The Minnesota Independent reports on the most recent efforts of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to lend Catholic support to a ballot initiative that would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in that state:

Archbishop John Nienstedt sent a letter to every priest in the state at the start of October urging them to put every Catholic church in Minnesota to work passing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

“It is imperative that we marshal our resources to educate the faithful about the Church’s teachings on these matters, and to vigorously organize and support a grass roots effort to get out the vote to support the passage of the amendment,” the letter read. It went out on Oct. 4 to every priest in the state.

The archbishop said it wants priests in every parish to identify a “church captain” in order to create an “ad hoc committee” in every church in the state. The “church captain” is a component of the Schubert Flint strategy used in 2008′s divisive Proposition 8 battle in California.

The strategy mirrors a similar one used by conservative Christians in California to pass Proposition 8 and end marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The online paper links to a copy of the Archbishop’s letter here. You may remember the controversy surrounding an expensive DVD campaign against same-sex marriage in the same archdiocese last year. Some background on same-sex marriage in Minnesota here, and an Archdiocesan statement clarifying it’s dissociation with a group called Catholics for Marriage Equality MN here.

Michael J. O’Loughlin is the executive editor and C.E.O. of National Catholic Reporter. Previously he was the national correspondent at America. He is also the author of Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.