Category Archives: Connection

Tax Injustice in the Republican Budget

Tax Injustice in the Republican Budget

What We Could Do if Billionaires Paid What They Owe

Jarrett Smith

Annexing Greenland, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, selling Teslas on the front lawn of the White House — all are examples of gaslighting the American people so as not to address the real issues at hand: Republicans in Congress want to make devastating cuts to essential public programs for working people to fund tax cuts to billionaires. These executive actions are deliberate attempts to shift the focus away from the critical need for a fairer tax system.

The faithful must pick a side. Our decision will have ramifications for future generations. We can continue to support enriching the wealthiest individuals, who already have an outsized
influence on our economy and politics, or we can start looking at ways to make the wealthiest pay what they owe in taxes.

One of the most egregious aspects of the Republicans’ current Budget Reconciliation proposal is its emphasis on reviving the disastrous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which gives tax cuts to billionaires and large corporations. These tax giveaways are not only unjust, they’re also economically irresponsible. Take, for example, the harm done to by eliminating vital regulations that protect workers, consumers, and the environment. When the richest handful of people continue to pay lower tax rates than working-class families, it sets a dangerous precedent — one that perpetuates wealth inequality, destabilizes the economy, and weakens our democracy.

Tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy are also rarely used to invest in innovation, job creation, or social good. Instead, they often lead to increased stock buybacks, executive bonuses, and dividends — actions that enrich a small group of individuals at the detriment of the rest of society.

If we redirected just a fraction of the wealth accumulated by the top 1%, we could significantly improve the quality of life for millions of people. Here is what the federal government could fund if we made billionaires pay what they owe in taxes:

  • Universal health care: A fully funded, universal health care system would ensure access to quality care for all, regardless of income. We would be free of devastating medical bills and denials of needed treatments. We would never have to worry about getting the care we need, for ourselves or our loved ones.
  • Affordable housing: We could combat the growing crisis of housing insecurity and homelessness, and ensure that everyone has access to safe, stable living conditions. This would alleviate the strain on emergency shelters and reduce the financial strain on low income families.
  • Education for all: We could ensure that all children have access to a high-quality education from early childhood through higher education. Investing in education is one of the most powerful ways to break the cycle of poverty and create a more equitable society.
  • Clean air and water for our neighborhoods: We could address the climate crisis by investing in renewable energy, green jobs, and sustainable infrastructure. This would protect our planet and create jobs in the process.
  • Social safety nets: Expanding programs like Social Security, unemployment insurance, and food assistance would help us to retire with dignity and provide critical support for when we go through hard times.

New federal tax policy focus would unleash so many possibilities to help our communities can thrive. Join NETWORK in calling for a fairer tax code, more funding for public programs, and an end to the disproportionate tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Together, we can create a system that works for everyone, not just the billionaires and mega-corporations.

This story was published in the Quarter 2 2025 issue of Connection.

Juneteenth 2025: Black Liberation Demands Truth, Repair and Justice

Juneteenth 2025: Black Liberation Demands Truth

Min. Christian S. Watkins, Government Relations Advocate
June 18, 2025
“We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.” — Pope Francis 

I grew up before Juneteenth was a federal holiday; it was a cherished time for family reunion. Kinfolk from all over Texas, northern Louisiana, and other cities of the U.S. Black diaspora would come together. I remember the BBQ and the trail rides, the laughter and love celebrated amongst each other — even as we slaughtered each other at the dominoes or spades tables — all culminating in communal worship at the closest family church. I never knew that people outside of Texas didn’t know what Juneteenth was, let alone had the blessing to celebrate family, safety, and survival as we did.

Some of my fondest memories were cultivated at Juneteenth reunions, and they planted in me strong values of freedom, solidarity, and community. Even though many don’t gather and celebrate as families from diverse areas now because we’re mainly struggling to make ends meet and survive daily challenges, the values are still deeply rooted within.

No matter our color, zip code, or what’s in our wallets, we all want to live in a nation where every person is treated with dignity, where families can thrive, and where truth shapes justice. That vision is sacred—and it’s one Black Americans have long fought to bring into being.

This Juneteenth, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice joins the celebration of Black liberation and resilience in the United States. We honor the ancestors whose lives were sacrificed and those who survived the chains of slavery, the freedom fighters who defied Jim Crow, and the generations of movement builders who continue to press forward in bending the long moral arc more toward justice. And today, we are grateful for the fierce advocacy and legislative efforts of Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee, Hank Johnson; Sen. Cory Booker; and others. Together with our communities, they are continuing to push for Reparatory Justice and carrying forward the legacies of the late Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and John Conyers. The congressional briefing on May 13th on “Why We Can’t Wait: Advancing Reparative Justice in Our Lifetime” was a testament to the collaborative efforts to make justice happen. Their individual and collective work over decades has won rights and protections that uplift all of us. (See below to learn more about current reparatory justice legislation.)

But full freedom has never been fully delivered. Our celebration is not complete without a call to action. Juneteenth is not only a commemoration of delayed freedom, but also a demand for complete freedom. And complete freedom requires truth-telling and repair of past harms, and a commitment to present and future equity.

A Juneteenth Commitment to Truth and Repair

For over 150 years, many lawmakers have chosen policies that have denied Black Americans the full promises of emancipation. Economic justice, political equality, and social dignity were promised—but never delivered. This Juneteenth, we recommit to changing that.

