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White Supremacy and American Christianity: Fascism or Faith

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White Supremacy and American Christianity Series

Fascism or Faith

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Watch Only: Joan, Dr. Jones, and Fr. Massingale
Watch Only: Joan's Conversation with Amanda Tyler

What is White Christian Nationalism?

NETWORK partner, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), released a joint project with the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) detailing Christian nationalism’s prominence in the January 6 insurrection. In it, Amanda Taylor of BJC shares, “Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that seeks to merge American and Christian identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism relies on the mythological founding of the United States as a ‘Christian nation,’ singled out for God’s providence in order to fulfill God’s purposes on earth. Christian nationalism demands a privileged place for Christianity in public life, buttressed by the active support of government at all levels.

Christian nationalism is not Christianity, though it is not accurate to say that Christian nationalism has nothing to do with Christianity. Christian nationalism relies on Christian imagery and language.”

Watch Previous White Supremacy and American Christianity Conversations

White Supremacy and American Christianity, Part 5
We Choose Freedom
White Supremacy and American Christianity, Part 4

With previous discussion laying out the roots, influences, and threats to democracy posed by white supremacy in our churches and politics, Fr. Bryan N. Massingale, Dr. Robert P. Jones, and NETWORK’s Joan F. Neal looked to the future and explored how we the U.S. can move beyond Christian nationalism. And young adult justice-seekers shared how they connect their work for democracy to their faith. White Supremacy and American Christianity: Moving Towards Beloved Community was a special conversation, focused on the future and the possibility of a vibrant, multi-faith, multi-racial democracy where every person can thrive, without exception.

White Supremacy and American Christianity, Part 3

In October 2023, ethics professor Fr. Bryan N. Massingale, author Robert P. Jones, and NETWORK’s Joan F. Neal gathered for White Supremacy and American Christianity: A Consistent Ethic of Hate Threatens Our Democracy. The country was on the precipice of a budget crisis. House extremists didn’t want to negotiate, they wanted a government shutdown–they were a threat to our democracy. Their actions, rooted in white supremacy and Christian nationalism, were positioned to harm those they view as other: Black and Brown citizens and non-English speaking Black and Brown immigrants. Instead of building a pluralistic democracy, they aimed to diminish the progress and presence of non-white people in our country and throw our government into chaos.

White Supremacy and American Christianity, Part 2

In October 2022, ethics professor Fr. Bryan N. Massingale and author Robert P. Jones participated in an enlightening conversation ahead of this year’s midterm for an exploration on the influence of  White Supremacy in American Christianity on our politics. The conversation was moderated by NETWORK’s Joan F. Neal.

White Supremacy and American Christianity, Part 1

In April 2022, NETWORK engaged experts working at the intersection of racism, nationalism, and Christianity for a conversation on the poisonous effect that White Supremacy has on American Christianity. Fr. Bryan N. Massingale, Dr. Robert P. Jones, and NETWORK’s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer Joan F. Neal were joined by Georgetown University’s Dr. Marcia Chatelain.

White Supremacy and American Christianity Guest Speakers

Darcy Hirsh is the Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance, (Part 3) where she leads the organization’s policy work at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as its critical advocacy in the courts.

Dr. Robert P. Jones is the President and Founder of PRRI, and author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. Robert P. Jones speaks and writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion in national media outlets including CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. Dr. Robert Jones’s latest book is a New York Times best-seller. You can buy it here: The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future and follow Dr. Jones through his newsletter at https://www.whitetoolong.net/.

Fr. Bryan Massingale is the James and Nancy Buckman Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, as well as the Senior Ethics Fellow in Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education and author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church. Fr. Massingale is a noted authority on social and racial justice issues, particularly in Catholic spaces. Read Fr. Massingale’s Op-Ed in National Catholic Reporter, “As the election cycle cranks up, Christians need to call out white Christian nationalism” and his keynote address at the 2022 Outreach Conference: “Intersectionality and LGBTQ Ministry”

Professor Marcia Chatelain, Ph.D., is the winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History (Part 1) her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. She is a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University and the leading organizer behind the #FergusonSyllabus, an online educational resource that has shaped educational conversations about racism and police brutality since 2014. 

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Just Politics Catholic Podcast Season 2
Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters from Wisconsin join in the Sisters Speak Out: Prayer and Public Witness for Immigrants and a Just Economy event on Capitol Hill on June 24.

