News & Updates

Statement from the Most Reverend Paul Sirba, Bishop of the Diocese of Duluth, August 17, 2017:

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Delivered to Members of the Minnesota State House of Representatives

God of all Creation,
The majestic beauty of our State reminds us that you are the source of all blessings.
At the beginning of this new year and of this legislative session,
we humbly ask for your blessing
on our legislators and on all who collaborate in their work.
Bestow on them an abundant share of your wisdom
and a deep desire to serve the common good.

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Session is over and a budget has been created for the next biennium. Here’s how key MCC legislation fared:

• Opportunity Scholarships left out.

For the second year in a row, the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program was cut from the final tax bill during negotiations between the Legislature and the Governor. If passed, these tax credits would’ve helped create scholarships for low and middle income students to attend non-public schools, and would’ve given parents more freedom and flexibility in choosing the education for their children.

Although this set-back is disappointing, Opportunity Scholarships made it further than they ever have before in Minnesota, and the importance of parental choice in education was a constant theme of discussion at the Capitol. We look forward to building off this momentum as we work to help more kids have access to a quality education that is consistent with their faith and values.

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One evening a couple of weeks ago, I was filling up my car at a gas station and a man whom I did not know came up to me and said, “Father, I hope you are praying for our country!” I said that I am praying, and I hoped he was, too. His sentiment captured what many of us feel about our country, especially regarding the upcoming election. For conscientious Christians, many of us find our nation in a state of crisis.

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Faithful Citizenship means prayerful, active, and responsible participation in the political process. That includes knowledgeably exercising the right to vote with a well-formed conscience.

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A recent full-page advertisement in the Star Tribune, paid for by a national group calling themselves “Catholics for Choice,” woefully misrepresents the noble Catholic social justice tradition. By calling for public funding of abortion, “Catholics for Choice” disregards the need to defend vulnerable human life in all its stages—a principle at the core of authentic social justice.

If there is a desire to help a woman in need who is facing an unplanned pregnancy, the solution as a society is to provide her with the resources and support she needs to care for her child—not help her dispose of it. Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned such a mentality as part of the throwaway culture that attacks the dignity of the weak and vulnerable because they seem inconvenient and make a claim upon our care and resources.

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Faith leaders, others discuss ways to nurture ‘ecological conversion’ in churches, homes, and the broader Minnesota community

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To the Faithful of the Diocese of Winona: Commit to Faith in Christ Jesus and Our Daily Relationships

Last week on June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States of America announced, that same sex marriage is legal in every state. This decision has far reaching consequences for our culture and is very divisive and disappointing. The Church however, will continue to teach and uphold the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman for the procreation and raising of children. At the same time, the Church will always welcome and reach out to those who are same sex attracted.

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