The Urgency in 2025: Threats to Our Freedoms and Black Dignity Today

Some politicians, including the current Administration, are working to divide us by race and distract us from their true agenda: hoarding power and wealth while cutting off our communities from what we need to thrive. By targeting Black communities, these lawmakers weaken our whole country.

Since January 2025, the Trump administration has engaged in:

  • Civil Rights Erosion and Equity Rollback: President Trump’s Executive Order 14151 has abolished federal diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates, while key civil rights enforcement arms in agencies like Education and HUD face debilitating cuts, revoking decades of equity progress.
  • Defunding of Essential Services: The Administration’s budget proposals slash funding for HUD by 43%, dismantle Head Start programs, and eliminate public housing support—threatening Black families, single mothers, elders, and children across the country.
  • Economic Assault: In addition to HUD disruption, education and health programs face devastating cuts, displacing families and widening the racial wealth gap.
  • Police Accountability Reversals: Consent decrees and oversight agreements in cities like Minneapolis and Louisville have been canceled, signaling a retreat from justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others.
  • Public Servants Purged: President Trump has arbitrarily removed over 130,000 public servants—many of them Black, Brown, and women— for not passing ideological loyalty tests. This undermines decades of equity in hiring and workforce stability, and ruins the livelihoods of thousands of workers.
  • Environmental Racism Neglect: The Trump administration has gutted the EPA’s environmental justice initiatives, despite overwhelming data showing that polluting corporations deliberately build toxic facilities in Black communities, polluting their air, water, and land.
  • Cultural Suppression: Artists are being surveilled and prosecuted for their speech, while courts strip away protections from state violence.

These attacks harm everyone, but especially the dignity, freedom, and futures of Black communities. They are not just policy differences—they are a systemic assault on justice, truth, and human life. In this context, reparations are not only just—they are urgent.

A Continued Faithful Response is Necessary

As Catholics, we are called to repair what has been broken. We believe in resurrection power—that new life is possible even after the most morally-reprehensible, state-sanctioned death. In this nation, crucifixion has fallen most heavily on Black bodies. Juneteenth is a resurrection moment—proof that even after the deepest injustice, new life is possible.

Our tradition teaches that truth must precede reconciliation, and that repair is a spiritual discipline. As Pope Francis reminds us, “Every human being is precious.” That sacredness demands a public reckoning with the truth and a commitment to systemic transformation, so that all of us can thrive.

The Catholic tradition compels us to address injustices directly. In particular, the Catholic Social Justice principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, the common good, and the preferential option for the poor are not theological abstractions—they are mandates for action.

Our Call to Action

This Juneteenth, NETWORK calls on Congress and the President to:

  • Declare that racial repair is not optional—but essential to the soul of our nation.
  • Pass H.R. 40 and the Reparations NOW Resolution.
  • Enact the TRHT, Tulsa-Greenwood, RAP, and G.I. Restoration Acts. (See below to learn more).

We also call on Catholics and people of faith to:

  • Celebrate Black dignity with more than words—with policy, action, and repair.
  • Pray for the courage to speak uncomfortable truths and pursue bold justice.
  • Preach the truth of Juneteenth—not just as history, but as present-day struggle.
  • Lobby and organize for reparatory justice in parishes, schools, and communities.

Juneteenth is not just a day of remembrance—it is a holy invitation.
Let us finish the work.
Let justice roll. Let truth rise. Let freedom be full.

Amen.

Reparatory justice is a comprehensive vision of thriving communities. We renew our urgent support for a suite of reparatory justice legislation, including:
  • H.R. 40/S.40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act of 2025 – Reintroduced in the House on January 3rd by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, with over original 70 co-sponsors. Reintroduced in the Senate on January 9th by Sen. Cory Booker.
  • H.Res.414 – The Reparations NOW Resolution of 2025 – sponsored by Rep. Summer Lee, introduced on May 15th – A declaration that the time for study is over and the time for federal action on reparations is now. Press release, photos, and videos.
  • S.Con.Res.19/H.Con.Res.44 – The Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Commission Resolution of 2025 – co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker & Rep. Jasmine Crockett – A national commission for truth-telling, racial healing, and transformation that names 1619 as the founding wound.
  • S.1051 – Historic Greenwood District – Black Wall Street National Monument Establishment Act of 2025 – Introduced on March 13th co-sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. James Lankford.
  • H.R. 1725/S. 3257 – G.I. Bill (Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren of the Institutionalized Generation) Restoration Act of 2025/2023, introduced on February 27th and sponsored Rep. Seth Moulton in the House, and by Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2023 in the Senate, the bill will deliver G.I. Bill benefits to descendants of Black WWII veterans unjustly denied support, unlocking opportunities long withheld.
  • H.R. 2952 – Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act of 2023, sponsored by Rep. Hank Johnson – Protecting Black artists from the criminalization of cultural expression in a federal criminal or civil case.
  • H.R. 3466 – The Tulsa-Greenwood Claims Accountability Act of 2021, sponsored by Rep. Hank Johnson – A remedy for descendants of the 1921 massacre, restoring access to courts and justice.

These are not radical proposals—they reflect the heart of Catholic Social Teaching: the call to human dignity, solidarity, and the preferential option for the poor. As a Catholic organization committed to justice, we proclaim that reparations are not a radical idea—they are a moral obligation, and our only path to a future of freedom for all of us.

Take Our Juneteenth Field Pledge

In the light of truth, I confess the destructive reality of racism—not with shame, but with responsibility and hope.