Nonviolent Resistance and Catholic Faith

Nonviolent Resistance and Catholic Faith

Two Traditions Promote Beloved Community

Virginia Schilder
September 23, 2025
Sr. Patty Chappell andSr. Ann Howard, SNDdeN hold a sign at the June 24 Sisters Speak Out event on Capitol Hill.

Sr. Ann Howard, SNDdeN hold a sign at the June 24 Sisters Speak Out : Prayer and Public Witness for Immigrants and a Just Economy event on Capitol Hill.

Before this year, Aiden Bondurant had only ever protested one time: against the execution of Khaliifah Williams in Missouri. But in just the first half of 2025, she went to five protests — joining her community members in voicing their opposition to the deportations of immigrants, predatory ICE arrests at courthouses, and the proposed budget that would hand tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy by slashing programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

“It was clear that for the hundred people protesting on the street, there were thousands more in our community who felt the same,” Bondurant says. She recalls many passing cars affirming the protests with their “honks of support.”

Bondurant is one of the millions of people across the U.S. who have taken part in peaceful protests since the second Trump administration took office. These protestors are regular people who share a fundamental belief in a future where all can thrive. They are people who refuse the lies that try to pit them against their neighbors and who insist that they can together make life better in their communities.

History affirms their insistence. Countries that have started to slide into fascism have been able to redirect towards democracy through nonviolent civil resistance from ordinary people. Research from Erica Chenoweth, a researcher at Harvard University, shows that it only takes about 3.5 percent of the population actively engaging in protests to effect real, lasting change. In the U.S., that’s around 11 million people — about the population of North Carolina.

Advocates in action

Today, millions of peaceful demonstrators across the country are joined by hundreds of NETWORK justice-seekers, including members of NETWORK Advocates teams like Mary Nelson, OFS, and Krista Zivkovich.

Nelson, a Secular Franciscan and retired physical therapist, is the leader of the Western Pennsylvania NETWORK Advocates Team. Along with the several communities of women religious in her local Erie area, Nelson participates in regular protests. Lately, the focus of those demonstrations has shifted to making sure Erie upholds its designation as a “Welcoming City” to its many refugee and immigrant community members.

Nelson comes to nonviolent protest guided by the rules that direct her life as a Secular Franciscan, which call members to “be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of their human lives and courageous initiatives.”

She prays, “I am hopeful that more people will feel comfortable speaking out against the tyranny and injustice we are currently facing.”

Krista and Ed Zivkovich participate at an Ohio Hands Off rally in April.

Krista and Ed Zivkovich participate at an Ohio Hands Off rally in April.

Nearby in Ohio, Krista Zivkovich was inspired the join the Cleveland NETWORK Advocates Team by the first Nuns on the Bus tour. She describes herself as “a Matthew 25 Catholic,” guided by the question, “Why aren’t you doing what you say you believe?”

Zivkovich and her husband have joined in many nonviolent protests over the years, from local protests with Moms Demand Action for gun safety reform to calling for climate action in Washington, D.C. When some of her fellow parishioners at her church in Painesville were deported during the first Trump administration, she joined prayer pilgrimages hosted by her parish.

Since President Trump returned to office, Zivkovich has been to five protests, including ones targeted to her Congressman David Joyce (OH-14), who has held no local in-person town halls. Because her husband runs the food pantry at their parish, the couple knows how communities rely on SNAP and other food programs — knowledge she shares with her Congressman’s staff.

“Rev. Theodore Hesburgh said, ‘Voting is a civil sacrament,’” Zivkovich explains. “I believe that peaceful protests calling for adequate funding for food, health care, truth in government, etc., are also civic sacraments. Visible signs of our belief that the government should uphold the life and dignity of all.”

NETWORK advocates like Zivkovich, Nelson, and Bondurant join a long tradition of faith-based civil resistance, in which Catholics play a central role. The history of Catholic nonviolence includes landmark figures like Dorothy Day who protested war and poverty, and Sr. Antona Ebo, FSM, who marched at Selma for civil rights.

Day and Ebo are just two of scores of Catholics who drew from a rich array of the Catholic tradition’s resources to ground, nurture, and guide participation in nonviolent protest and public witness for justice. And of course, the example of Jesus himself is a key source.

“Jesus is the ultimate model of active nonviolence,” Sr. Louise Lears, SC affirms.

