"Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, for the U.S. Bishop’s Conference, launched the Love Means More project on February 21.  The initiative, which includes short articles and audio files are lessons on love, sex, sexuality and marriage taken from Catholic Church teaching.  The lesson’s aim is to expand the efforts begun by the United States Bishops Conference previous foray into the topics with their website: Marriage: Unique for a Reason, in the Fall of 2011.

 According to the press release regarding the initiative’s launch, the project website also seeks to address questions and concerns in regards to the Church’s position on some more controversial issues such as divorce and remarriage, issues experienced by same sex attracted people or those who identify as LGBT, and those who defend pornography.  The plan is to continue to roll out additional resources on the core topics as time goes on.  Bishop Baron said he hopes the website will shine a light into some of these areas that are often very hard to talk about.

 “Conversations about love, marriage, sexuality, family, and the human person can be confusing and polarizing”, said Bishop Barron. “This is why I am pleased to announce the launch of Love Means More to help bring clarity and compassion to those questions,” he said.

 The website has a very modern look and takes the visitor through very basic concepts of Church teaching on questions such as: What is love? Is love a feeling? What is goodness? Is biological sex inherent to each human being? Isn’t gender different than sex?  After each short article explaining the answer to the question the visitor is invited to select their next step, if they want to learn more.

 The website and its content is a direct response to wide consultations with bishops, pastors, educators, medical and mental health professionals, and lay Catholic leaders involved with family life ministry. You can visit the new Love Means More website by going to lovemeansmore.org.

Article Written by Tere Johnson, MA PS, CMF from Stella Maris Center, March 1, 2024