I remember the wounds of slavery, segregation, and stolen opportunity.
I affirm: Black lives are sacred. Black history is American history.
As taught by Catholic Social Teaching, every person bears the Imago DEI—God’s sacred and uniquely diverse image—and justice demands both acknowledgment and repair.

I renounce comfort that comes at the cost of another’s suffering.
I choose solidarity over silence, truth over denial, and reparations as a necessary act of restorative justice.

Rooted in the dignity of all people and the call to the common good, I recommit to the long work of racial healing, to honoring Juneteenth not with sentiment, but with action.

By God’s grace, I will journey in truth.
By Christ’s help, I will labor in love.
By the Holy Spirit’s power, I will stay in the struggle—until justice rolls down for all.

Amen.

Laudato Si’ at 10 Years: A Decade of Prophetic Witness for Our Common Home

Laudato Si’ at 10 Years:

A Decade of Prophetic Witness for Our Common Home

Drake Starling
June 5, 2025

Ten years ago, Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato si’, shook the world and stirred the consciences ofPope Francis Appears before crowd people across faiths, beliefs, and the world. Pope Francis invited us into a radical reflection on how we relate to the Earth, to one another, and to the generations yet to come.

Laudato si’ was a clarion call to conversion—ecological, spiritual, economic, and political. And 10 years later, its message has only grown more urgent.

A Prophetic Vision

Pope Francis did not merely write about climate change — he extended a call for climate justice. It was a call about dignity. It was a call about systems. He named the ecological crisis not as a technical problem with a technical solution, but as a moral crisis born of the “throwaway culture” that treats both the Earth and its most vulnerable people as disposable.

Francis called for an “integral ecology,” one that recognizes the deep interconnectedness between environmental destruction and social injustice. As he framed it: “The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” are one and the same. Pope Francis put forth a vision of our future in which all creation, including humanity, thrives. This vision spans from breathable air, clean water, and healthy soil to clean energy systems, dignified jobs with good conditions and wages, and quality education, health care, and housing for all.

That vision changed the game. It catalyzed action among Catholic institutions and beyond: schools divested from fossil fuels, parishes installed solar panels, and Catholic climate activists joined movements demanding systemic change—from local resilience efforts to global climate negotiations.

Where Are We Now?

Ten years on, the planet is hotter, and the climate crisis is accelerating. Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities—those who have contributed the least to global emissions—suffer the harshest consequences of climate-related disasters, like wildfires, floods, and droughts. All the while, fossil fuel corporate executives, their lobbyists, and the politicians they bankroll continue to block meaningful solutions so they can keep on polluting and profiting. In fact, instead of protecting people and the planet, they hoard profits and power—leaving frontline communities to pay the price.

This is what we are witnessing today, as the Trump administration and some lawmakers in Congress try to slash funds for clean energy programs and roll back regulations for clean air and clean water for their own greedy reasons.

Yet, there is hope.

The spirit of Laudato si’ is alive. It’s alive in Indigenous land defenders resisting deforestation. It’s in young people demanding climate action. It’s in Catholic Sisters’ growing community gardens and doing advocacy work in Congress. It’s in the international Laudato Si’ Action Platform, where Catholic institutions commit to a just ecological transition. It’s in public and low-income housing where the Inflation Reduction Act funds programs to replace unsafe gas appliances with clean energy units. It’s in Catholic parishes across the country with Laudato Tree and Care for Creation teams.

And, it’s alive at NETWORK. In 2022, we successfully advocated for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA moved us into action for climate justice. It delivered well-paying green jobs, growth in solar and wind energy marketplaces, and more. Today, we’re working to protect and expand the progress of the IRA.

A Challenge for the Next Decade

As we mark this milestone, we must resist the temptation to sentimentalize Laudato si’. It was—and remains—a disruptive document. A holy provocation. A moral compass in a time of ecological unraveling.

In Laudate Deum, his 2023 follow-up encyclical, Pope Francis reminds us that the time for reflection has passed. Now is the time for bold action. His urgent call demanded that we confront the systems of power blocking change and act with those on the frontlines of ecological and human suffering.

NETWORK’s An Economy for All policy agenda responds to Pope Francis’ call. Guided by our agenda, we are together advocating for policies that make it possible for all of us to live with dignity—with clean air and water, dignified jobs and wages, and political systems responsive to the people, not to those with the most money.

Will we move beyond words to put this vision into action? Will we choose fossil fuel phaseouts over false solutions? Will we center the voices of those in poverty, the young, and the marginalized in our climate decisions? Will we let the Earth rest?

We owe it to our children. To the Earth. To our Creator.

A call to action on the 10th anniversary of Laudato si’
  1. Call your members of Congress and tell them to protect the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits. These vital investments help fight climate change, reduce harmful pollution, and build a future where all can thrive — especially those most impacted by environmental injustice.
  2. Share Laudato si’ with 10 people.
  3. Join your congregation’s care for creation efforts (or work with others to start one).
  4. Read about efforts to bring environmental justice to communities besieged by climate harm, like this one about Black women in Louisiana taking on polluters.
  5. Learn more about environmental injustice in your community with the environmental justice data project action portal.

As Pope Francis wrote, “All it takes is one good person to restore hope.” May we be many.

Holding onto Hope

Holding onto Hope

Grounding Ourselves in Encounter and Community is the Way Forward

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM

Nuns on the Bus & Friends riders stand around the graves of Cesar and Helen Chavez as their grandson, Andres Chavez, leads the Prayer of the Farm Worker’s Struggle.