From injustice to love and hope
Sr. Louise Leers, SC speaks at a Cleveland townhall on the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends Vote Our Future tour. Photo Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

Sr. Louise Leers, SC
Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati charism statement concludes with the words, “We dare to risk a caring response.” For two Sisters of Charity we spoke with, “risking a caring response” has meant a decades-long commitment to nonviolent protest.

Sr. Louise’s first experience with nonviolent resistance was in the 1980s at a nuclear weapons test site in Nevada. That experience kicked off her long commitment to peaceful resistance. This has included actions like the March For Our Lives, the Hands Off rallies, and the Poor People’s Campaign. She has joined rallies and marches, fasted for a moral budget, and held protest signs with other Sisters on busy streets.

Sr. Mary Ann Humbert, SC, spent 10 years traveling to protest the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, notorious for its training of Latin American military personnel. “We all knew the risk of ‘crossing the line’ onto government property — for which we could be arrested,” she says. “Jesus spent his attention to both the victimized and the authorities who were carrying out unjust laws and expectations. I feel called to do the same to the best of my ability.”

While some, like Srs. Louise and Mary Ann, have been protesting for decades, others are newer to demonstrating. Sr. Betty McVeigh, a Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill), began her involvement in nonviolent protests only after health challenges moved her to retire from 51 years in ministry in education and pastoral work.

She has found that, “It is in the reaching out, making connections, and building bridges that I discover the courage to participate in nonviolent protests and to advocate for justice.”

Those bridges are also built in smaller-scale acts of care. Sr. Caroljean Willie, a Sister of Charity of Cincinatti, Ohio recounts one experience: “Midway through the protest, a pickup truck filled with immigrants drove by and passed out water to all the participants. It was an incredible feeling of ‘We are in this together.’” She adds, “The main fruit of this work is that it brings an awareness to others that people care about justice, that people care about others, that people care about the world in which we live.”

These acts of care are central to the power of nonviolent action. They make the protests themselves bring to life the beloved community of mutual care, joyfulness, and healed relationships. As these participants know, nonviolent resistance has never been only about acting against injustice, but acting for loving communities.

“The injustices we see around us often stem from fear, division, and isolation,” Aiden Bondurant notes. “For me, nonviolent protest is a lamenting act of love.” She adds, “We are meant
to be together, and Christ always invites us to that.”

Spirit-filled hope permeates nonviolent action, and it grows in the new relationships formed there.

“Participating in these peaceful protests most of all gives me hope. I meet and share with other people who share my concerns and have compassion,” Krista Zivkovich says.

Sister Louise Lears believes that finding hope is a fitting response.

“I have learned that nonviolence is a circle, and everyone has a place in the circle,” she says. “Any action on behalf of justice has ripple effects.”

This story was published in the Quarter 3 2025 issue of Connection.
Season of Creation graphic image

Recommit to Our Common Home

Recommit to Our Common Home

Season of Creation is a Time to Renew Our Relationship with God’s Earth

 

Drake Starling
September 5, 2025

Every year, from September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world unite in prayer, reflection, and action for the Season of Creation. This ecumenical season, beginning with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and ending on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, invites us to deepen our awareness of the urgent ecological crisis and to recommit ourselves to caring for our common home.

Why This Season Matters

 This year’s theme, “To Hope and Act with Creation,” calls us to more than reflection – it calls us to courage. Hope is not wishful thinking but a spiritual practice rooted in action. As people of faith, we cannot be passive as rising global temperatures, polluted waters, and disappearing species diminish the sacred gift of life. Instead, we are called to embody hope by living in right relationship with one another and with all creation. Season of Creation graphic

The Season of Creation is more than a time of prayer; it is a prophetic witness. As Pope Francis told us in Laudato Si’, “We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us.” Our responsibility is to ensure that future generations inherit a world capable of sustaining all forms of life. 

Many political leaders choose inaction in the face of climate disasters and, worse, pursue harmful policies that promote extractive industries and eliminate essential environmental protections. They disregard and exploit nature, most of the time because it enriches companies and wealthy donors. We are called to remind our leaders that creation is not a commodity but a sacred trust. 

