat discrimination, the erosion of the rights and opportunities of those historically excluded from participation in society is all but assured,” Mahony said in the letter.

He also warned against suggestions that affirmative action programs have completed the task.

“The temptation of the current debate regarding the future of affirmative action is to adopt the view of those who claim that the fight against economic, social and racial discrimination has been fully successful and who press for the surrender of protections won after a long and bitter battle,” he wrote.

“Successes we can claim have been real, but limited,” he added, “and were achieved only because of vigilance and determination. Only vigilance and determination will ensure that we do not regress.”