Bishop Barron on the Call to Love
The latest episode of Made for Love features our own chairman, Bishop Robert Barron! He unpacks the "Christian distinction" to answer questions like: why is Christianity different from all other religions in what it says about God, his relationship with the world, and what it means to love?

Find previous episodes of the podcast here and share it with your friends!
Religious Freedom Week 2023
During Religious Freedom Week, which begins June 22, the feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, the USCCB invites Catholics to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom. This is especially needed as the Church has come under intensified attack over the past year in the United States, Nicaragua, and Nigeria.
Positive Findings in Response to Gender Theory
A Washington Post poll showed encouraging signs that a majority of Americans, including young people, believe that human beings are intrinsically male and female, contrary to the claims of LGBT activists. Over 60% said that policies on sports participation and puberty blockers should reflect that reality.
Pride Events and the Catholic Faith
As part of an already-problematic recent tradition of holding Pride Nights, the Los Angeles Dodgers invited an explicitly anti-Catholic group of drag performers who mock the habits of consecrated religious sisters. The Dodgers then withdrew their invitation after initial criticism, and then renewed the invitation after further criticism from the opposing side. Bishop Barron spoke about the harm done by the group and by the Dodgers' endorsement of anti-Catholic bigotry.

A Catholic parish in Manhattan is hosting an art exhibit which rejects Christian theology and anthropology. Originally titled "God is Trans" until the Archdiocese of New York expressed concerns, the exhibit is now titled "A Queer Spiritual Journey".
Legal/Policy Updates
FDA and Contraception – A panel of FDA advisors recommended that a contraceptive pill be made available over the counter for the first time, even as the FDA acknowledged the breast cancer risks of hormonal contraceptives. Bishop Barron, as LMFLY chairman, issued a statement opposing the advisors' recommendation.

Schools – Parents filed suit against the Montgomery County, MD school board for its new curriculum requirements of several pro-LGBT texts for K- 5th grade. An Indiana school counselor filed suit after she was fired by her school district for objecting to its radical policy requiring staff to conform to gender ideology in pronoun usage and other areas. Cincinnati's school board advised its schools to consider reporting child abuse if parents did not affirm their child's transgender identification.

States – Vermont required insurers to cover "Gender Affirming Care" (GAC), but several other states passed laws in the opposite direction. Missouri banned GAC for minors and restricted it for some adults. Oklahoma and Texas also banned GAC for minors. North Carolina passed a similar ban, but primarily concerning surgery. Nebraska combined its ban on GAC for minors with a 12-week abortion ban. Florida banned the use of opposite-sex communal bathrooms on state and local government property. Iowa passed a law similar to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, banning teachers from instructing students on sexual orientation and gender identity issues through 6th grade, and also removing books that depict sex acts from school libraries. The Louisiana legislature advanced a similar bill but for K-12th grade, which opponents are again attempting to label "Don't Say Gay".

International – The European Court of Human Rights moved to force Romania to recognize same-sex "marriage", which the nation has three months to appeal. Spain's Constitutional Court agreed to hear a challenge to a February law allowing anyone over the age of 16 to change their legally recognized sex without parental consent. A second Japanese district court ruled that a ban on same-sex "marriage" was unconstitutional, coming six months after the first such ruling was overturned by a higher Tokyo court. Taiwan, the only Asian country which recognizes same-sex "marriage", allowed the same couples to adopt children with whom they had no blood relation.