kids

Michigan ends restriction on Catholic counselors who treat kids with gender dysphoria #Catholic Catholic counselors in Michigan who offer Catholic-based “talk therapy” to children who struggle with gender dysphoria and gender identity will be allowed to continue their services, according to a federal court order issued on July 31.Government officials in Michigan have agreed they will not enforce the state ban on "conversion therapy” on the counselors who work for Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee, and Hillsdale Counties or any other counselors engaged in “talk therapy.”The Catholic Charities affiliate sued Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials after the governor signed into law a ban on “conversion therapy.” This prohibited treatments that seek to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” This includes “efforts to change behavior or gender expression.”According to the law, counselors were allowed to offer “acceptance, support, or understanding” of a child who self-identifies with a gender inconsistent with his or her sex. The lawsuit filed by the Catholic Charities affiliate argued the law forced them to “affirm” that the child could identify with a gender that is inconsistent with his or her sex, which conflicts with Catholic teaching.The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.” The Vatican’s 2019 document “Male and Female He Created Them” teaches that sexual identity is a reality “given” through one’s biological and physiological nature. Officials in Michigan consented to a court order that acknowledges that the law — as enforced against the Catholic Charities affiliate — violates the counselors’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech.According to the court order, the state cannot enforce this law against the Catholic counselors or any other counselors in the state if the treatment “consists exclusively of talking.” The order is permanent and took effect immediately, upon the signature of Judge Jane M. Beckering.The Catholic Charities affiliate was represented by lawyers at the Becket Fund. Luke Goodrich, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the counselors, said in a statement that the order is “a major victory for children, counselors, and common sense.”“Kids who are hurting deserve compassion, not a one-way ticket to harmful drugs, hormones, and surgery,” he said. “Now counselors can offer compassionate counseling without fearing that state bureaucrats will come knocking.”This agreement comes four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that a similar ban on “conversion therapy” in Colorado violated the First Amendment rights of counselors, warning the state-level bans “suppress speech based on viewpoint.”Kimberly Bush, a spokesperson for Michigan’s attorney general’s office, said in a statement to EWTN News that Michigan entered into the agreement because of the Supreme Court ruling, but added: “We remain deeply disappointed in this decision and have grave concerns for the implications this could bring for the safety and welfare of Michigan’s children.”A spokesperson for Whitmer also expressed disappointment in the agreement in a statement to EWTN News."Governor Whitmer believes that every young person deserves the right to grow up safe, supported, and free to be themselves,” the spokesperson said.“This order is disappointing and represents a step back for the LGBTQ+ community,” the spokesperson added. “Michigan will never support any practice that harms or shames LGBTQ+ youth. The governor will continue to fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals are protected from attacks and that their voices are heard.”In June, Oregonʼs Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists withdrew disciplinary action against Catholic counselors who engaged in similar talk therapy, citing the Supreme Court decision as its reason.
