Category Archives: Front Page

“Time for a Renewed Commitment to the Common Good”

“Time for a Renewed Commitment to the Common Good”

Joan F. Neal Speaks on Catholic Panel on Protecting Democracy
October 18, 2022

Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer, spoke on a panel last week organized by Faith in Public Life, Protecting Democracy & Voting Rights: A Conversation with Catholic Activists.

Joan spoke with fellow Catholic activists Jeanné Lewis, CEO of Faith In Public Life; José-Arnulfo Cabrera, Co-Executive Director of Programs and Policy at the Young Latino Network; Milton Javier Bravo, Vice President for Mission, Values and Inclusion at Edgewood College; and Sr. Bridget Bearss, Associate Director for Transformative Justice, Leadership Conference Of Women Religious. The panel was moderated by John Gehring, Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life.

As we approach midterm elections, the dangerous and unjust effects of racist voting restrictions and suppression tactics are as clear and urgent as ever. Joan and her fellow panelists discussed how their faith compels them to act—and how Catholics can take action to uphold voting rights and promote democracy. As Pope Francis says, “Democracy requires participation and involvement on the part of all.”

National Catholic Reporter covered the event, quoting Joan:

“As Catholics, we are called to be multi-issue voters,” Neal said. “Whatever else you do, make sure that you vote.”

Missed the event? No problem! You can watch the conversation here:

NETWORK and Faith-based Organizations Urge the Swift Passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (The PRO Act)

NETWORK and Faith-based Organizations Urge the Swift Passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (The PRO Act)

Laura Peralta-Schulte
October 18, 2022

Dear Senator,

We, the undersigned national, regional, and local faith-based organizations, urge the swift passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Last year, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 842 and it is time for the Senate to send this critical legislation to President Biden’s desk.

As an interfaith community, we believe all workers should be free to act in solidarity with one another and make their voices heard. Our belief in the intrinsic worth of both work and workers leads us to strongly support the PRO Act, which will strengthen and expand the right of workers to bargain collectively, form unions, and engage in collective action without fear of retaliation from their employers. Such assurances are also better for the employers as they contribute to better productivity, mutual collaboration, and sustainability.

Our current labor laws are no longer effective in protecting the lives and dignity of workers and fall woefully short of allowing workers to effectively advocate for their needs from a position of mutuality with employers. As union membership has fallen due to counter-productive laws and amendments, inequality has skyrocketed leaving the working class with little constructive power over their own economic security; and thus, also harming sustainable business models.

The PRO Act addresses these current inadequacies by empowering workers to effectively exercise their freedom to organize and bargain. Critically, it also ends employers’ practice of punishing striking workers, strengthens the National Labor Relations Board and allows it to hold corporations accountable for retaliating against workers, and would help us collectively do better for all our needs by repealing “right to work” laws which are a harmful legacy of the Jim Crow Era.

“Right to work” laws originated in the 1940s as a way to reinforce Jim Crow by maintaining labor segregation and further exploiting workers of color. These laws allowed states to ban unions from requiring workers who benefit from collective bargaining to help pay for bargaining costs. Today, 8 of the 10 states with the highest percentage of Black residents have “right to work” laws, which prohibit fair share fees. These restrictions strip funding and bargaining power from unions which have a devastating effect on the economic stability of people of color.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on “right to work” laws, preaching that “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions for everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights.”

The PRO Act is more than labor reform, it is civil rights legislation. A union contract is generally one of the best tools we have to close the racial and gender wage divide. A union contract also often ensures dignity and due process for workers, regardless of where they were born, who they are, or what industry they work in. Removing barriers to organizing and bargaining is critically important to workers who have been marginalized or those working in segregated fields such as the service industry. Such barriers are forms of structural violence. Finally, expanding collective bargaining will increase protections for women, people of color, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community in areas where our laws still fall short. Such attention to those most marginalized benefits all of us as a community.

With all of this in mind, it is not surprising why the PRO Act, and unions in general, are popular. Research shows that more than 60 million people would vote to join a union today if given the opportunity—that is nearly half of all nonunion workers. Union density increased in 2020 amid the federal government’s failure to protect workers from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Finally, polls have found that union approval stands at 65 percent which is one of the highest marks in the last 50 years.