On a warm, sunny morning in Keene, California, Nuns on the Bus & Friends riders stood around the graves of Cesar and Helen Chavez while Andres Chavez (their grandson) led us in the Prayer of the Farm Worker’s Struggle.

“Show me the suffering of the most miserable. Thus, I will know my people’s plight,” Andres prayed, and we repeated.

As we begin 2025 and gear up for a new administration and a new Congress, I find myself returning to this prayer as a source of encouragement amid the struggle that we will be up against with the new Trump administration. I also find myself searching for hope and encouragement to hold onto as we fight for the rights of so many people.

Nuns on the Bus & Friends was a boost of energy and belief in the power of people who come together in search of the common good. From coast to coast, we were welcomed into neighborhoods and communities. We witnessed the resurrection of a community when meeting with the Resurrected Community Development Foundation in Allentown, PA; celebrated liturgy and broke bread with the community in Cleveland at Blessed Trinity Parish; learned from NETWORK’s Coston Fellows at the Town Hall in Milwaukee, WI; and walked along the Border with Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, AZ.

No matter where we were, we heard about the struggle to ensure that all people—no matter their country of origin, faith tradition, economic status, age, or gender—have what they need to thrive. We learned about people who saw a need and did all they could to meet that need in their communities.

Sometimes it included feeding people out of the trunk of their car; other times it involved launching an internet service provider to ensure that neighbors had access to the internet.

Everywhere we went, we heard stories about people seeing a need and meeting a need. This was the gift of the Bus – to give us enough hope, joy, and courage to hold onto as we head into this upcoming year.

As we all know, less than a month after the Bus ended, a stark reality descended upon us. Our fight for thriving communities, for an Economy for All, will be much more difficult.

Make no mistake: the next four years will be difficult and filled with challenges. But we cannot let ourselves lose focus.

We cannot let ourselves be swayed by angry rhetoric that attempts to divide us by demonizing so many members of our communities: immigrants, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those who depend on life-saving programs like SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid.

Nuns on the Bus & Friends riders visit the National Chavez Center.

These are times that will require us to dig deep, to root ourselves in our communities across the country, to hold onto hope and joy, and to continue the fight for equality and justice.

We must work together to create a country where all people are welcomed; where all people are seen as created in the image of God; and where all people have what they need to thrive.

As we begin 2025, we may find it easy to think about giving up hope and to throw in the proverbial towel. We must reflect on the words of the Prayer of the Farm Workers’ Struggle, so that we can “let the spirit flourish and grow so that we will never tire of the struggle.”

For some of us, that means we cannot allow our privileges of being safe from deportation or discrimination of any kind to lead us into complacency. With a renewed commitment, we must be led into authentic solidarity with our neighbors, our communities, our cities, and our country.

This story was published in the Quarter 1 2025 issue of Connection.

Where Do We Go Now?

 

Where Do We Go Now?

From Sadness and Fear to Community and Hope

Joan F. Neal
January 30, 2025

Joan F. Neal is NETWORK’s Interim Executive Director.

It has always been true in our country — and reflected in our experience at NETWORK — that our greatest strength is in our communities, especially our grassroots friends, neighbors, and families. We were inspired and overwhelmed with gratitude at every stop of the Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote Our Future” tour last fall, with the good people and the good work we encountered along the way.

In the wake of the outcome of the recent federal election, we now know these neighborhoods, parishes, local service agencies, and mutual aid networks will be even more important in the years ahead. The incoming administration’s agenda will likely prove disastrous for many of the places we visited. They have promised to slash funding for communities who rely on federal housing, food, and health care programs. The president-elect promised mass deportations of our neighbors, violent repression of our Constitutional freedom to protest, retribution against political opponents, and so much more. This agenda threatens to destroy rather than support our communities.

For many people this is the cause of great fear, grief, disappointment, and even anger. Sadly, Catholics played a consequential role in the outcome of the Presidential election. Exit polls reported that, despite Catholic teaching and Gospel values, 61% of white Catholics voted for Donald Trump and 58% of all Catholics voted for him, an increase in Catholic support compared to 2020, when 50% of Catholics voted for him. This support carried him to victory. On the other hand, according to a National Catholic Reporter poll in seven battleground states, nearly 7 out of 10 Hispanic Catholics and more than 80% of Black Catholics supported Kamala Harris.

Beneath these numbers lie deep-seated beliefs and attitudes. In the PRRI American Values survey, 61% of white Catholics canvassed agreed that “immigrants should be kept in armed camps,” a view that directly contradicts the Catholic teaching about welcoming our immigrant neighbors. This is a systematic failure of catechesis when so many purported followers of Jesus are unable to look beyond a small handful of wedge issues to see how their views and their vote are disconnected from the common good and our shared humanity.

We justice-seekers have some choices to make. We can surrender, or we can speak out and resist every attempt to curtail our freedoms, deepen our country’s corrosive wealth gap, push people to the margins of our society or out of our country altogether, and demonize anyone who disagrees.

We can use our vote, our voice, our values, and our agency to defend our inclusive community, our way of governing ourselves, our principles, our respect for truth and the integrity of our faith, the dignity of all people, and the sacredness of creation. We can be the change we want to see in our neighborhoods, our country, and our communities of faith. But it will take affirmative and consistent resistance to do it.