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Michigan ends restriction on Catholic counselors who treat kids with gender dysphoria #Catholic Catholic counselors in Michigan who offer Catholic-based “talk therapy” to children who struggle with gender dysphoria and gender identity will be allowed to continue their services, according to a federal court order issued on July 31.Government officials in Michigan have agreed they will not enforce the state ban on "conversion therapy” on the counselors who work for Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee, and Hillsdale Counties or any other counselors engaged in “talk therapy.”The Catholic Charities affiliate sued Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials after the governor signed into law a ban on “conversion therapy.” This prohibited treatments that seek to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” This includes “efforts to change behavior or gender expression.”According to the law, counselors were allowed to offer “acceptance, support, or understanding” of a child who self-identifies with a gender inconsistent with his or her sex. The lawsuit filed by the Catholic Charities affiliate argued the law forced them to “affirm” that the child could identify with a gender that is inconsistent with his or her sex, which conflicts with Catholic teaching.The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.” The Vatican’s 2019 document “Male and Female He Created Them” teaches that sexual identity is a reality “given” through one’s biological and physiological nature. Officials in Michigan consented to a court order that acknowledges that the law — as enforced against the Catholic Charities affiliate — violates the counselors’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech.According to the court order, the state cannot enforce this law against the Catholic counselors or any other counselors in the state if the treatment “consists exclusively of talking.” The order is permanent and took effect immediately, upon the signature of Judge Jane M. Beckering.The Catholic Charities affiliate was represented by lawyers at the Becket Fund. Luke Goodrich, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the counselors, said in a statement that the order is “a major victory for children, counselors, and common sense.”“Kids who are hurting deserve compassion, not a one-way ticket to harmful drugs, hormones, and surgery,” he said. “Now counselors can offer compassionate counseling without fearing that state bureaucrats will come knocking.”This agreement comes four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that a similar ban on “conversion therapy” in Colorado violated the First Amendment rights of counselors, warning the state-level bans “suppress speech based on viewpoint.”Kimberly Bush, a spokesperson for Michigan’s attorney general’s office, said in a statement to EWTN News that Michigan entered into the agreement because of the Supreme Court ruling, but added: “We remain deeply disappointed in this decision and have grave concerns for the implications this could bring for the safety and welfare of Michigan’s children.”A spokesperson for Whitmer also expressed disappointment in the agreement in a statement to EWTN News."Governor Whitmer believes that every young person deserves the right to grow up safe, supported, and free to be themselves,” the spokesperson said.“This order is disappointing and represents a step back for the LGBTQ+ community,” the spokesperson added. “Michigan will never support any practice that harms or shames LGBTQ+ youth. The governor will continue to fight to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals are protected from attacks and that their voices are heard.”In June, Oregonʼs Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists withdrew disciplinary action against Catholic counselors who engaged in similar talk therapy, citing the Supreme Court decision as its reason.

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A Catholic Charities affiliate sued Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials after the governor signed into law a ban on “conversion therapy.”

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U.S. Vice President JD Vance and wife Usha welcome fourth child #Catholic U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, announced the birth of their fourth child, a baby boy named Alec Neel Vance, on Sunday, July 19.In a statement shared on social media, the couple wrote: “We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother.”The Vances are already parents to Ewan (9), Vivek (6), and Mirabel (4). Vance was received into the Catholic Church in 2019 and recently released a book about his faith journey, titled “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”Usha Vance, who is Hindu and has said she has no plans to convert, has shared that the family attends Mass together and sends their children to Catholic schools. She said in a June 2025 interview with Megan McCain that after her husband converted, “we had to have a lot of real conversations about how” to raise their children.“When you convert to Catholicism it comes with several important obligations, like to raise your child in the faith and all that,” she said.The couple allows their children to discern whether to be baptized; their son Ewan has since chosen to become Catholic.Vice President Vance has long spoken of children as a profound blessing and vocation.In a March interview with podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance reflected: “If I have one regret, it’s that I wish we had started earlier and had more, because it’s the most rewarding thing; it’s the coolest thing.”He said his three children, who have “their own little personalities” are “so quirky and fun.”To young men thinking of becoming fathers, but waiting until “everything in your life is perfect,” Vance had this to say: “I think that’s a ridiculous attitude … You’re never ready. There’s no point at which you can sort of get all your little ducks in a row and get … your financial situation in a row. Whenever you have a baby, whatever stage of life, it will be shocking, it will be crazy, it will be the most difficult and the most rewarding thing that you’ve ever done.”“You have kids, you figure it out,” he continued. “They’re the thing that perfects life. Fatherhood is the absolute best motivator.”His words on fatherhood align with his public advocacy for a renewed culture of life. In his first public address as vice president at the National March for Life in January 2025, he declared: “I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”The Vance’s happy news arrives against the backdrop of America’s ongoing demographic challenges.According to the latest CDC provisional data, U.S. births fell 1% in 2025 to 3.6 million, with the general fertility rate dropping to a record low of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15–44. The total fertility rate remains well below the replacement level of 2.1, continuing a decline since 2007.Catholic leaders have repeatedly called attention to this trend as a spiritual and cultural crisis.Pope Leo in May decried “the time of drastic sterility” in which we are living, emphasizing that discouraging demographic data “are not merely statistics but speak of fatherhood, motherhood, and children. And children are the future!”The Church’s teaching affirms openness to life, the gift of children and the vocation of marriage and family as a “domestic church.”U.S. President Donald Trump offered warm congratulations to the couple in a post on Truth Social: “Congratulations! A perfect baby boy for the wonderful Vance family,” accompanied by a photo of the newborn with two of his siblings.Usha and JD Vance’s baby is the first in modern U.S. history (and the first in over 150 years) for a sitting American vice president’s family. The last time a baby was born to a U.S. vice president was in 1870, when Vice President Schuyler Colfax (under President Ulysses S. Grant) and his wife Ellen welcomed a son, Schuyler Colfax III.