Moving Forward

 Throughout this season, communities around the world are finding creative ways to bring the message of creation care to life:

  • Hosting prayer services outdoors, reminding us that creation itself is a cathedral. 
  • Leading educational forums on the climate crisis and Catholic Social Justice teaching. 
  • Organizing acts of advocacy– urging lawmakers to defend clean air, protect public lands, and invest in renewable energy. 
  • Choosing lifestyle changes – reducing waste, conserving water, and supporting sustainable practices in our daily lives.
  • Taking action with NETWORK – signing up for NETWORK’s alerts to engage in advocacy opportunities. Right now, that includes speaking out in the EPA’s Endangerment Finding Public Comment Period. This recent NETWORK analysis addresses the Trump administration’s move to rescind Endangerment Finding. Add your name here and tell the EPA to keep the Endangerment Finding and protect our air, water, and our climate. The Comment Period closes September 22, so make sure to make your views known this Season of Creation! 

Each of these actions, large or small, is part of a larger movement of ecological conversion – recognizing that the cry of the Earth and “the cry of the poor” are one and the same. 

Journey of Hope 

 One particularly meaningful way to embody this year’s call is through Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation, a national initiative where Catholics and faith communities journey together in prayerful solidarity with the Earth. From parish grounds to city streets, these pilgrimages offer a tangible way to pray with our feet, build community, and take steps—literally—toward a more just and sustainable world (learn more here). 

This Season of Creation, let us embrace hope as action. Whether we join a pilgrimage, organize an event in our parish, or speak up for stronger environmental protections, each step we take is part of a greater journey of faith. Together, rooted in the Spirit and in Catholic Social Justice teaching, we can witness to the truth that care for creation is care for life itself. 

Forfeit Not Your Soul

Forfeit Not Your Soul

Authoritarian Takeover of DC is a Crisis for Racial Justice and Democracy

Min. Christian S. Watkins
August 29, 2025

As I stood and bore witness to the Braddock’s Rock unhoused encampment behind the U.S. Institute for Peace of all places, I held a sign that read “What’s This Cost You? Mark 8:36,” referencing Jesus’ question: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Concerned clergy and service provider staff convened on August 14 to assisted unhoused neighbors as they relocated. In doing so, we witnessed the crime of Christ being evicted – a violation of our sacred call to care for all people.

In recent weeks, the poorest residents of the city of Washington, D.C.—the heart of U.S. democracy—are being disappeared from our communities: tents torn down and belongings discarded, communities of resilient survival scattered like dust in the wind.

Clergy and service provider staff gather as the Braddock's Rock unhoused encampment is cleared on Aug. 14.

Min. Christian S. Watkins, (second from left) of the NETWORK Government Relations Team joins other clergy and service provider staff as the Braddock’s Rock homeless encampment is cleared on Aug. 14. The move came as part of President Trump’s militarized takeover of Washington, D.C.

And it didn’t stop there. After President Trump issued the Executive Order, collaborating law enforcement agencies intentionally targeted Black and Brown youth navigating the Metro and traversing D.C.’s streets working to deliver food.

The Trump administration wielded emergency powers to unnecessarily federalize the Metropolitan Police Department, deploying National Guard troops and slowly dismantling our sanctuary protections. They initially targeted our unhoused neighbors but soon expanded their scope to hyper-militarize and surveil Black and Brown youth and communities with merciless force. This naked display of power is sinful. God says, “Woe to those who trample on the poor.” (Amos 5:11) 

With President Trump naming only cities with Black mayors for future militarized takeover, it is clear that this is all a manufactured assault on Black political power – as well as a rehearsal for broader authoritarianism to envelop our country. This would decimate our collective future built on Constitutional aspirations and promises.

This unneeded hyper-militarization of a peaceful city is designed to send an authoritarian message rather than address any legitimate community needs. Rather than nurture democracy and the systemically disenfranchised, this misguided show of force is a distraction, a calculated attempt to shift the nation’s gaze away from far more dire crises:

  • Skyrocketing inflation and the international devaluation of the U.S. dollar, which erodes working families’ purchasing power. 
  • Administration ineptitude and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) failures, which leaves core agencies leaderless and ineffective, costing taxpayers more than the agency ever purported to strive to save. 
  • Cratering political support at home and abroad, as allies question America’s stability and credibility as a world leader, much less a moral authority. 

When leaders are cornered by their own failings, they often reach for the oldest tool in the autocrat’s playbook: stoke fear, unleash the military, and change the subject. This takeover is not happening in a vacuum. It is fueled by a Christian nationalist ideology that seeks to merge political power with a narrow, exclusionary version of Christianity.  