At NETWORK, we will be joining our coalition partners — faith-based and secular — to stop bad federal legislation and to support positive policies wherever possible. We will mobilize our grassroots members and supporters to lobby their Congressional Representatives and Senators to pass legislation that promotes the common good. We will call out nefarious tactics and promote opportunities for good legislation to pass. We will hold our elected officials accountable at every opportunity.

What we need is to gather our collective courage and move forward, in community, toward the future we all want. As people of faith, we must reactivate our call to civic discipleship — to join in partnership with our brothers and sisters and continue with fervor our quest to protect, preserve, and promote our democracy and the freedoms that only democracy affords its people. Now is a time for unity and affirmative resistance.

But this sort of work requires hope. And there, Pope Francis has provided us with the perfect opportunity. He has announced a worldwide Jubilee Year of Hope, beginning December 24, 2024, and ending January 6, 2026. “[B]y looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision…the forthcoming Jubilee…can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so urgently desire.”

We must use hope as our strategy to overcome the sorrow of today and carry us into the light of tomorrow. As Catholics and people of faith, we know God has not abandoned us. Even in the face of the abyss, all things are possible. So join us as we go forward in hope and faith toward the Beloved Community and a new day in our country and in the church.

This story was published in the Quarter 1 2025 issue of Connection.

Welcome, Y.A.L.L.

Welcome, Y.A.L.L.

Young Advocates Leadership Lab Promotes Political Engagement on College Campuses

Jane Sutter
September 5, 2024

Baylee Fingerhut, a sophomore at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, is one of ten students in NETWORK’s new Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.) Y.A.L.L. serves as a training space for faithful young adults to build the skills needed to be advocates for justice in the world today. Photo: Min. Christian Watkins.

When Baylee Fingerhut, a sophomore at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, read about a new program seeking college students to become advocates for social justice, she was intrigued.

“I thought how amazing it would be to be a part of that, not just something that would help me grow my professional skills and help me network but to be part of something so impactful, like this inaugural group of youth leaders who want to go out and advocate and make a change,” she says.

Fingerhut is part of the first cohort of ten students in NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab. Y.A.L.L. is a leadership and advocacy skills development program for college students, serving as a training space for faithful young adults to build the skills needed to be advocates for justice.

Building Up Y.A.L.L.

 

Over the years, NETWORK has offered training for college students, but Y.A.L.L. offers a new, deeper level of engagement with young justice seekers. It’s a natural outgrowth of NETWORK’s vision to mobilize a diverse national movement of justice-seekers.

For Fingerhut, a public policy major, the opportunity to participate in Y.A.L.L. has given her the opportunity to both advocate for others and “do the grassroots, boots-on-the-ground work” such as registering fellow students to vote and having conversations with students about why their vote matters, she says.

Choosing the ten students for the inaugural class of Y.A.L.L. was a competitive process as 60 students applied, according to Chelsea Puckett, NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Outreach and Education Specialist, who acts as the convenor and staff liaison for the program.

Recruitment involved outreach to Catholic Sisters, advocates, and colleges where NETWORK had a relationship, as well as utilizing online tools for making professional connections with college students.

“We wanted to build a cohort of people to adhere to NETWORK’s mission of working for justice and equity for all people,” Puckett says.

Diversity of all kinds was an important factor. Not all the students are Catholic, but as part of the interview process, students were asked how their values, faith, or morals drive their advocacy work.

“We wanted to be inclusive of all different belief systems and backgrounds,” Puckett says.

Y.A.L.L. runs in two 13-week phases. The first phase took place from March into May, followed by a summer hiatus. The second phase will run from August into November. Each student commits to five hours per week and receives a competitive stipend.

Engaging With College Students

Katie Crump, left, and Anna Kopsick of the University of Dayton pose with the 2024 Equally Sacred Checklist, the central resource of NETWORK’s voter education campaign. Crump, class of 2025, is a member of NETWORK’s Y.A.L.L. cohort.

With Y.A.L.L.’s focus in 2024 being voter education and mobilization, in the spring, students hosted voter registration drives on their campuses, staffing tables in prominent campus locations, such as outside a student center or inside a cafeteria. They used the opportunity to introduce the 2024 Equally Sacred Checklist, NETWORK’s multi-issue voter education resource, to their peers.

At Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Y.A.L.L. leader Kaila Crouch and Puckett helped students check online to see if they were registered to vote.

“It’s something you don’t really think about until, unfortunately, it might be too late,” Crouch says. She notes that students who registered to vote at the Y.A.L.L. table seemed relieved and made comments such as, “Wow. I’m happy this is checked off on my list of things to do.”

Crouch, who will return to campus in the fall to study for an MBA, and Puckett also visited a leadership and development class of senior students to discuss multi-issue voting.

Y.A.L.L. participant Imani McClammy, majoring in political science at Barry University in Miami, Fla., enjoyed teaching fellow students about multi-issue voting, quoting a line she learned from Puckett: “We’re multi-issue voters because we live multi-issue lives.” She told students how true that is. “I care about housing, I care about education, I care about minimum wage. These are all things that impact our lives.”

Imani McClammy, class of 2026, Barry University, Miami

Participating in the Y.A.L.L. program has been revelatory, several participants say. Theresa Lindberg, a freshman majoring in English literature and Spanish at Mt. Mary University in Milwaukee, Wis., says she discovered in talking with students that “some people just are not going to be interested in voting.”