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U.S. Vice President JD Vance and wife Usha welcome fourth child #Catholic U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, announced the birth of their fourth child, a baby boy named Alec Neel Vance, on Sunday, July 19.In a statement shared on social media, the couple wrote: “We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother.”The Vances are already parents to Ewan (9), Vivek (6), and Mirabel (4). Vance was received into the Catholic Church in 2019 and recently released a book about his faith journey, titled “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”Usha Vance, who is Hindu and has said she has no plans to convert, has shared that the family attends Mass together and sends their children to Catholic schools. She said in a June 2025 interview with Megan McCain that after her husband converted, “we had to have a lot of real conversations about how” to raise their children.“When you convert to Catholicism it comes with several important obligations, like to raise your child in the faith and all that,” she said.The couple allows their children to discern whether to be baptized; their son Ewan has since chosen to become Catholic.Vice President Vance has long spoken of children as a profound blessing and vocation.In a March interview with podcaster Benny Johnson, Vance reflected: “If I have one regret, it’s that I wish we had started earlier and had more, because it’s the most rewarding thing; it’s the coolest thing.”He said his three children, who have “their own little personalities” are “so quirky and fun.”To young men thinking of becoming fathers, but waiting until “everything in your life is perfect,” Vance had this to say: “I think that’s a ridiculous attitude … You’re never ready. There’s no point at which you can sort of get all your little ducks in a row and get … your financial situation in a row. Whenever you have a baby, whatever stage of life, it will be shocking, it will be crazy, it will be the most difficult and the most rewarding thing that you’ve ever done.”“You have kids, you figure it out,” he continued. “They’re the thing that perfects life. Fatherhood is the absolute best motivator.”His words on fatherhood align with his public advocacy for a renewed culture of life. In his first public address as vice president at the National March for Life in January 2025, he declared: “I want more babies in the United States of America. I want more happy children in our country and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”The Vance’s happy news arrives against the backdrop of America’s ongoing demographic challenges.According to the latest CDC provisional data, U.S. births fell 1% in 2025 to 3.6 million, with the general fertility rate dropping to a record low of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15–44. The total fertility rate remains well below the replacement level of 2.1, continuing a decline since 2007.Catholic leaders have repeatedly called attention to this trend as a spiritual and cultural crisis.Pope Leo in May decried “the time of drastic sterility” in which we are living, emphasizing that discouraging demographic data “are not merely statistics but speak of fatherhood, motherhood, and children. And children are the future!”The Church’s teaching affirms openness to life, the gift of children and the vocation of marriage and family as a “domestic church.”U.S. President Donald Trump offered warm congratulations to the couple in a post on Truth Social: “Congratulations! A perfect baby boy for the wonderful Vance family,” accompanied by a photo of the newborn with two of his siblings.Usha and JD Vance’s baby is the first in modern U.S. history (and the first in over 150 years) for a sitting American vice president’s family. The last time a baby was born to a U.S. vice president was in 1870, when Vice President Schuyler Colfax (under President Ulysses S. Grant) and his wife Ellen welcomed a son, Schuyler Colfax III.