When left without regulation and enforcement, corporations, employers, and the government have forced the working class to accept poverty wages and stymied the enactment of necessary benefits such as paid family and medical leave. They have allowed income inequality to exponentially rise, leaving essential workers and their families with little to show for their labor.

A commitment to human dignity, worker justice, and the common good of all demands support for the PRO Act. This legislation would better the lives of tens of millions of workers and their families by creating an economy that is rooted in solidarity and supports working people as well as sustainable business models. We urge you to act and vote in the best interest of workers, employers, and the economy: Pass the PRO Act today.

In Solidarity,

ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Home Mission Societies
American Friends Service Committee
Arise Chicago
Arizona Faith Network
Association of United States Catholic Priests
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
CAIR Arizona
Carolina Jews for Justice
Catholic Labor Network
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Christians for Equality
Church World Service
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Coalition For Economic Justice
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
Disciples Center for Public Witness
Disciples Justice Action Network
Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries
Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington D.C.
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Episcopal Church of New Hampshire
Farm Worker Ministry Northwest
Franciscan Action Network
Friends Committee On National Legislation
Glenmary Home Missioners
Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP)
Greater Birmingham Ministries
ICNA Council for Social Justice
Ignatian Solidarity Network
Interfaith Worker Justice – New Mexico
Interfaith Worker Justice of East Tennessee
Interfaith Worker Justice of San Diego County
Interreligious Network for Worker Solidarity
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Jewish Labor Committee
Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor, Georgetown University
Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Maine Council of Churches
Meriden Congregational Church, UCC
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Jewish Women, South Cook Section
National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA)
National Farm Worker Ministry
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
NCJW Chicago North Shore
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New Hampshire Conference/United Church of Christ, Economic Justice Mission Group
New Hampshire Council of Churches
New Hampshire Faith & Labor Coalition
North Carolina Council of Churches
Pax Christi USA
Peace & Justice Committee, Congregation of Mission, Western Province, U.S.A.
Poor People’s Campaign
Presbyterian Church (USA), Office of Public Witness
Presbytery of Grand Canyon, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Religions for Peace USA
Repairers of the Breach
Sema Foundation
Society for Humanistic Judaism
Sojourners
Southwest Conference United Church of Christ
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Tempe Interfaith Fellowship
The Episcopal Church
The Labor Guild
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
Unitarian Universalist Action New Hampshire
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association Pacific Western Region
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Uri L’Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice
WHEAT (World Hunger Ecumenical Az Task Force Inc)
Wisconsin Council of Churches
Worker Justice Wisconsin

Pope Francis Voter Tour Update: Cristo Rey Community Center Site Visit

Pope Francis Voter Tour Update: Cristo Rey Community Center Site Visit

Gina Kelley
October 13, 2022

During this year’s Pope Francis Voter Tour, NETWORK came to Lansing, Michigan to visit the Cristo Rey Community Center. Members of NETWORK’s East Lansing Advocates Team have been volunteering with this incredible direct service provider and when they heard NETWORK would be traveling ahead of this year’s upcoming election, they recommended a stop at Cristo Rey.

Early in the morning, NETWORK was greeted by Joe Garcia, CEO of Cristo Rey, who welcomed us and provided a rich overview of Cristo Rey’s more than 50-year history of  service to the community.

Originally, Cristo Rey came together to support immigrant communities traveling to Michigan in search of agricultural work and the center helped families find housing, settle down, and commune as neighbors. Over time the need has changed and Cristo Rey Community Center has become an integral support for all those in Lansing experiencing poverty.

A revamped school building now houses a family health center, counseling services, a community kitchen, food pantry, community clothing closet, financial literacy support, personal hygiene and care supplies, and even a steady supply of diapers, infant formula, and other infant needs.

While containing all these services under one roof may seem overwhelming, it removes a huge accessibility barrier for many folks who rely on public transit to receive these necessary supports. With a bus stop directly outside the community center, folks without cars can reach this wide range of services all in one place.