McClammy says she believes the biggest challenge on her campus is explaining to students why voting matters. When she hears students say, “I don’t like politics,” she tries to explain: “Your life is full of political issues, even if you don’t think so.” McClammy researches laws or potential legislation to use as examples of what affects students’ lives, and she encourages them to find out what legislation the candidates support.

Puckett says the on-campus experience has been revealing. “Students are busy people,” she notes. “To hear what issues matter to them based on what they’re studying or their lived experiences was really insightful as we continue this work with young people.”

Breaking Through the Noise

Chelsea Puckett of NETWORK assists a student during an on-campus voter registration event at the University of Mount Mary in Milwaukee. Y.A.L.L. events on campuses will focus on voter awareness and engagement.

A key part of the Y.A.L.L. initiative is the weekly virtual trainings offered to the participants and conducted mostly by NETWORK staff. For the spring effort, students participated in a variety of workshops, including how to conduct a voter registration drive, multi-issue voting, breaking through the election noise, deep canvassing and door knocking, and appropriate use of social media.

One key training was on how to have difficult conversations with fellow students who have different viewpoints. The Y.A.L.L. participants did roleplay to practice, Puckett says.

Lindberg says those exercises were valuable “because we live in such a polarized country.” McClammy agreed. “Doing that workshop helped me more in having those difficult conversations and always finding a way to tie it back to Y.A.L.L.’s mission—being multi-issue voters.”

Y.A.L.L. participants also spent time in the spring laying the groundwork for campus initiatives in the fall. This included forming partnerships with appropriate student groups, campus ministries, and political science professors. The core mission for the fall will be get-out-the-vote efforts, so students are planning voter registration drives at orientation events for freshmen and transfer students. They’ll also knock on doors in student housing and off-campus apartments.

Ishara Baez, a student in the class of 2025 at the University of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, NY, is among the ten students participating in NETWORK’s Y.A.L.L. program.

Y.A.L.L. students will inquire if students have a plan to vote and if they have a way to get to the polls. For those hesitant to get involved in the democratic process, students will use their conversational skills to try to convince them to do so.

Puckett notes that NETWORK’s involvement on campuses has been met with a warm welcome. “We plan for these to be sustainable relationships over many, many years,” she says. A new cohort will be selected for 2025, Puckett says.

Fingerhut, at St. Joseph’s University, says she already had some background in Catholic social justice, having learned about it in classes, but she had never seen a tie-in with politics. Participating in Y.A.L.L. has been “transformative to see it come to life on a stage such as a federal election.”

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.) here. 

 

Jane Sutter is a freelance journalist based in Rochester, N.Y., and is part of the NETWORK Advocates team in New York State.

This story was published in the Quarter 3 2024 issue of Connection.

 

The Many Over the Money

The Many Over the Money

NETWORK’s Non-Partisan Voter Education Series Shows the Power of People Uniting

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP
August 15, 2024

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP, center, visits St. Gertrude Catholic Church in Chicago for a NETWORK election year training on April 14. Also pictured, left to right, are Vic and Mary Doucette from NETWORK’s Chicago team, Ken Brucks, and Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM. Sr. Emily is NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator.

From Indiana to California, from New Jersey to Texas, NETWORK Advocates across the nation want to build a world where everyone thrives, no exceptions. And they’re showing up. My colleagues and I have been privileged to work with wonderful advocates — NETWORK mainstays and new faces alike — who have attended online and in-person trainings to build skills and explore a variety of ways they can talk about the issues that matter to them and help their neighbors participate in our democracy this election.

We know we’re facing some big obstacles: a few ultrawealthy people are pouring big money into organizations trying to divide us over issues like immigration and rights for people in the LGBTQ+ community. They know that when we’re working against each other, we can’t see the ways they’re working to get big tax breaks for themselves and their ultra-wealthy friends — leaving the rest of us with few resources and struggling communities.

This election year, we’re coming together from across the country and across our many differences of race, age, and gender to build the skills we need to unite our nation around our shared values.

In April and May, the NETWORK team hosted two rounds of a four-week online training series. We talked about the many issues that matter to us when we consider candidates. We explored ways to talk about our issues that can help others see them as important — both in interpersonal conversations and in the ways that we contribute to the public narratives in our nation. Lastly, we explored other ways to get involved — everything from serving as poll workers to hosting ballot research parties.

We’ve also been hosting in-person trainings. These three-hour interactive workshops cover some of the content from the online trainings and give participants opportunities to practice and strengthen their skills even further.

Attendees have been thrilled by the skill-building opportunities and energized by the hope of being in community. Alice from California said, “Your sessions give direct, usable, doable actions for anyone who wants it. When we apply the information, results happen.” Sr. Mary Jo from Wisconsin said, “I wanted more hope in regards to this election. You provided it. Thank you.”

Vote Our Future logo

The Vote Our Future logo of NETWORK’s 2024 voter education campaign

Participants practiced talking about our visions for a future in which everyone thrives and learned about the policies that are helping us get there — recent victories like the largest investment in climate change prevention in U.S. history through the Inflation Reduction Act and the largest cut in child poverty in over 50 years through the American Rescue Plan.

They learned skills like deep listening and storytelling that help reshape people’s perspectives in one-on-one conversations and transformative narrative-building through the Race Class Narrative framework. Finally, they explored ways to get going on the ground, and many have signed up to be poll workers, committed to hosting voter registration drives, and much more.