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“Children are the most rewarding thing,“ Vance said in an interview earlier this year.

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Notre Dame awards religious liberty prize to Becket Fund for Supreme Court wins #Catholic Notre Dame Law School awarded its 2026 Prize for Religious Liberty to the Becket Fund — a nonprofit law firm that has secured 13 Supreme Court victories in the past 15 years defending the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections.“We’re deeply honored to be recognized with the religious liberty prize,” Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi told EWTN News.“We’re honored to be able to be part of fighting to protect something that is very important for our country and the Church,” said Reinzi, who accepted the award at the July 8 conclusion of Notre Dame’s sixth annual Religious Liberty Summit in Chicago.Becket — established in 1994 to provide cost-free legal counsel to those whose religious liberties were violated — has an undefeated record at the Supreme Court.Its lawyers represented the Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby against contraception mandates, defended the rights of Maryland parents to opt their children out of gender-related coursework that conflicted with their religious beliefs, and backed a Catholic foster care agency that only placed children with opposite-sex married couples.G. Marcus Cole, a dean and professor of law at Notre Dame, said during the award ceremony that when the university started giving out the award, “we always imagined that it would go to one person.”“But when we think about the Becket Fund, it is an entire team of lawyers, led by Mark Rienzi, who have made a difference in our world, who have made our lives better,” he said. “And for that reason, we thought it only appropriate to give the award to the Becket Fund as an entity."Ongoing fights for religious libertyThe most recent victory secured by Becket came in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which ensured parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, had a right to opt their children out of coursework that included material related to gender that conflicted with their religious faith.Rienzi told EWTN News that “parents don’t give up the right to [raise] their children when they drop their kids off at the schoolhouse gates.” He added: “Your children don’t belong to the state just because you use a public school.”Becket represented Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Muslim parents in the lawsuit. Rienzi said religious parents have a right to “operate equally as a full citizen and full member of the public” by utilizing the public school system while maintaining the right to instill religious values in their children.“[This was] the most important case in at least 50 or 100 years in establishing that principle,” he said.Becket also secured the 2020 victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal regulations that exempted the religious sisters from mandatory contraception coverage in insurance plans.The sisters, however, are back in court after the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged those exemptions on separate grounds than those on which the court previously ruled. This case is now in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments on July 7. Becket is representing them again and Rienzi is the lead attorney on the case.“It’s outrageous that governments keep volunteering for the beating they get when they keep [going after] the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Rienzi said.He said “the law is really, really clear” that Pennsylvania cannot remove their exemptions from the mandate.Becket is also representing a coalition of Catholic preschools in Colorado that is suing the state because they were excluded from a “universal” tuition program. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Notre Dame awarded Becket the prize less than one week after Americans celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which culminated in the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which secured religious freedom.“God created everybody equal and equally free and gave them rights,” Rienzi said, adding that religious freedom is “essential to the declaration’s idea of who we are as a country and … [it] is crucial for maintaining it.”“It’s a shame that you still have to fight about it,” Rienzi said. “But on the other hand, it’s worth fighting for.”