As we toured this facility, asking questions about the community they have created as a staff and the community they serve, we were continually amazed by the breadth and depth of work. In the face of insurmountable challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current events, Cristo Rey has remained dedicated to providing service with dignity.

A few of the highlights shared with us about the service they provide:

  • Over 18,000 hot meals provided to Afghan refugees in the last year
  • Nearly all patients are either Medicare/Medicaid recipients or uninsured
  • All patients receive at least a 30-minute appointment, in English or Spanish, and are given the utmost attention and care
  • Community Kitchen serves over 26,000 hot meals a year
  • Distribute approximately 4,000 containers of baby formula and 63,000 diapers

This site visit was a beautiful stop on the Pope Francis Voter Tour and a reminder of the importance of working for federal policies that advance racial, economic, and social justice. To be in community with those who are pushed to the margins by our systems and structures and experiencing poverty is critical to our advocacy efforts at NETWORK. The need for affordable housing, accessible health care, and the ability to put food on the table every week are basic needs that every person should have and yet, due to systemic failures, we have amazing people like the staff and volunteers at Cristo Rey who are called to fill in the gaps left behind by our policies.

We hope everyone will keep these issues in mind when they vote in this midterm election and every election after. Being a multi-issue voter and committing to consistent advocacy for the issues that impact all of us is sacred work.

We are so thankful Cristo Rey opened their doors and welcomed us to learn about their community and the services they provide with such dignity. To support their efforts, you can see their wish lists for donated items here as well as their donation page.

RSVP for upcoming Pope Francis Voter Tour events here, including site visits in Toledo on Monday, October 17; Cleveland on Tuesday, October 18, and Cincinnati on Wednesday, October 19. All site visits will also be livestreamed.

Whether or not you’re able to attend a Pope Francis Voter Tour event, be sure to take the Pope Francis Voter pledge to join us this election season and beyond!

Springfield Dominicans, NETWORK team, and our hosts from Faith Coalition for the Common Good

NETWORK Hits the Road for Our Pope Francis Voter Tour

NETWORK Hits the Road for Our Pope Francis Voter Tour

Meg Olson
October 11, 2022
Springfield Dominicans, NETWORK team, and our hosts from Faith Coalition for the Common Good

Springfield Dominicans, NETWORK team, and hosts from Faith Coalition for the Common Good gather at the kickoff event of the Pope Francis Voter Tour in Springfield, Ill. on Oct. 8.

For nearly the whole month of October, the NETWORK team is on the road for our Pope Francis Voter Tour. We kicked off in Springfield, Illinois on Oct. 8, are in East Lansing and Detroit this week, then heading to Ohio, then trekking across PA, where we finish on Oct. 29 in Erie.

On this tour, we are calling on Catholics and all people of good will to protect our democracy by building an inclusive and equitable society in which all people can flourish. We believe that your vote is your voice, and with your voice can add advance a wide, intersecting range of issues that support the common good.

Our tour includes visits to social service agencies and community organizations to listen and learn from impacted people about the challenges they are facing in their daily lives, workshops at colleges, and Town Halls for Spirit-Filled Voters.

So, you may be wondering, “what’s a Pope Francis Voter?” A Pope Francis Voter is a multi-issue voter who is willing do the work to build a multi-racial, inclusive democracy. Because of our belief of Imago Dei, of the inherent dignity of every person, we know it is immoral to allow a single issue to outweigh candidates’ positions that harm immigrants and asylum seekers, low-income families, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, other marginalized communities, and the environment. Our faith calls us to position ourselves with those who are marginalized and those who have the least power in our society.

Pope Francis calls particular attention to this in Gaudete et Exultate (Rejoice and Be Glad). In this apostolic exhortation, he names all of the issues, such as the lives of the poor and the injustices that migrants face, that are “equally sacred to the lives of the unborn” (101-102).

Pope Francis actually has quite a lot to say about all of the issues we need to consider as we prepare for the election: racism, poverty, climate change, and even democracy itself. We here at NETWORK didn’t want you to have to pour over all of his writings and speeches, so we collected some key passages for you and put them on our Equally Sacred Checklist, our tool for the 2022 Midterms that equips you to evaluate any candidate running for office through a faithful, multi-issue lens. In fact, using the Equally Sacred Checklist is the first step in becoming a Pope Francis Voter!

