Inside the Capitol

It is no question that the family plays an irreplaceable role as the first economic unit, the first classroom, and the first community that each of us experiences. Parents perform the irreplaceable work of nurturing the next generation of thinkers, artisans, and caregivers. So, as the Minnesota legislature is now crafting the next biennial state budget and deciding what to do with a 17-billion-dollar surplus, Minnesota’s bishops are urging our lawmakers to place families first in their considerations.

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The Families First Project is an advocacy campaign of the Minnesota Catholic Conference to remove economic roadblocks that Minnesotans confront along their journey of forming and raising a family. This week’s column focuses on one Families First policy proposal that helps young people identify and secure stable long-term employment in the trades.

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“Public authorities have the duty to sustain the family . . . the family does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, no. 214)

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A core principle of Catholic Social Teaching is to exercise, in our public policy making and in our various labors, a preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. One way of thinking about that principle is that the poor and vulnerable should have the first claim on our resources and attention as we consider various policy questions. Children—especially unborn children—are among the vulnerable populations in our society.

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The legislature continues to press ahead at a rapid pace, and the Minnesota Catholic Conference is working hard to ensure the Catholic voice is represented on a variety of key issues, always in service to the common good.

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The Capitol is once again buzzing with activity and the staff and bishops of the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) are hard at work advocating for legislation that promotes human dignity and opposing legislation that devalues the human person. The first week of session has been filled with opportunities for all people of goodwill to together enact policies that promote a consistent ethic of life and that put families first.

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The 2023 legislative session will be filled with challenges and opportunities. Governor Walz and DFL legislative majority leaders promised to use their historic “trifecta” to, at the outset, make our state’s abortion regime even more permissive and legalize recreational marijuana. These policy challenges present a tremendous opportunity for Minnesota Catholics to, as Pope Francis has said, “meddle in politics” by proposing a positive vision: the ability to choose what we ought, not the license to choose what we want.

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Now that the election is over, many of you are asking, “Now what?”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops makes it clear that “responsible citizenship is a virtue and participation in political life is a moral obligation.” (USCCB, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,13)

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