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Notre Dame awards religious liberty prize to Becket Fund for Supreme Court wins #Catholic Notre Dame Law School awarded its 2026 Prize for Religious Liberty to the Becket Fund — a nonprofit law firm that has secured 13 Supreme Court victories in the past 15 years defending the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections.“We’re deeply honored to be recognized with the religious liberty prize,” Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi told EWTN News.“We’re honored to be able to be part of fighting to protect something that is very important for our country and the Church,” said Reinzi, who accepted the award at the July 8 conclusion of Notre Dame’s sixth annual Religious Liberty Summit in Chicago.Becket — established in 1994 to provide cost-free legal counsel to those whose religious liberties were violated — has an undefeated record at the Supreme Court.Its lawyers represented the Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby against contraception mandates, defended the rights of Maryland parents to opt their children out of gender-related coursework that conflicted with their religious beliefs, and backed a Catholic foster care agency that only placed children with opposite-sex married couples.G. Marcus Cole, a dean and professor of law at Notre Dame, said during the award ceremony that when the university started giving out the award, “we always imagined that it would go to one person.”“But when we think about the Becket Fund, it is an entire team of lawyers, led by Mark Rienzi, who have made a difference in our world, who have made our lives better,” he said. “And for that reason, we thought it only appropriate to give the award to the Becket Fund as an entity."Ongoing fights for religious libertyThe most recent victory secured by Becket came in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which ensured parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, had a right to opt their children out of coursework that included material related to gender that conflicted with their religious faith.Rienzi told EWTN News that “parents don’t give up the right to [raise] their children when they drop their kids off at the schoolhouse gates.” He added: “Your children don’t belong to the state just because you use a public school.”Becket represented Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Muslim parents in the lawsuit. Rienzi said religious parents have a right to “operate equally as a full citizen and full member of the public” by utilizing the public school system while maintaining the right to instill religious values in their children.“[This was] the most important case in at least 50 or 100 years in establishing that principle,” he said.Becket also secured the 2020 victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal regulations that exempted the religious sisters from mandatory contraception coverage in insurance plans.The sisters, however, are back in court after the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged those exemptions on separate grounds than those on which the court previously ruled. This case is now in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments on July 7. Becket is representing them again and Rienzi is the lead attorney on the case.“It’s outrageous that governments keep volunteering for the beating they get when they keep [going after] the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Rienzi said.He said “the law is really, really clear” that Pennsylvania cannot remove their exemptions from the mandate.Becket is also representing a coalition of Catholic preschools in Colorado that is suing the state because they were excluded from a “universal” tuition program. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Notre Dame awarded Becket the prize less than one week after Americans celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which culminated in the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which secured religious freedom.“God created everybody equal and equally free and gave them rights,” Rienzi said, adding that religious freedom is “essential to the declaration’s idea of who we are as a country and … [it] is crucial for maintaining it.”“It’s a shame that you still have to fight about it,” Rienzi said. “But on the other hand, it’s worth fighting for.”

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Becket President Mark Rienzi said the group is “deeply honored” to be awarded the prize, saying religious liberty “is worth fighting for.”

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Meet Fio: the Catholic alternative to Spotify aiming to bring faith to your playlists #Catholic For many Catholics, faith formation often competes with busy schedules and endless digital distractions. Fio, a Catholic audio streaming platform, hopes to change that by putting faith-filled content at listeners’ fingertips. Dubbed “the Catholic alternative to Spotify,” the platform offers a growing library of podcasts, audiobooks, and music, giving users a way to stay connected to their faith wherever life takes them.Currently, Fio is being used in over 100 countries, is host to over 100,000 hours of Catholic content, and has over 1,000 Catholic creators putting their work onto the platform. Will Hickl, co-founder of Fio, has been in the music industry for 15 years as a musician and founder of the Catholic record label Novum Records. During his career, he realized that secular platforms were not built for faith-based work — it was difficult to stand out, there was no fair compensation, and there was no community around it.With this in mind, Hickl, and co-founder Peter Buonincontro, launched Fio in 2023. The first version of the app hosted podcasts alone. The following year music was added, and the following year — thanks to a generous investor — the platform was able to host audiobooks and grow their collection of content. In an interview with EWTN News, Hickl shared that the platform’s “North Star” is the fact that he cares deeply about the artists and content creators.