Small group discussion at Pope Francis Voter Tour event in Springfield, Ill.

Springfield Dominican Sisters participate in small group discussions at the kickoff of the Pope Francis Voter Tour in Springfield, Ill. on Oct. 8.

At our Town Halls for Spirit-Filled Voters, we take a very close look at what is preventing our nation from having the multi-racial, inclusive democracy that we envision. What is actually keeping us from having a society where, no matter where we live, how much money is in our wallet, or the color of our skin, all people thrive?

As we were creating the town hall, we had an “ah-ha” moment: the very issues listed on our Equally Sacred Checklist are also the blocks that are preventing us from moving towards the world we want to see. Lately, it feels like these blocks have piled up into a wall. In our Town Hall for Spirit-Filled Voters, we name it the Wall of Division, Extremism, and Obstructionism. This wall is very real, and it didn’t just spring up during the 2016 Election. For well over 50 years, corporations, the ultra-wealthy, and their lobbyists, and some politicians have very strategically and systematically built this wall through an unrelenting assault on our collective rights and the common good. Why? Because they are seeking their own unrestricted power and wealth. And they have no problem sacrificing our democracy to get what they seek.   

Wall of Division, Extremism, and Obstructionism

So what can we do to dismantle the wall? Do the work of Pope Francis Voters! One significant task is to tell people, either in conversations or in letters to the editor, about the importance of multi-issue voting. At each of our Town Halls, we have local Catholic sisters model their “elevator pitches” for why they are multi-issue, Pope Francis Voters. At our Town Hall in Springfield, Springfield Dominican Sisters Rebecca Ann Gemma, Marcelline Koch, and Marilyn Runkel had this important role. After they shared, illustrating their points with personal stories, it was the audience’s turn to get into small groups and practice saying why they are multi-issue voters.  

As the NETWORK team listened in to the small groups’ conversations, we heard people say that when they were children, they were taught not to talk about politics. We here at NETWORK love to remind everyone that Pope Francis says, “A good Catholic meddles in politics.” It is exactly because of our belief in Imago Dei that we must participate in political life. We do this by voting, helping others register to vote, and sharing why we’re multi-issue voters. And when we take these actions and more, we can have fair and trustworthy elections, we can dismantle racist policies, and we can make sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

At the end of the Town Halls, we ask everyone to take the Pope Francis Voter Pledge. Whether or not you’re able to attend a Town Hall, you can too! Go to https://networkadvocates.org/voter-pledge and to join us this election season and beyond!

The Pope Francis Voter Tour is Coming!

The Pope Francis Voter Tour is Coming!

Will you join us in your city?

Meg Olson
October 6, 2022

The 2022 Midterms are upon us and the NETWORK team is hitting the road for the election season! Throughout October, our Pope Francis Voter Tour will visit with Spirit-filled justice-seekers like you to share how multi-issue voting, guided by Catholic Social Justice principles, can help build an inclusive democracy.

Register for the event closest to you with the appropriate RSVP link below. 

 More cities and dates will be announced soon – check out our events page where you can see all of our upcoming events.

Town Hall for Spirit-filled Voters: Places and Dates 

Lincoln Library
326 S. 7th St. Springfield, IL
Saturday, October 8, 3:00-4:30 PM
RSVP TODAY!

*****

Marygrove Conservancy, Alumni Hall
Madame Cadillac Building
8425 W. McNichols Rd. Detroit, MI
Thursday, October 13, 1:00-2:30 PM
RSVP TODAY!

*****

Blessed Trinity Catholic Church
14040 Puritas Ave., Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, October 18, 7:00-8:30 PM
RSVP TODAY!

For the health and safety of everyone, masks are required at all events.

I hope you can join NETWORK, local Catholic Sisters, and members of your community to talk faith, politics, and voting. Together, we’ll explore how each of us can use our vote as our voice to protect democracy and build anew.

We hope to see you on the road in Springfield, IL, Detroit, MI, or Cleveland, OH during the Pope Francis Voter Tour!