True Christian witness calls us to loving service grounded in humility and justice lending to liberation, not to bless state power when it tramples our neighbors, the people Christ admonished us to protect, serve, and defend and the integrity of the Church. If we do not name and resist it, we risk turning the cross of Christ into a banner for empire. 

As people of faith and moral courage, we MUST resist. 

Catholics and faithful allies committed to the common good know you cannot speak of justice when local police accountability is replaced by federal chains of command that answer political power, not community needs. You cannot claim security while criminalizing poverty and erasing the humanity of the unhoused.  

True justice cannot be militaristic or top down. It must be rooted in restorative, community-based care. The federalized, militarized response fractures trust and undermines local accountability. Faithful communities must speak truth to power.

NETWORK’s 2025 Labor Day Statement

NETWORK’s 2025 Labor Day Statement

Showing Up for Workers’ Rights


August 27, 2025

When we serve others, when we create, when we work to contribute to the world around us, we as human beings become more fully alive. Work holds a sense of purpose and dignity that feeds the human soul. That, ultimately, is the purpose of work—to build up, not to reduce human beings to mere producers or commodities.  

The Catholic Church continues to show up to advocate for the rights of workers, most visibly in the 20th century tradition by helping unions to come together, organize, and obtain just wages, benefits, and safe working conditions — all benefits that would allow workers to adequately support their families and be contributors to the community.   

Catholic Sisters continue to show up as part of this faithful solidarity, and with the formation of NETWORK over 50 years ago, Sisters took the work to the next level by directly lobbying for pro-labor federal policies, a practice that continues to this day.  

Sadly, in the decades since then, workers have suffered from the methodical and malicious dismantling of labor unions and ruthless attacks on organized labor. There continues to be a coordinated effort to curtail workers’ rights and put profits over people. Wages have stagnated since the 1970s.   

In many ways, the weakening of unions was an early warning sign of the destruction of government we see today. The second Trump administration is on a mission to destroy any function of government that contributes to human dignity: foreign aid, health care, due process, and yes, workers’ rights.  

Nuns on the Bus & Friends pray at Cesar Chavez grave.

Andres Chavez, Bus Riders, and NETWORK staff pray at the grave of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez in Keene, California on an Oct. 16 stop of the Nuns on the Bus & Friends 2024 “Vote Our Future” tour. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

Those who advocate for the dignity of work in the Catholic Social Justice tradition harken back to Pope Leo XIII, as he addressed the radical changes to the world brought by the Industrial Revolution, condemning unjust wages, unsafe working conditions, unbridled capitalism, and anything that risked reducing workers to less than their full dignified humanity. The document in which he addressed these issues—and championed the right of workers to organize—was called Rerum Novarum, Latin for “New Things.”  

Now in the 21st century, another pope, this one aptly named Leo XIV, has taken up the thread and is applying his predecessor’s moral lens to the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). In this space too, Sisters are showing up to help lead the way. NETWORK’s engagement with AI policy is truly a “new thing” in the church’s support for labor rights. We recognize the risks: cogs and boilers have been replaced by artificial neural networks, data centers, and algorithms. More than 130 years since the warning of Pope Leo XIII, technological innovation again threatens to make humans grist for the machines.  

The emergence of AI is yet another reason why it is urgent that workers organize.   

We cannot shy from these challenges. Rather we must lean into hope. We must hope as the generations before us did with the hope of dignified workers’ rights so that all who toil might be able to share in the richness that God intends for all of us. We must join in solidarity with many unorganized and organized workers today who are beginning to realize their power to come together and bravely demand what is rightfully theirs.

# # #

NETWORK Lobby Advocates for Catholic Social Justice

EPA Tries to Make Environmental Endangerment a Non-Issue

EPA Tries to Make Environmental Endangerment a Non-Issue

We Declare: Not On Our Watch

 

Drake Starling
August 20, 2025

In a move as reckless as it is radical, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin recently announced that the EPA will revoke the Endangerment Finding, the foundational scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.  

The administration’s action is a full-scale assault on clean air, clean water, clean energy, and public health – fundamental basics that we all need to thrive. If finalized, this decision would obliterate the legal basis for federal climate action and, with it, the power to protect people and our planet from pollution, disaster, and exploitation. Think drinking water that can kill you! 