“We are a platform who, because we care, weʼre paying a penny per stream, which is already three to four times what Spotify pays,” he explained. “We want to offer better exposure and tooling. In fact, we already offer better exposure because a musician doesnʼt have to compete with 10 million other musicians. Thereʼs only maybe like 100, maybe 200 artists on the platform right now…thereʼs greater discoverability.”For creators, he hopes they would know that Fio “is the one that genuinely cares about them more than Apple or Spotify ever will.” From left to right: Will Hickl and Peter Buonincontro, founders of Fio. | Credit: Houston Dragna Currently, Fio offers three subscription levels for listeners — free, premium, and audiobooks +. While users who subscribe to the platform for free will have to listen to advertisements, Hickl pointed out that these ads “are reserved and curated for Catholic businesses, Catholic ministries, and then Catholic artists on the platform.”He also emphasized that these faith-based advertisements can also serve as a “cultural safeguard” so that parents who may be listening with children present don’t have to worry about inappropriate advertisements being played, as is the case with many secular platforms.Hickl explained that Fio aims to serve three different cohorts: Catholic creators, consumers, and businesses.“We are an artist first platform. We want to give you the best exposure, the best economics than any other platform,” he said. “For consumers, we want to give you greater choice, a better experience in terms of what you find, what your kids are exposed to. The third would be Catholic businesses who canʼt target based on religion on Facebook or Google or YouTube or anything like that. So weʼre offering a greater targeting mechanism, greater value in that regard.”For those seeking to have their content on Fio, they must go through a submission and review process. Before their content is accepted, creators must affirm that they are practicing Catholics who accept the teachings of the Church. They must also verify that their work was not primarily created by artificial intelligence. Lastly, each creator goes through a manual review process by the Fio team before their work is allowed to be on the platform.Looking to the future, the team at Fio is working on creating original content for the platform as well as being able to host video podcasts and music videos. Additionally, they are working to give Fio a more “liturgical feel.” For example, if there’s an important saint’s feast day, Fio would make suggestions to listeners of a podcast that talks about the saint or a song inspired by the saint.Hickl hopes that one day more artists will “be more excited about sharing their Fio link than the Spotify link.”He added that he hopes Catholics “would know I can trust this platform, it can and should be a part of my every day, because thereʼs so much treasure to discover.”“Thatʼs something I say a lot, which is that the Church has an immense amount of treasure and we just donʼt know about it. And so I want people to know the treasure is here and Fio is a place where itʼs aggregated,” he said.
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Meet Fio: the Catholic alternative to Spotify aiming to bring faith to your playlists #Catholic For many Catholics, faith formation often competes with busy schedules and endless digital distractions. Fio, a Catholic audio streaming platform, hopes to change that by putting faith-filled content at listeners’ fingertips. Dubbed “the Catholic alternative to Spotify,” the platform offers a growing library of podcasts, audiobooks, and music, giving users a way to stay connected to their faith wherever life takes them.Currently, Fio is being used in over 100 countries, is host to over 100,000 hours of Catholic content, and has over 1,000 Catholic creators putting their work onto the platform. Will Hickl, co-founder of Fio, has been in the music industry for 15 years as a musician and founder of the Catholic record label Novum Records. During his career, he realized that secular platforms were not built for faith-based work — it was difficult to stand out, there was no fair compensation, and there was no community around it.With this in mind, Hickl, and co-founder Peter Buonincontro, launched Fio in 2023. The first version of the app hosted podcasts alone. The following year music was added, and the following year — thanks to a generous investor — the platform was able to host audiobooks and grow their collection of content. In an interview with EWTN News, Hickl shared that the platform’s “North Star” is the fact that he cares deeply about the artists and content creators.“We are a platform who, because we care, weʼre paying a penny per stream, which is already three to four times what Spotify pays,” he explained. “We want to offer better exposure and tooling. In fact, we already offer better exposure because a musician doesnʼt have to compete with 10 million other musicians. Thereʼs only maybe like 100, maybe 200 artists on the platform right now…thereʼs greater discoverability.”For creators, he hopes they would know that Fio “is the one that genuinely cares about them more than Apple or Spotify ever will.” From left to right: Will Hickl and Peter Buonincontro, founders of Fio. | Credit: Houston Dragna Currently, Fio offers three subscription levels for listeners — free, premium, and audiobooks +. While users who subscribe to the platform for free will have to listen to advertisements, Hickl pointed out that these ads “are reserved and curated for Catholic businesses, Catholic ministries, and then Catholic artists on the platform.”He also emphasized that these faith-based advertisements can also serve as a “cultural safeguard” so that parents who may be listening with children present don’t have to worry about inappropriate advertisements being played, as is the case with many secular platforms.Hickl explained that Fio aims to serve three different cohorts: Catholic creators, consumers, and businesses.