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MCC Responds to St. Louis Challenge to Marriage Amendment
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 The Missouri Catholic Conference issued a statement this week stating that public officials in St. Louis have failed in their duty to protect the institution of marriage and the common good by openly defying Missouri's constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This week St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay chose to participate in events directly challenging the marriage amendment in an apparent effort to have the amendment declared unconstitutional in Missouri. The Archdiocese of St. Louis also issued a statement regarding the decision.
The truth about marriage being the union of one man and one woman has been under attack for some time now. This is no surprise to anyone who reads the news. This week, a federal appeals court-the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals-declared Utah's constitutional amendment on marriage invalid, and another court in Indiana struck down a marriage amendment. The Missouri marriage amendment, however, has not been struck down to date by any court and remains the law; it is disappointing when public officials use their office to openly defy the law of the state of Missouri and contravene the common good.
Although he supports same-sex marriage, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has sought a temporary injunction to stop St. Louis from issuing marriage certificates to same sex couples. For two recent articles on this development click here and here.
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Governor Nixon Holds Back $1 Billion in the State Budget
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 Governor Jay Nixon announced this week that he was vetoing or freezing more than $1 billion in state funding, with sizeable cuts in funding to public education. Governor Nixon said the cuts were necessary for the 2015 fiscal year that begins July 1 because the legislature passed a budget that was "dangerously out of balance." The cuts include nearly $276 million in line-item vetoes and $846 million in temporary withholds that could be released at a later date.
Nixon blamed the cuts on several factors including a final-day "spending spree" by the legislature in which 10 tax cuts were passed and the failure of the legislature to pass Medicaid expansion, which the governor's budget office believes could have saved on state spending by taking advantage of an increased federal match in the program. Slower-than-expected growth in state revenues also compounded the situation.
"It is one of the most basic principles of responsible fiscal management: you can't spend more than you take in," Nixon said.
The cuts include $100 million for K-12 funding formula, $12 million for the needs-based college scholarship, Access Missouri, $15 million from K-12 transportation, and $43 million for Higher Education. The governor will also eliminate 260 state jobs and close 19 regional state offices for various state agencies. Funding was also withheld for restored general dental coverage, occupational, speech, and physical therapy benefits for Medicaid recipients that the legislature had eliminated a decade ago. There were also cuts to the alternatives to abortion program-see next article. A complete listing of budget cuts can be found here.
The Governor did announce that the withholds could be released at a later date if the general assembly doesn't override his vetoes of the tax cuts bills when they return in September for the annual Veto Session. A two-thirds vote by lawmakers in each chamber is needed to override the governor's veto.
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Increased Funding for Alternatives to Abortion Nixed
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 Governor Nixon used his line-item veto power this week to veto $500,000 in additional funding that was appropriated to the Alternatives to Abortion (ATA) program during the 2014 legislative session. He also withheld $500,000 from existing funding for ATA, citing concerns about decreased state revenues. The upshot is that the ATA program will continue to exist, but will operate with funding at $500,000 below 2013 levels for the time being.
His actions will hurt those organizations that work to assist women facing crisis pregnancies in the state of Missouri by significantly decreasing access to state funds. Governor Nixon could release the $500,000 he withheld from the program at some point in the 2014 fiscal year. The MCC remains hopeful that state revenue will be such that he will do so.
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Governor Signs Bill to Allow Food Stamps for Ex-Drug Felons
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Under a bill signed by Governor Nixon late last week, Missouri will relax its lifetime ban on providing food assistance to people who have served time for felony drug offenses. SB 680, sponsored by Senator Kiki Curls (D-Kansas City), will allow people with three or fewer past drug felonies to receive food stamps if they meet certain conditions, such a passing a drug test, enrolling or completing a drug treatment program, or being determined not to need such treatment.
Missouri was one of ten states that still had the lifetime ban enacted as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. States did have the ability to "opt out" of the ban and over the years most states rejected the harsh restriction.
The Missouri Catholic Conference, along with Catholic Charities St. Louis, and the Missouri Association for Social Welfare were among numerous groups that advocated for many years to lift the ban. The MCC thanks all the network members who contacted their legislator in support of the bill. This was a victory long in the making!
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U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down 35 Ft. Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone
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Ruling that a thirty-five foot buffer zone violates the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 2007 Massachusetts law that established a buffer zone around abortion clinics. Pro-life sidewalk counselors challenged the law, arguing that it infringed upon their ability to get their message of life and hope to expectant mothers considering abortion in Massachusetts.
The Court ruled that the thirty-five foot buffer zones in question were not a legitimate way for the State to ensure public safety and access to public walkways. The Court did not outlaw buffer zones altogether, but stated that the thirty-five foot Massachusetts buffer zones "burden substantially more speech than necessary to achieve the Commonwealth's asserted interests."
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Vatican Issues Working Paper for Upcoming Synod on the Family
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This week the Vatican released a working paper that will serve as an initial reference point for discussion of the current challenges facing families at the October Synod of Bishops. The official topic for the Synod is: The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization. The 85 page working paper summarizes input from bishops, clergy, parishes, movements, families, specialists and academic institutions, both Catholic and non-Catholic.
The preface of the paper declares that: "The family is an inexhaustible resource and font of life in the Church's pastoral activity." The task of the Church is to "proclaim the beauty of the vocation of love which holds great potential for society and the Church." In a nod to the messy and imperfect nature of much of modern family life, the preface recalls an observation of Pope Francis: "the Lord never tires of forgiving: never! It is we who tire of asking his forgiveness." Future MCC Summer Updates will offer more discussion of this working paper and the upcoming synod. |
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Out of Wedlock Births are the New Normal Among Millennials
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The traditional sequence of getting married and then having children is no longer the norm for most Millennials, the generation that came of age at the dawn of the 21st century. This generation is more apt to cohabit before marriage. In many cases, they will have children and marry later, or not marry at all. But there are stark differences among the Millennials themselves, suggesting that a cultural chasm may be opening up between the well educated and everyone else.
A new study by Andrew J. Cherlin and other scholars at John Hopkins University takes a look at marital and non-marital births among the Millennials. The study analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1997 cohort. Those tracked reached ages 12-16 in 1997 when they were first interviewed and they have been interviewed every year since then. They reached the ages of 26-31 by 2011.
According to Cherlin and his colleagues, most births to non-college educated women occurred outside of marriage. Even women with some college education had only 45% of their births within a marriage. In stark contrast, among women who had completed a four-year college degree 71% of their births occurred within marriage.
The marital births by college graduates, however, did not alter the general picture. Births by women completing college represented only 19% of the births in this age group. The college grads are the exception to the general rule. They are postponing marriage and childbearing, with first births occurring, on average, at age 28, compared to age 22 for those women with only a high school degree.
Data on non-marital births can be misleading if one assumes children are being born only to single moms. Cohabitation is increasingly common. But Cherlin and colleagues find that cohabitation is much more common among those without a college degree. Below find several charts that show the contrast between women who have a college degree and other women.
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