Amidst the ongoing news of mass shootings and gun deaths across the country, the latest edition of Focus explores the issue of gun violence and offers a Catholic response as public policymakers continue to propose and enact gun safety legislation, including here in Michigan. The intention behind this Focus is to demonstrate why gun violence is an issue of public concern, inform Catholics about the Church's stances on gun policies, and to invite Catholics to look at gun violence from the perspective of the Church’s social principles. Read more…

With the Legislature away at Mackinac this week and just a few weeks left before summer break, here’s a recap on what legislation MCC has supported this session and where the bills currently stand. Read more…

The Governor signed more MCC-backed gun safety legislation, and new information is provided on two MCC-supported packages to promote restorative justice for prisoners and crime victims. Finally, a new bishop for the Diocese of Kalamazoo was named this week, who will soon join the MCC Board of Directors. Read more in this Lansing Update…

MCC this week released poll data confirming widespread Michigan voter support for longstanding abortion regulations, including among pro-choice and Proposal 3 voters. Also this week, the Governor signed an unfortunate bill creating an abortion mandate on employers. Read more about that as well as other updates on legislation MCC is tracking in this week’s Lansing Update…

In this column, MCC describes the recent trend of lawmakers acting to expand abortion in Michigan after Proposal 3, and urges them to take a different course and find ways to prevent abortion from happening. Read more…

The legislative majority and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would be going against the will of Michigan voters — and for the Governor, her own stated position — if legislation advances to remove the requirement that parents give consent for their children to undergo abortion, according to polling data released today by Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC). Read more…

MCC is calling on grassroots supporters to tell their House members to pass a bill to make immediate tax relief possible for hundreds of thousands of Michigan families. Plus, MCC offered support to a bill that would shine a light of transparency on the state’s predatory payday lending industry. Read more in this week’s Lansing Update…

The Senate passed child sex abuse prevention bills backed by the MCC that have been five years in the making. However, the Legislature also sent the Governor the bill opposed by MCC that would create an abortion mandate on employers. Read more in this week’s Lansing Update…

Michigan Catholic Conference responded with strong opposition to the legislative majority’s approval of Senate Bill 147, which would create an abortion mandate on employers in Michigan. MCC notes in its statement that it is wrong to push employers into providing employee benefits related to abortion if they offer paid maternity leave or insurance coverage for childbirth, and that the premise of equating childbirth to abortion offends human dignity. Read more…

The budget-setting process for next year is fully underway, and MCC is tracking items of interest to charity agencies and nonpublic schools. Read more about where spending proposals stand along with other legislative updates in this week’s Lansing Update…

Despite the uphill battle it entailed, MCC staff earlier this year deployed essentially every tool in the advocacy toolbox to fight for the rights of schools, charities, and organizations who wish to serve others in the public square according to the teachings of their faith. Read more about our advocacy efforts for putting religious protections in the state civil rights law in The Word from Lansing…

A bill that equates abortion with childbirth when it comes to employe benefits advanced in the Legislature, prompting MCC to issue an action alert to Catholics to contact their lawmakers to oppose the bill. Separately, MCC-supported bills to ensure safe drinking water in schools and to proactively prevent sexual abuse moved forward. Read more in this Lansing Update…