NETWORK Lobby Advocates for Catholic Social Justice

Let’s break it down: 

No Endangerment Finding = No Climate Protections

 Without it, the EPA cannot limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, power plants, or oil and gas operations. That means more tailpipe pollution, more smog, and more soot in the air our children breathe. It means more asthma attacks, more emergency room visits, and more premature deaths, especially in low-income communities and communities of color already burdened by industrial pollution. 

No Climate Rules = Dirtier Water and Weaker Storm Protections

 Warmer temperatures fueled by unchecked carbon pollution mean rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, and intensified rainfall. This leads to flooded sewage systems, contaminated drinking water, and overwhelmed infrastructure. Repealing the Endangerment Finding weakens our ability to mitigate these impacts and leaves vulnerable communities to fend for themselves when a climate disaster strikes. 

EPA Authority = No Clean Energy Transition 

 Administrator Zeldin’s proposal not only targets car emissions, it sets the stage for dismantling rules that encourage clean energy and efficiency. That means more fossil fuels, fewer wind and solar projects, and fewer clean energy jobs in communities that desperately need them. It also means people in the U.S. will spend more to fill up their cars. This radical policy change comes just as we’re finally seeing the benefits of electric vehicles and clean technology take root. 

No Accountability = No Future

This rollback erases 15 years of progress and legal precedent. It ties the hands of future presidents, public health officials, and EPA scientists. The big institutional shareholders win again. Furthermore, it tells the world loud and clear that the U.S. is once again backing out of its moral and global responsibilities to lead in this urgent space.  

And For What?

The EPA claims this action is justified by a fringe research report commissioned from five climate denialists who say carbon dioxide helps plants grow. They argue—absurdly—that U.S. transportation emissions don’t matter because they’re “too small” to affect global temperatures. Never mind that transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Never mind that if our vehicle sector were a country, it would be the fourth-largest emitter on Earth. Never mind the 7 billion metric tons of emissions that were set to be avoided under the standards this would undo.  

This isn’t about science. It’s about ideology. Administrator Zeldin, once a coastal Republican concerned about sea-level rise, now says he wants to “drive a dagger through the heart of climate–change religion.” This is a far cry from the monumental progress the U.S. made in the mid-20th century by investing in efforts to clean waterways, beautify highways, and vastly eliminate environmental lead emissions. It was Richard Nixon, a Republican president, who created the EPA in 1970. 

Let us be clear!

Climate justice is not a religion, but a moral responsibility — and one we must not abandon.  

At NETWORK, we know that those of us most harmed by climate inaction are the same people our faith prioritizes: those of us in poverty, who are ill, elderly, displaced, or disabled people. We also recognize the damage future generations will inherit the consequences of our choices. 

This decision would mean more pollution in our lungs, more toxins in our water, more wildfires, more displacement, and more loss. We reject this false choice between environmental protection and economic freedom.  We reject this corrupt inversion of public service that prioritizes polluters over people.  We reject this cowardly attempt to pretend the climate crisis does not exist.  

The EPA has opened a public comment period on this proposal. And we plan to make our voices heard. In partnership with Franciscan Action Network, Catholic Climate Covenant, Maryknoll, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, NETWORK is organizing a public comment letter telling the EPA that as people of faith, we reject the EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding. Add your name here and tell the EPA to keep the Endangerment Finding and protect our air, water, and our climate.  We will not sit by while the government tries to dismantle the very laws that protect God’s creation — and all of us who call it home. The only thing more dangerous than denying the climate crisis is denying our responsibility to confront it! 

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (to File Our Taxes)

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (to File Our Taxes)

Trump’s Shutdown of Direct File Tax Option Shows Administration Always Picks Business Over People

Jarrett Smith
August 15, 2025

Don’t we all deserve the best of things? Why can’t the government deliver a top-quality app that solves a problem? 

The Biden administration tried to answer both of those questions with a service called Direct File.  

The pandemic got government leaders to think about ways for people to more easily access government support like the Child Tax Credit. Led by Treasury, the IRS, the U.S. Digital Service, and Code for America, a team built a free tax preparation service from the ground up: Direct File. 

A pile of tax-related documents sits atop each other in a chaotic mess.

The Direct File program, which the government rolled out in numerous states under the Biden administration, allowed people to file their taxes directly with the government online for free. President Trump shut it down in July.