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM, speaks at a reparations vigil in Cleveland in June 2022.

We Do Not Live Single-Issue Lives

We Do Not Live Single-Issue Lives

The Struggle For Justice Calls on All People To Recognize Our Interconnection
Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM
October 8, 2022

As an undergraduate student, my history classes introduced me to the activism of the 1960s: civil rights, voting rights, women’s liberation. I distinctly remember listening in awe to a guest speaker who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and thinking, “Wow, to have been a part of something that changed the course of this country…”

I naively thought that the era of fighting for our rights had passed, that we were on the right side of the moral arc of the universe. Of course, this is far from the case. The last six years have shown us that la lucha sigue, the struggle continues. Except now it’s more existential than it’s been at any time in my life, or even in my parents’ lifetimes.

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM, speaks at a reparations vigil in Cleveland in June 2022.

Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM, a NETWORK Education and Organizing Specialist, speaks at a reparations vigil at a parish in Cleveland in June 2022.

It’s 2022, and I can’t believe that we’re fighting for the future of democracy. I had thought that was put to rest with the defeat of fascism in World War II, the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But no, we somehow face an onslaught of people in the U.S. who think that we should abandon the practice of upholding free and fair elections, and their vision of this country beyond elections are equally chilling.

The result is a long list of things I’m continually surprised to find myself advocating for today. We’re still fighting for voting rights, for an end to systemic racism, for immigration reform, for the acknowledgement of — let alone meaningful action on — climate change, for indigenous rights, for access to adequate health care, housing, and nutrition. In 2022, it’s easy to ask incredulously, how did we get here!?

In his Sept. 1 address in Philadelphia, President Biden said that “blind loyalty to a single leader” is a lethal threat to democracy. And renewed attempts to suppress the vote and overturn elections, and stripping away rights for all people, but especially women and non-white people, bears this out. But another blind loyalty to a single candidate or policy has also abetted this corrosive process. It’s the decades-long phenomenon of people, especially many Catholics, who engage in single-issue voting as their primary political engagement rather than working toward the common good.

Father Bryan Massingale offered the best rebuttal of this: “The crises that face us — militarism, racism, ecology and poverty — are interlocking, overlapping and compounded. … Single- issue groups and struggles will be neither effective nor compel people’s attention. To paraphrase the great Audre Lorde [a 20th-century Black writer and civil rights activist], many people do not have the luxury of engaging single-issue struggles because they — we — do not live single-issue lives.”

I would go a step further: Single-issue voting is conveniently racist. It’s like wearing blinders; it blocks out one’s view of the peripheries. To ignore systemic racism is to ignore active attempts at voter suppression and the lack of equal representation in our politics. Granting power to single-issue voters means that we silence the building up of inclusive communities. The rights of people of color, women, immigrants, indigenous peoples, LGBTQ+ community, and any other minority community are whittled away in the name of single-issue voting.

As Pope Francis reminded us in his 2018 letter in Gaudate et Exsultate, “Rejoice and Be Glad” that the lives of all people who are marginalized in our communities are “equally sacred.” That includes all kinds of people who are already born: people in poverty, people who are ill, the elderly, and victims of human trafficking. This is the call for all people: If we continue to only focus on a single issue, we will be responsible for the fall of our democracy, for the death of our planet.

The bitter fruits of the insurrection, blatant racism in our institutions and policies, election deniers, and attempts to suppress the vote should scream out to us. They beg of our attention. We must call on all people of faith and goodwill to be multi-issue voters and work to uphold and advance Gospel values.

People cast their votes for federal democracy reform as part of NETWORK’s “Team Democracy” events across the country in 2021. Voting rights, which have come under threat at the state level since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, are a key component of NETWORK’s efforts to defend democracy.

The Faith-Filled Push To Save Democracy

The Faith-Filled Push To Save Democracy

A Stark Choice of Futures Faces Voters in 2022
Melissa Cedillo
October 7, 2022
People cast their votes for federal democracy reform as part of NETWORK’s “Team Democracy” events across the country in 2021. Voting rights, which have come under threat at the state level since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, are a key component of NETWORK’s efforts to defend democracy.