As NETWORK has always done, we approach this election year with hope and welcome. From Nuns on the Bus to the 2022 Pope Francis Voter Tour to everyday conversations with policymakers in Congress, NETWORK staff and NETWORK advocates are transforming our politics by boldly declaring that all people deserve to have what they need to thrive. And we can get there when we go together — when we overcome the attempts to divide us by race, gender, and creed — and declare that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, who came that we “may have life and have it more abundantly.”

Like Alice and Sr. Mary Jo, we know that hope is an active virtue, and when we take action together, the many can defeat the money.

This is how we show up for each other, creating a world where nobody goes hungry, where people have access to safe and reliable shelter, good-paying jobs, and the ability to contribute to their communities. Together, we will vote our future so that everyone thrives — no exceptions!

This story was published in the Quarter 3 2024 issue of Connection.

 

Want to join in the action? Are you in the Louisville, KY area?  Register today for “Informed, Engaged, and Committed: NETWORK’s 2024 Election Year Training,” happening Saturday, Aug. 24, 8:30 am – 12 pm EDT, at Epiphany Catholic Church in Louisville. See you there!

 

Embracing the Great ‘Y’ALL’

Embracing the Great ‘Y’ALL’

Justice Demands a Future—and a Politics—That Includes Everyone

Mary J. Novak
August 8, 2024

Mary J. Novak is NETWORK’s Executive Director.

James Joyce famously described the Catholic Church as “Here comes everybody!” It’s a joyfully loud and messy image for a universal people of faith making their way through history toward the kin-dom of God. At World Youth Day in Portugal last year, Pope Francis echoed this sentiment when he described the church as being for “¡todos todos todos!” — “everyone, everyone, everyone!”

At NETWORK, we embrace this inclusive vision, not only for the church but for all of society. In our voter education efforts, for instance, we call on people to “Vote our Future” to embrace a vision of a future for everyone, where all people — no matter their race, country of origin, or socioeconomic background — have what they need to flourish and participate in our society.

While the beauty of Catholic Social Teaching provides a helpful light as we navigate toward a more just and equitable tomorrow, unfortunately, not all faith leaders devote their witness to promoting these values. The message many people receive in the pews is that they need to defend themselves against cultural “threats,” usually posed by greater acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in our society.

Sadly, some politicians stand to gain from people of faith, believing they have to defend an exclusionary worldview, whether against the LGBTQ+ community or immigrants and other marginalized people, in order to be faithful. It amounts to a brazen bet that people will do the wrong thing if it benefits them.

But not all faith leaders allow themselves to be cynically co-opted. Pope Francis, for instance, made a powerful statement about the role of faith in a complex, changing world when, on December 18 of last year, he approved a blessing for same-sex couples. While many noted that this did not change Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality, the point is that the pope modeled how to engage in affirmative acceptance and inclusion, rooted in human dignity, rather than treating human beings as threats.

This is especially urgent in the U.S., where the dominant position of the church has been to rebuff every legal protection for LGBTQ+ people as a threat to religious freedom. So much action on behalf of solidarity and the common good could be unleashed in the world if people of faith no longer feared for their identity or saw themselves as culturally under siege.

A group that understands this on a very deep level is young adults. While many have given up on the church because they see its teachings as endorsing intolerance, others have stayed and connected the dots of care for creation, care for immigrants, care for the whole human family, and the witness of faith. And so NETWORK, seeking to support and grow this energy, has engaged a cohort of college students this year to participate in our new Young Advocates Leadership Lab — or Y.A.L.L.

Like “Here comes everybody” and “¡todos todos todos!” Y.A.L.L. promotes an inclusive vision of faith at work in the public square. Y.A.L.L. leaders will engage in peer civic education on their campuses through activities such as voter registration drives and deep canvassing. These young leaders will also collaborate on NETWORK’s social media outreach to young Catholics. In an election year that has already proven so volatile, these young leaders are rays of hope for the future of U.S. democracy — and for the role of faith in preserving it.

Whether we worship in San Francisco, Detroit, or the Rio Grande Valley, Catholics have everything to lose if we silence our moral witness and buy into appeals to fear and scapegoating at the expense of solidarity and democracy.  The foundation of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, pluralistic democratic society should be an appreciation for how all people are interconnected, with our well-being and fates intertwined. In this challenging moment in history, people of faith have an opportunity to draw on these values and build our society anew.

This story was published in the Quarter 3 2024 issue of Connection.

Living Out of Our Shared Humanity

Living Out of Our Shared Humanity

We Lose Ourselves When We Disown Our Neighbor

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM
June 26, 2024

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM, pictured here at a Jan. 9 rally to save asylum, is NETWORK’s Grassroots Education and Organizing Specialist.

It should be simple. Our faith propels us towards caring for one another. Scripture commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. More specifically, Exodus instructs us: “You shall not oppress or afflict a resident alien, for you were once aliens residing in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If you ever wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely listen to them.”

These passages read as if they could guide our country. However, somewhere along the way, our politics took a turn. Instead of centering our commitment to welcome the stranger or care for our neighbors, we began pitting ourselves against one another. Instead of striving for unity and the common good, we began using one another as step stools to reach the next highest rung of the ladder.

As certain groups tried to attain a higher status, the divide in our country grew. How did this happen? Perhaps, it was when the notion of the achieving “American dream” took us out of living in community and into a large house with a white picket fence that divided us from our neighbors. As we move into our own insulated neighborhoods, we risk losing the recognition that we depend on one another. When we allow borders and fences, ZIP codes, and railroad tracks to physically, socially, and spiritually divide us, it becomes easy to pit one person against another.

