Did you know that the care for God's creation is intimately connected with how we live out our own human nature? From September 1 until the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4, the Church is observing its annual Season of Creation. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see how we've been highlighting that connection all month long, with a continuous line of thought from John Paul II's Centesimus annus all the way up to the Congregation for Catholic Education's 2019 document Male and Female He Created Them.
Made for Love is returning soon!
Made for Love will be returning before the end of the year! Our podcast on living out the call to love has a lot of highlights already, so be sure to catch up with some of them here.
The USCCB recently updated its website, which includes the pages for the Subcommittee for the Promotion & Defense of Marriage. The new site is mobile-friendly, meaning it is now much easier to access our Resources, Frequently Asked Questions about marriage, and more. Be sure to bookmark our new homepagefor easy access!
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Indy Catholic Teacher Case - On September 8th, both the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Indiana state attorney general filed amicus curiae briefs with the state supreme court in favor of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was let go for being in a same-sex "marriage."
Protecting Women's Shelters - On September 11th, the USCCB filed public comments with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in support of a proposed regulation that would grant temporary and emergency shelters flexibility with respect to an earlier rule that would otherwise force them to accommodate people (such as in sleeping and showering spaces) based on their self-asserted "gender identity."
Conversion Therapy - On September 17th, Louisville, KY, became one of the latest cities to ban "conversion therapy" for minors. Dozens of towns of all sizes have been pursuing such bans to stop a harmful practice, but they tend to do so in an overbroad manner that could limit the ability of mental health professionals to talk with patients about accepting their given body or living chastely.
New Terms in Law - On September 21st, Congress passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, which appears to contain the first use of the term "LGBTQ" in a federal statute. The president is expected to sign it into law.
Protecting Women's Sports - On September 22nd, Senator Kelly Loeffler introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2020. The bill would define policies that allow males to participate in student athletic activities designated for women and girls as a violation of Title IX for recipients of federal funding in education.
Back to School - New "LGBTQ-inclusive" curricula took effect in Illinois and New Jersey as the new school year got underway in September.
California - In September, California passed laws that will make prisons generally place and accommodate people based on "gender identity," require "LGBT" data in COVID reporting, lower penalties for same-sex conduct against minors (to match the penalties for conduct against minors of the opposite sex), and set up a $15 million fund for "gender confirmation" medical procedures. The legislature also sent the governor a bill require corporations to have "LGBT" persons on their boards.
Foster Care & Adoption - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia on November 4th. In June, the USCCB had filed an amicus curiae brief in the case, in which the ability of Catholic foster care and adoption services to continue to operate without being mandated to place children with same-sex couples is at stake.