People cast their votes for federal democracy reform as part of NETWORK’s “Team Democracy” events across the country in 2021. Voting rights, which have come under threat at the state level since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, are a key component of NETWORK’s efforts to defend democracy.

Upholding a democracy is a daunting task this year. According to the elections data website FiveThirtyEight, 195 out of 529 GOP nominees on the ballot this year “fully denied” the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Dozens of others “raised questions” or accepted the results “with reservations.” Only 71 respondents say they accept the results fully.

As statistics like these surface the vulnerability and fragility of the system, faith groups in Washington and around the country are attuned to the moral urgency that this moment requires.

As the 2022 midterm elections grow closer, the NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice is just one entity among this patchwork of organizations, interfaith coalitions, and campaigns are coming together to respond to election deniers, Christian nationalism, and all the forces that currently threaten democracy in the U.S.

A Particular Threat

Anthea Butler, chair of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Anthea Butler

Anthea Butler, chair of the department of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and a historian of African-American and U.S. religion, notes that one of the long lasting threats to democracy continues to be Christian nationalism. Butler has written and studied the intersection of race, religion, history, and politics extensively. In her book “White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America,” she outlines the long history of Christian Nationalism and racism in the U.S.

“The first thing to understand about a lot of Christian nationalists is that they don’t want democracy,” Butler says. “Because at [Christian nationalism’s] core, it really wants to set up God’s law, rather than the Constitution, as an operating document for what this country is supposed to be.”

Butler says this form of nationalism poses a threat not only to people who immigrated to the country to flee religious persecution, but also to Christians who do not follow the same political beliefs. Denying the separation of church and state, ignoring the fact that many people who are not Christian live in the U.S., or simply not taking the outcome of the 2020 election seriously are some of the ways Christian nationalism erodes the foundation of a country that celebrates religious freedom.

One group responding to the threat of Christian nationalism is the Center for Faith, Justice, and Reconciliation.

Sabrina Dent of the Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation

Sabrina Dent

“The ideology that is being promoted by a small group of people that identify as Christians that causes great harm and moral injuries to the community as a whole,” explains Sabrina E. Dent, president of the center.

The center is a community of scholars, faith leaders, organizers, and citizens working to expand the idea of religious freedom in the U.S. The center also works to put on educational programming. The center has worked on immigration issues, LGTBQ+ issues, reproductive health issues, voting rights, environmental issues, criminal justice issues, church and state issues, and voting rights. Whenever the center feels that there is a justice issue, especially when looking at racial and religious minorities, they are willing to speak up and support these groups.

“A lot of our work is done in collaboration with other groups as well because, like I say all the time, this is not work that we could do by ourselves, “ Dent explains.

The Range of Issues

Others, including NETWORK, also see the work of protecting democracy as extending to other freedoms, especially voting rights. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, himself a Baptist minister, has explained the political as a way to embrace the dignity of all of humanity in his case for expanding voting rights.

“There is no question that voting rights is a moral issue. I have often said that democracy in a real sense is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. This notion that each of us is a child of God, and therefore we ought to have a vote and a voice in the direction of our country and our destiny within it,” Warnock told NPR at the beginning of the year.

“If we don’t have democracy in this country, all human rights in this country are going to be denigrated. We need to fight for democracy,” says Barbara Hazelett, a member of NETWORK’s Virginia Advocates team.

Her group attends public town halls to make comments about justice issues like paid family leave or eliminating practices like solitary confinement. She has attended the local events to hand out leaflets on different topics and talk about state legislation with Virginians. She has also traveled to Washington to advocate for bills.

The comprehensive nature of this work, focusing across a range of issues, exposes a friction that is especially prevalent in Catholic circles, the issue of single-issue voting. Pope Francis, in his 2018 letter Gaudete Et Exsultate, spoke against this approach when he spoke of poverty and human life issues as being “equally sacred” to one another.

He revisited this rhetoric in a June 2020 general audience, in which he noted that “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.”