Direct File opened the door for people to file their taxes directly with the IRS for free rather than having to rely on a third-party service, which is often costly. An extra $23 billion is spent by taxpayers with for-profit tax preparation companies. 

Direct File began in the 2024 filing season and was eventually rolled out to 25 states by 2025. It had the potential to become a one-stop place for people to qualify for federal benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, and others while also filing income taxes. It met its goal of eliminating costs and confusion for taxpayers. One survey said that 98 percent of Direct File users being “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” 

This promising development abruptly ended July 31, when the President Trump shut down the entire Direct File program. It’s yet another move by the Trump administration to favor the interests of business over anything that might help people to thrive.  

We can take some solace in the news that, before then-IRS Commissioner Billy Long said 2026 taxpayers will not have the free app as an option to file taxes, Direct File’s code was released. This left some hope that Direct File may one day be restored. A future administration could decide to do the right thing and give us all a little something we deserve. 

Immigrant Families: What’s at Stake and How We Respond

Immigrant Families: What’s at Stake and How We Respond

Congress has allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to ramp up raids and detain thousands of our neighbors and loved ones at a massive taxpayer and moral cost

 

Giovana Oaxaca
August 5, 2025

The recently passed budget reconciliation bill diverts resources from communities to mass deportation efforts and border militarization. As Congress raises spending, it is also reinforcing state and federal cooperation. Most of these funds will be spent before September 30, 2029. In this first of a three-part series, Giovana Oaxaca, NETWORK Senior Government Relations Advocate for Immigration, will address immigration in the bill. 

In cities across the country, ICE raids have become all too common, leaving families shattered and communities living in fear. But we don’t have to accept terror as the status quo. Immigrants, their families, neighbors, employers, and advocates are united in demanding respect for human dignity, protection of basic rights, and a government that serves the common good. NETWORK staff and advocates have been on the frontline of defending immigrant rights—turning the passage of recent legislation into a moral awakening.  

Giovana Oaxaca speaks at 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends launch.

Giovana Oaxaca, who now serves as NETWORK Senior Government Relations Advocate for Immigration, speaks at the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends announcement. Photo: Larry French/AP Content Services for NETWORK Nuns on the Bus and Friends

To understand the most aggressive immigration crackdown in recent U.S. history, let’s unpack how the budget reconciliation will drive mass deportations that tear families apart; impose higher immigration fees on already burdened families; and cut health and food assistance, denying children and families the necessary resources they need to thrive.

Diverting Community Resources to Fund Mass Deportation Efforts

The rapid growth of the detention system is poised to continue. Congress provided $45 billion to expand adult and family immigration detention, enough to maintain 100,000 detention beds per day. The bill includes a $29.9 billion lump sum that can be used to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, upgrade facilities, detain families together, and expand the use of 287(g) agreements, among other uses. Another $5 billion for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) could allow for continued repurposing of prisons for immigration detention. 

  • In the text of the bill, Congress failed to create guardrails to prevent the prolonged detention of children and their families, in potential contravention of the Flores Settlement Agreement. This puts the protection of children at even greater risk. 
  • On May 10, the Trump administration moved to terminate Flores, the landmark court order establishing the standards of treatment, care, and release of children in federal immigration custody. 

Another significant amount of funding ($3.32 billion) is allocated to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for hiring immigration judges, combatting drug trafficking, investigating and prosecuting immigration matters, supporting state and localities’ immigration enforcement efforts through community policing grants, and compensating states and localities for jailing immigrants. Congress effectively guarantees that the deportation infrastructure will be primed to deport one million people annually, ramping up kidnappings, accelerating the removal process, and raising barriers to relief. 

Entrenching State-Federal Cooperation

New programs created by Congress cement further state and local law enforcement collaboration on immigration enforcement, eroding trust in local law enforcement. 

The bill provides $3.5 billion for establishing a new grant program under the DOJ called the Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide (BIDEN) Reimbursement Fund, which states and localities can use for a range of purposes, including apprehending unlawfully present non-citizens who have committed crimes and for the criminal detention of non-citizens. State and local cooperation is emphasized with a further $2.055 billion lump sum created to fund hiring new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, deportations, enhanced screenings of immigrants, and the deportation of unaccompanied children from contiguous countries. It will also reimburse states and localities for various immigration and security efforts, providing for the deportation of unaccompanied children, expedited removal of non-citizens who have committed crimes, and screening unaccompanied children for possible gang affiliations. 