“We are an artist first platform. We want to give you the best exposure, the best economics than any other platform,” he said. “For consumers, we want to give you greater choice, a better experience in terms of what you find, what your kids are exposed to. The third would be Catholic businesses who canʼt target based on religion on Facebook or Google or YouTube or anything like that. So weʼre offering a greater targeting mechanism, greater value in that regard.”For those seeking to have their content on Fio, they must go through a submission and review process. Before their content is accepted, creators must affirm that they are practicing Catholics who accept the teachings of the Church. They must also verify that their work was not primarily created by artificial intelligence. Lastly, each creator goes through a manual review process by the Fio team before their work is allowed to be on the platform.Looking to the future, the team at Fio is working on creating original content for the platform as well as being able to host video podcasts and music videos. Additionally, they are working to give Fio a more “liturgical feel.” For example, if there’s an important saint’s feast day, Fio would make suggestions to listeners of a podcast that talks about the saint or a song inspired by the saint.Hickl hopes that one day more artists will “be more excited about sharing their Fio link than the Spotify link.”He added that he hopes Catholics “would know I can trust this platform, it can and should be a part of my every day, because thereʼs so much treasure to discover.”“Thatʼs something I say a lot, which is that the Church has an immense amount of treasure and we just donʼt know about it. And so I want people to know the treasure is here and Fio is a place where itʼs aggregated,” he said.

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Currently, Fio is being used in over 100 countries, is host to over 100,000 hours of Catholic content, and has over 1,000 Catholic creators putting their work on the platform.

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Trump administration cuts million in funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs #Catholic The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to cut tens of millions of teenage pregnancy prevention grants that don’t align with the administration’s goals.The department’s Office of Population Affairs, which designates grants for teenage pregnancy prevention, will divert million to open new grants for prevention programs, a source confirmed to EWTN News. The department will terminate 53 of 67 of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants following a department review, according to a Daily Signal report. The department reportedly described the current grants as “age-inappropriate,” “sexually explicit," and in violation of the program’s founding statute.Some of the current teenage pregnancy programs teach teens how to access abortion, while others promote transgender ideology or sexually explicit material.“Under programming favored by the Biden Administration, we saw too much emphasis on abortion and too little on protecting kids,” said Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life.Hamrick referred to various instances of programming that instruct high schoolers with sexually explicit content.“The kind of programming that tries to separate sexual activity from marriage or from babies, who are an important reality, misses the point,” Hamrick told EWTN News. “Pretending in programming that the presence or absence of a baby is the only thing to discuss, or that contraception comes with magical guarantees, doesnʼt begin to educate teenagers.”“Young girls being groomed by older men; sexually transmitted diseases or broken hearts are all part of this reality, which makes pushing abortion as a ‘solution’ seriously off base,” Hamrick continued.The administration is opening up new grants for pregnancy prevention programming more aligned with its goals, promoting two new funding streams according to two notices the department listed on Tuesday, totaling .1 million in grants. Applications close July 26.Andrea Trudden, spokeswoman for Heartbeat International, an organization of pregnancy help centers, noted that many pregnancy centers provide education that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies."Pregnancy help organizations serve as an important resource for young women when an unexpected pregnancy occurs, offering practical support, compassionate care, and information about the resources available to help them continue their pregnancies,” she told EWTN News.“Many of these organizations also provide sexual risk avoidance education that encourages healthy relationships, responsible decision-making, and behaviors that reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy,” Trudden continued."When a teen pregnancy does occur, the goal should be to ensure that no young woman feels she has to choose between her future and her child,” said Trudden.“Pregnancy help organizations have decades of experience walking alongside teens before, during, and after pregnancy, helping them build healthy futures,” said Trudden.“With the right support, education, parenting resources, and community assistance, teens can pursue their goals while welcoming the life of their baby,” Trudden said.“There are so many out there ready to help, at churches, at pregnancy care centers, and in the community,” Hamrick added.Hamrick noted that Students for Life lists resources at their webpage, Standing With You.“A baby represents hope and a future, and for a family, whether by birth or adoption, and we need to help teenagers understand that they are not alone, that many will help, and that this is the beginning of another personʼs story,” Hamrick said.