Min. Christian S. Watkins, government relations advocate at NETWORK, is quick to tie the work of defending democracy to the hyper-racialized rhetoric happening in the U.S. The risk that poses to a healthy democracy is that it continues to feed racist policies that only benefit a few and which intentionally suppress others, especially Black and Brown people. In other words, the system has to live up to its own ideals to protect it in the future.

For the structure of democracy in the U.S. to be authentic, says Watkins, it must include the people that have historically been — and continue to be — left out of democracy: “We have to realize our common bonds, our mutual experiences, our interconnectedness.”

A New Social Fabric

A New Social Fabric

We Must Heed the Warning Signs and Save Our Democracy
Mary J. Novak
October 6, 2022

Turbulent times can take a toll on our imagination. As our politics grow ever more volatile and extreme, we interpret events through the lens of our total experience and assume that, sooner or later, events will settle back into our notion of “normal.”

This is a faulty view. If the last several years have taught us anything, it’s that our imaginations are not prepared for what might come next. And as the midterm elections rapidly approach, this warning is especially urgent.

Last January, my faith and public life colleagues in Washington held their annual retreat, and we had the privilege of hearing a presentation by Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow for the Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She clarified that, while we in the U.S. often credit ourselves with being the world’s oldest democracy, we in fact started as a fairly limited democracy – we did not incorporate our Black community – and have only tried to be an inclusive democracy for 60 years, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Sadly, this also marked the point at which our political parties began sorting racially, a process that has continued to present day.

But what Dr. Kleinfeld shared next was more disturbing: When identity aligns with party, it increases political instability: “When more than one identity marker lines up, it actually increases chances of civil war by 12 times.” And in the U.S. our major parties are divided by geography (rural vs. urban), religion, and a host of other things.

The U.S. is among the most polarized countries in the world. People who are trained to see and understand democracies and civil wars across the globe, who study the data on civil wars, were not surprised by what happened on Jan. 6 of last year. They agree that the U.S. has high risk factors for civil war or significant harm to our democracy.

Dr. Kleinfeld explained: “Globally, four factors really elevate risk of election violence: competitive elections that decide balance of power, parties divided by identity, election rules that allow you to win by calling on identity because of how districts are drawn, and a security sector that leans to one side.”

We in the U.S. have all four. We also have alarming upward trends of actual violence against public officials, the politicization and extremism of law enforcement and military (1 in 10 rioters on Jan. 6 had service backgrounds), and the skyrocketing of new gun sales. We also have nearly two thirds of state and federal offices being sought by Republicans who do not fully accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

In many Catholic churches, however, we can find people of all races and identities under the same roof. These are the kinds of places where peacebuilding can happen, where we can create the conditions for building the understanding we need to turn away from this downward spiral. As we look back on the Jan. 6 Committee hearings and all the violence of recent months, I hope we can all agree that we need to pay attention and start reaching out to those who do not agree with us on every issue.

Dr. Kleinfeld left us with this: “Hope, family, connection: A country rent by dissension must see, feel, and touch how it might come together. Families pulled apart by politics, conspiracy, disagreements over COVID, must find a way back to one another. Social fabric must be darned and re-sewn in a stronger tapestry.”

To help actualize this, churches can lead the way by saying no to violence of any type. Dr. Kleinfeld also called for the subordination of politics below religion, rather than making power into a religion unto itself. These are especially powerful admonitions as we enter into what may be the most consequential U.S. election since the Civil War.

We should also employ our imaginations to envision how the future can be profoundly more just and given to human flourishing, one that is vastly better for all than the old status quo we somehow accepted. At NETWORK, we keep this vision before us in the work we do, and especially as we approach this election. As followers of Jesus and collaborators with the Spirit, we walk in hope. We envision a new, inclusive social fabric, one that is ever durable and resplendently vibrant.

Listen to Just Politics Podcast!

Listen to Just Politics Podcast!

October 4, 2022

Exciting news!

In collaboration with our friends at U.S. Catholic, we have launched a new podcast: Just Politics.

Hosted by Sister Eilis McCulloh, H.M., Colin Martinez Longmore, Joan F. Neal, and Sister Emily TeKolste, S.P., Just Politics is a biweekly podcast about the intersection of Catholic teaching and politics.

