The family is the first economic unit, the first classroom, and the first community that each of us experiences. Parents do the irreplaceable work of nurturing the next generation of thinkers, artisans and caregivers. As the Minnesota Legislature crafts the next biennial state budget and decides what to do with a $17 billion surplus, Minnesota’s bishops are urging lawmakers to place families first in their considerations.

On March 23, six Minnesota bishops gathered at the State Capitol — a yearly tradition of advocacy. While Minnesota Catholic Conference staff are deployed to be their voice on legislative issues, the bishops make it a priority to advocate in person on key issues and get to know legislators. Those gathered were Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Bishops Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Daniel Felton of Duluth, Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Patrick Neary of St. Cloud and Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester.

This year, the bishops met with Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leadership, including Sen. Bobby Joe Champion — president of the Senate — and Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson. They also met with Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Liz Olson, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth and House Minority Whip Rep. Jim Nash.

The bishops also met with Catholic lawmakers from their individual dioceses, which had not been done in past years. In the spirit of faithful citizenship, it was a rewarding experience for the bishops to get to know or strengthen their relationships with many of the Catholics serving at the Capitol.

In total, the bishops had nearly 40 meetings and conversations throughout the day. They brought to each of these meetings a positive vision of the family.

Focus on families

The bishops highlighted the need to support Minnesota families struggling with the costs of inflation and the need to combat addictions, gender ideology and the influence of social media.

The bishops advocated for a robust, ongoing Child Tax Credit, a top priority for the MCC and one that appears to have bipartisan support among lawmakers and Walz. The bishops said tax credit features should include an income threshold that reaches into the middle class, and no cap on the number of children covered in a family.

One step toward combating the often-negative impact of social media, as the bishops advocated throughout the day, would be to prohibit the use of social media algorithms on children under 18 (HF1503/SF2101). The bishops shared their pastoral experiences of helping families navigate the psychological strain social media is having on young people. They also pointed out that it is often through social media that seeds of gender theory are planted, fertilized and start to grow. By embracing gender ideology, today’s culture aims to blur the line between man and woman by ignoring the union between body and soul, and between our Creator and his creation. This ideology leads to the view of humans as plastic that can be molded and reimagined at ease. Inundating youth with such gender ideology implants confusion, on which some act and mutilate their bodies, causing irreversible damage. The bishops asked Walz and legislative leaders to re-think their push to make Minnesota a sanctuary state for “gender-affirming care” and to slow down the legislation that is being fast-tracked through the Legislature.

The bishops also expressed their opposition to, and concerns about, the push to legalize recreational marijuana and sports gambling because of the clear negative impacts these vices will have on those who are vulnerable to addiction, as well as on children and families.

During their meetings, the bishops gave their support to an Earned Sick and Safe Time proposal, which would provide workers the ability to earn one hour of time off for every 30 hours worked. This is vital to family life because illness in one’s life or family is inevitable. Caring for newborns, children, the sick and the elderly (and being cared for ourselves) is an integral part of family life that must be respected and promoted. Unfortunately, many working people are forced to make impossible financial choices between caring for themselves or a loved one and missing a paycheck or even getting fired. This program is one more way to put families first in Minnesota.

Also, in line with keeping families together, lawmakers provided positive feedback to the bishops for their strong support over the years for providing an immigrant driver’s license. With access to a driver’s license, not only can our immigrant brothers and sisters now access vehicle insurance, but also, and most important, it helps ensure families will not be separated through deportation due to driving without a license.

Modeling faithful citizenship

During their meetings, the bishops modeled faithful citizenship. Even in areas of disagreement, the bishops stood for the truth that the Church teaches, while recognizing that these are difficult issues on which there are an array of considerations. They displayed the principled, not partisan, advocacy that the Church can provide, which allows for collaborative work on both sides of the aisle.

You can also live out the call to faithful citizenship by acting on these important issues that will impact families across Minnesota. Visit the mncatholic.org/actionalerts to send a message, video or phone call to lawmakers urging their support for policies that put families first.

For more ways to advocate for policies that put families first, check out the Families First Project at familiesfirstproject.com, where you can find draft legislation to propose to your legislators, as well as information and resources for a variety of policy proposals.