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Trump administration cuts $67 million in funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs #Catholic The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to cut tens of millions of teenage pregnancy prevention grants that don’t align with the administration’s goals.The department’s Office of Population Affairs, which designates grants for teenage pregnancy prevention, will divert $67 million to open new grants for prevention programs, a source confirmed to EWTN News. The department will terminate 53 of 67 of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants following a department review, according to a Daily Signal report. The department reportedly described the current grants as “age-inappropriate,” “sexually explicit," and in violation of the program’s founding statute.Some of the current teenage pregnancy programs teach teens how to access abortion, while others promote transgender ideology or sexually explicit material.“Under programming favored by the Biden Administration, we saw too much emphasis on abortion and too little on protecting kids,” said Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life.Hamrick referred to various instances of programming that instruct high schoolers with sexually explicit content.“The kind of programming that tries to separate sexual activity from marriage or from babies, who are an important reality, misses the point,” Hamrick told EWTN News. “Pretending in programming that the presence or absence of a baby is the only thing to discuss, or that contraception comes with magical guarantees, doesnʼt begin to educate teenagers.”“Young girls being groomed by older men; sexually transmitted diseases or broken hearts are all part of this reality, which makes pushing abortion as a ‘solution’ seriously off base,” Hamrick continued.The administration is opening up new grants for pregnancy prevention programming more aligned with its goals, promoting two new funding streams according to two notices the department listed on Tuesday, totaling $71.1 million in grants. Applications close July 26.Andrea Trudden, spokeswoman for Heartbeat International, an organization of pregnancy help centers, noted that many pregnancy centers provide education that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies."Pregnancy help organizations serve as an important resource for young women when an unexpected pregnancy occurs, offering practical support, compassionate care, and information about the resources available to help them continue their pregnancies,” she told EWTN News.“Many of these organizations also provide sexual risk avoidance education that encourages healthy relationships, responsible decision-making, and behaviors that reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy,” Trudden continued."When a teen pregnancy does occur, the goal should be to ensure that no young woman feels she has to choose between her future and her child,” said Trudden.“Pregnancy help organizations have decades of experience walking alongside teens before, during, and after pregnancy, helping them build healthy futures,” said Trudden.“With the right support, education, parenting resources, and community assistance, teens can pursue their goals while welcoming the life of their baby,” Trudden said.“There are so many out there ready to help, at churches, at pregnancy care centers, and in the community,” Hamrick added.Hamrick noted that Students for Life lists resources at their webpage, Standing With You.“A baby represents hope and a future, and for a family, whether by birth or adoption, and we need to help teenagers understand that they are not alone, that many will help, and that this is the beginning of another personʼs story,” Hamrick said.

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The Department of Health and Human Services is cutting grants for teenage pregnancy prevention programs that promote abortion, sexual activity for minors, or transgender ideology.

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