In each episode, Catholic sisters and their NETWORK coworkers will engage a variety of guests, including members of Congress and justice-seekers across the country, to explore the question, “What does a better kind of politics look like and how can we make it a reality?”

The first two episodes are already out, and you can listen to them on the U.S. Catholic website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Check out Just Politics press at www.uscatholic.org/justpolitics where you can also sign up for email updates, learn more about each episode, and find additional reading on each episode’s topics.

“We are excited to launch Just Politics, bringing NETWORK’s 50-year tradition of political ministry to a new medium and a new audience in partnership with U.S. Catholic. As we work to dismantle systemic racism, address rising political extremism, and protect our democracy, it is more important than ever to share these spirited conversations about how our faith calls us to respond to the existential threats of our time.”  —Mary J. Novak, NETWORK executive director 

The next episode of Just Politics comes out on October 17th — don’t miss it!

And, don’t forget to join the conversation about #JustPoliticsPod on social media!

Senate Republicans Block the DISCLOSE Act, Leaving Elections Vulnerable to Influence by dark money

Dark Money Remains Unchecked in U.S. Elections

Min. Christian S. Watkins, M.Div., NETWORK’s Democracy Reforms Lobbyist
September 23, 2022

Senate Republicans Block the DISCLOSE Act, Leaving Elections Vulnerable to Influence by dark money 

Thursday, September 22nd– Senate Republicans Block the DISCLOSE Act, leaving elections vulnerable to influence by dark money. The legislation (the DISCLOSE Act of 2021, or S.4822) was reintroduced to remove the influence of anonymously donated funds in politics. It would have required major political donors (those who give more than $10,000) to disclose their identity. And it would have increased the transparency of political advertisements by requiring donors that underwrite ads supporting or attacking judicial nominees, to reveal their identities.

This legislation was designed to ensure free and fair elections and protect the right of voters to have their voices heard in a truly representative, multi-racial, and multi-faith democracy.

Unfortunately, Republican Senators filibustered to block debate on the issue. Their refusal to collaborate with their colleagues across the aisle to protect our democracy from the inappropriate influence of dark money, is an affront to the Constitution. They have shirked their legislative duty and responsibility to voters. It is another disappointing example of Republican Senators prioritizing corporate interest over the people in our country.

The optics of their action suggests a concerted effort to preserve the ability to line their coffers with large sums of money without transparency. And it leaves the fairness of election results to hang in the balance as deep-pocketed lobbyists and donors enjoy an open lane to subvert the will of the people with their dark funds.

“The gall of senators who blocked even moving forward with debate on secret money and the DISCLOSE Act is a slap in the face to our democratic ideals and should leave every American deeply concerned. Without legislation like the DISCLOSE Act shining a light on secret financial donations, corporations, billionaires, and foreign interests that are seeking to influence our elections will continue to have free rein to continue their anonymous spending.”

       Christine Wood, co-Director for the Declaration for American Democracy   NETWORK’s Democracy Reform coalition partner 

At a time when extremist legislators across the country are erecting barriers to voting and trying to sabotage future elections, Senate Republicans had the opportunity to prevent special interests, corporations, billionaires, and foreign interests from perverting elections and possibly gaining control of our government. They chose not to.

Our Constitution calls for a democratic republic where legislators are elected to craft policies and laws that serve the will of the people. These Senators prioritized greedy lobbyists, special interests, and the like who prefer to do their political maneuvering in the dark. How does giving them free reign to influence our elected officials serve the will of the electorate?    

NETWORK will continue our faithful advocacy for federal democracy reforms. And we need your advocacy too! Prepare with NETWORK staff to be a multi-issue Pope Francis Voter and transform our politics! Sign up for the next workshop here. Can you invite three (3) friends to sign up, too?  

Now that Congress has failed to weed dark money out of politics, It is up to the Biden Administration to protect and strengthen our democracy. President Biden can sign executive orders to help shine a light on secret money spending by contractors that receive federal dollars, ensuring transparency, so that American voters can identify the influencers of our federal elections. 

Resources

How would Pope Francis Vote?
We invite you to speak out too by signing this letter
NETWORK Voter Training: learn how faith, social justice, and voting help us build anew