Advertise on podcast: MCC from the Capitol

Dr. David Stansfield, a retired family medicine physician, recently spoke with Jamie Morris on MCC from the Capitol podcast, about the critical need to restore basic protections for women at abortion clinics that were lost after the passage of the 2024 pro-abortion constitutional amendment. Dr. Stansfield, president of the Catholic Medical Association's St. Louis Guild, stated that Amendment 3 is a step in the right direction toward more ethical and medically responsible abortion regulations.

Jamie Morris, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Missouri Catholic Conference, joins Brandy Meeks, President of the Vitae Foundation, to discuss Vitae’s research on the men’s emotional perceptions of abortion and unexpected pregnancy, along with an update on pro-life Amendment 3.

Curt Wichmer, MCC Legislative Counsel, recently sat down with Heidi Moore, Executive Director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP), to discuss the work of MADP, the current landscape of executions in Missouri, how to get involved, and judicial loophole.

MCC Executive Director and General Counsel Jamie Morris discusses legislative victories and challenges from the legislative session with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel, and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, Hispanic Outreach Manager.

Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph gave the homily for the Midwest March for Life 2026 Mass.

In the latest MCC from the Capitol podcast, Jamie Morris, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel, discusses updates on legislation that the MCC is following with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel, and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, Hispanic Outreach Manager. They discuss the hearing on a bill to repeal the death penalty, a bill that would establish the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, a bill that would require ID to view pornographic websites, as well as an update on Amendment 3. (Thanks to GovWatch for the death penalty hearing audio clips.)

Jamie Morris, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel, spoke with Fr. Peter Fonseca regarding the Catholic Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life and rejecting physician-assisted suicide. Fr. Peter Fonseca serves as the Director of Continuing Formation for Priests in the Archdiocese of St. Louis while pursuing a PhD in health care ethics at St. Louis University. He has a strong background in health care ethics and was formerly a medical student. Mr. Morris and Fr. Fonseca discuss the current state of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. and around the world and what the future of healthcare looks like for the patient and the doctor.

Executive Director and General Counsel, Jamie Morris, discusses legislation that the MCC is following with Curtis Wichmer, Legislative Counsel and Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, hispanic Outreach Manager

Missouri is now one of just 10 states in the country with a correctional nursery program.  Before the program’s launch, incarcerated mothers were typically separated from their newborns within 24 to 48 hours after delivery. Infants were usually placed with relatives or sometimes were placed into the foster care system.  This program offers a different path—one grounded in dignity, healing, and the belief in second chances.  MCC talks with Kim Perkins, nursery program manager at  the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (WERDCC) in Vandalia. Kim discusses the challenges and successes of the program.

The Missouri Catholic Conference’s Legislative Counsel, Curt Wichmer, recently met with Emmjolee Mendoza-Waters, Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network’s (CMN) Death Penalty Abolition Program, on the MCC from the Capitol Podcast. Topics of discussion included an outline of CMN’s mission and various efforts to curb the prevalence of capital punishment in the United States, as well as how Missouri stands apart from virtually every other state in the country in its use of judicial override at death penalty sentencing trials.

Recently, Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba, Hispanic Outreach Manager at the MCC, spoke with Dr. Javier Orozco, Executive Director of Human Dignity and Intercultural Affairs for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and Sister Tracey Horan, Associate Director of Education and Advocacy at the Kino Border Initiative, about the different ways in which Catholics can serve our immigrant brothers and sisters. They shared their experiences at the Southern Border, in pastoral ministry at the archdiocesan level, and in the political arena through lobbying, to provide a broad picture of how the Church advocates for immigrants and refugees in our country.

Judy Henderson is a prominent advocate for criminal justice reform and women’s rights. She was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1983 and spent over thirty years in the Missouri prison system before her release in 2017. While incarcerated, Judy became a dedicated activist and outspoken critic of abuses within the prison system. She led campaigns for legislation to recognize battered woman syndrome as a legal defense, and she spearheaded programs to help mothers in prison maintain connections with their children. Her courageous work earned Judy broad respect among policymakers, attorneys, and fellow inmates. Since her release, Judy has continued her justice reform advocacy beyond prison walls. She frequently speaks on panels, gives media interviews, and meets with legislators to provide insights only possible from her firsthand experience. Judy also volunteers with groups that support former inmates’ successful reentry to society. Her book "When the Light Finds Us: From a Life Sentence to a Life Transformed," can be purchased on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

The Missouri Catholic Conference reviews the 2025 Missouri legislative session. Discussion includes the passage of HJR 73, the demise of the immigration bounty hunter bill, and the passage of safe baby boxes.

With the Missouri General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session ending last week, the MCC is pleased to announce that SB 72 (better known as the Bounty Hunter Bill), SB 58, and other measures that posed a threat to the dignity of immigrants in the state, did not pass and thus will not become laws. The only bill related to immigration that will become a law makes translation and interpretation services for criminal, civil, and juvenile proceedings, payable from state-allocated funds. We thank lawmakers from both parties for listening to the concerns of the Catholic Church and ultimately protecting the dignity of every person in the state of Missouri. In this video, Dr. Guillermo Villa-Trueba gives a brief recap of the immigration bills of the 2025 legislative session in Spanish (en español). Visit https://mocatholic.org/podcasts/ for more podcasts and information.