And yet, we know that this is not how democracy or the common good flourishes. We know that division only serves as a kindling for hatred and fear of “the other.” When we lose sight of the people around us, it becomes far too easy to categorize the “other’s” struggles as a problem not worth fixing. We forget that what affects one of us, affects all of us.

Last year, in NETWORK’s Thriving Communities campaign, we named this. A thriving community is not possible unless every person has what they need to thrive. Every person is integral to our community. When one of us—or a group of us—falters, we all falter. Like the often-repeated phrase during COVID, “We are stronger together.”

At NETWORK, we also talk about building an inclusive world where we all work together to transform our politics and structures of racial, economic, and social injustice. We must recognize the dignity in every person, no matter their political party, religious tradition, nationality, race, gender, etc. As a Sister, I know that it is easy to claim that I work to ensure that we all have the opportunity to live abundant lives, but in practice this is more difficult. We run the risk disowning or dehumanizing our neighbor or, worse yet, picking and choosing who we want to identify as neighbor.

In his message to the World Meetings of Popular Movements in 2017, Pope Francis said,

“The grave danger is to disown our neighbors. When we do so, we deny their humanity and our own humanity without realizing it; we deny ourselves, and we deny the most important Commandments of Jesus. […] But here we also find an opportunity: that the light of the love of neighbor may illuminate the Earth with its stunning brightness like a lightning bolt in the dark; that it may wake us up and let true humanity burst through with authentic resistance, resilience, and persistence.”

What does this mean for us? In both big and small ways, we might be called move outside of our routines and comforts to begin to build authentic relationships with one another. If we do not build these authentic relationships, we will not see ourselves as members of one community. This is not a ”one and done” performance, but a lifelong commitment to being neighbor to one another. It is a commitment to border and boundary crossing so that we can begin to understand someone else’s self-interest, to understand worlds and viewpoints different than our own, and to witness to a future full of hope.

This story was published in the Quarter 2 2024 issue of Connection.

A Future for Freedom

A Future for Freedom

We Must Never Stop Dreaming of a Better World

Joan F. Neal
June 17, 2024
Joan F. Neal, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer at NETWORK

Joan F. Neal, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer at NETWORK

It’s usually dangerous to look back on previous eras of history as somehow better. Nostalgia too often masks racism and other egregious injustices more widely accepted in times past. However, one positive hallmark of some recent past decades is people’s capacity to dream.

Past generations had a lot to say about the American dream; they embraced the concept of all people having the ability within their grasp to make the life they wanted for themselves. In the fight against slavery, Jim Crow, and second-class citizenship, most Black Americans embraced Dr. King’s dream of the Beloved Community where all are free and equal. Dreams push us toward action, because they imbue the lives of those who have them with hope.

We all want to live lives of hope, lives oriented toward having what we need to flourish and find fulfillment. The word for that is freedom, true freedom.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, today’s younger generations do not feel the hope to dream. Millennials and Gen Zers have had their adulthoods defined by financial crises, spiraling economic inequality, and an unrelenting experience of being priced out of American success and the freedoms that only democracy conveys, ones that their parents and grandparents took for granted. This is no accident. This is the result of 40 years of deliberate public policy choices that divested from families and communities and directed greater and greater wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer extremely rich individuals.

Pope Francis has described this phenomenon as young people feeling “crushed by the present,” unable to dream of a better future. Young people without hope should be a warning to us all that our ability to experience or exercise freedom is in danger. When people lose faith in a system’s ability to deliver for them, the system is in jeopardy. Is it any surprise then that the world has witnessed a global decline in democracy for the past 17 years?

We cannot afford for freedom to be relegated to the history books as a curious anomaly of the late second millennium. No, it is in the best interest of all people on the planet for there to be a future for freedom. For a picture of what the alternative offers, we can look to a country like Russia where the corrupt rule of a few oligarchs violently suppresses its opposition, leaves its own people without hope, and brutally attacks the freedom of its neighbor, Ukraine. But we can also look to the oppressive structures we permit in our own politics — such as inaction on immigration reform or refusing to make the tax code more equitable — that also robs people of freedom and their future.

See NETWORK’s 2024 Equally Sacred Checklist, to support you in educating yourself as a faithful voter on the “equally sacred” freedoms at stake in this election and beyond.

Catholic Social Teaching talks a great deal about freedom. It really matters. If a person lacks freedom, then they do not have what they need to make a true moral choice, including the choice to live into the potential and the dream that God has for every one of us to thrive, no exceptions!

At NETWORK, we see the brokenness of our public policies as structures of sin, that destroy people’s freedom and the common good. That is why, this year, NETWORK is focusing our election priorities on six freedoms:

  • Freedom to be Healthy
  • Freedom to Care for Ourselves and Our Families
  • Freedom to Live on a Healthy Planet
  • Freedom from Harm
  • Freedom to Participate in a Vibrant Democracy
  • and Freedom to Live in a Welcoming Country that Values Dignity and Human Rights.

You can read more about these later in this issue of Connection. Whether it’s health care, immigration, climate change, or one’s economic situation, we see this year in terms of the human freedoms at stake. We must ensure that these freedoms are reverenced and more deeply enshrined in our politics and our public policies, so that future generations experience the freedom to dream.

This story was published in the Quarter 2 2024 issue of Connection.