This spending allows deeper entanglement between state and local law enforcement and federal authorities. An additional $13.5 billion is allocated to states for border-related immigration enforcement, $10 billion for a “State Border Security Reinforcement Fund,” and $450 million for Operation Stonegarten, which bolsters state and local law enforcement at the border. This further embeds state and local law enforcement into both administrative and criminal enforcement of immigration laws, blurring lines. 

This may contribute to the erosion of trust between local police and immigrant communities due to fear. In one survey, 35 percent of Latino parents said they planned to avoid talking to police or reporting crimes because of fear.

Ramping Up Deadly Border Enforcement

Under this legislation, $46.5 billion is provided for new and replacement border walls and barriers. Congress also makes $4.1 billion available to hire new Border Patrol agents, $2 billion to award bonuses, and $5 billion to make facility and checkpoint upgrades. Aside from the already provided amounts, $10 billion is provided to DHS for unspecified homeland security measures. 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.

Part 2 of this series explores fairness for immigrant families.

 

Immigrant Families: Unfair Fees Jeopardize Family Unity

Immigrant Families: Unfair Fees Jeopardize Family Unity

Congress is making it harder to get and maintain lawful status, raising the stakes for blended families trying to stay together

 

Giovana Oaxaca
August 8, 2025

The recently passed budget reconciliation bill diverts resources from communities to mass deportation efforts and border militarization. As Congress raises spending, it is also undermining the immigration system, deliberately raising barriers to lawful status. Most of these provisions take effect immediately. In this second installment of a three-part series, Giovana Oaxaca, NETWORK Senior Government Relations Advocate for Immigration explores how the bill threatens family unity with costly fees that, in conjunction with the Trump administration’s efforts to strip people of their status, create a legal minefield for many families.

Across the nation, blended families are navigating a huge immigration bureaucracy despite heightened enforcement targeting people following legal procedures at courthouses and check-ins. At the same time, through a series of fee hikes included in the bill, Congress is raising the cost of applying for and maintaining certain types of lawful status and work authorization, raising the stakes even more.  

Sr. Deirdre Griffin, SSJ listens to Yesenia Lacayo of Mission Action in San Francisco during the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour.

Sr. Deirdre Griffin, SSJ listens to Yesenia Lacayo of Mission Action in San Francisco during the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour. The organization supports individuals and families with housing, immigration, health and wellness, and work resources. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

The fees in question will have a disproportionate impact on at-risk adults and families filing for humanitarian protection. These exorbitant fees mean that low- and moderate–income immigrant families will face new hurdles to securing stability and safety. Coupled with the Trump administration’s efforts to negate birthright citizenship and strip lawful status of numerous humanitarian migrants, family unity is under widespread attack.

  • The Trump administration has aggressively moved to take individuals with lawful status and valid work authorization and attempted to render them deportable.  
  • This has been attempted, with Supreme Court often intervening to permit the administration to carry out, with 500,000 CHNV humanitarian parole beneficiaries, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders from Haiti (348,000), Venezuela (350,000), Afghanistan (11,700), Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua (60,000).  
  • The Trump administration has also ratcheted up criminal charges for civil immigration violations, measures that increase vulnerability to deportation for immigrants. 

The bill would impose a minimum $100 fee for asylum and $550 for work permit applications—a first in U.S. history—posing a barrier for many, including trafficking survivors and those fleeing persecution. Asylum seekers, parole beneficiaries, and individuals seeking Temporary Protected Status would pay an initial fee and $275 annually to renew work permits sufficiency. To make matters worse, many of these fees are minimums, meaning the Administration could charge more than what is listed in the bill. And the bill removes various waivers. 

The proposed fees would be especially burdensome for immigrants seeking benefits adjudicated through the immigration court system, adding significant barriers to relief. This includes for example, applications for Green Cards, waivers of inadmissibility, appeals of immigration judge decisions, and other related proceedings. In all, it paints a picture that is grossly unfair, in addition to the already unjust and gut-wrenching toll that enforcement measures place on immigrant families and communities. 

The immense bureaucracy that families and individuals are facing is itself concerning but turning our backs on families and individuals trying to follow legal processes is unjust and counterproductive.

Part 3 of this series will address the needs of families to live with dignity.

Read Part 1 on immigration enforcement and detention.