Category Archives: Front Page

Immigrant Families: We Can All Afford to Live With Dignity

Immigrant Families: We Can All Afford to Live With Dignity

Cruel cuts to vital services come at a time of soaring costs for those who need it the most

 

Giovana Oaxaca
August 11, 2025

The recently passed budget reconciliation bill diverts resources from communities to mass deportation efforts and border militarization. In this third installment of a three-part series (Part 1, Part 2), Giovana Oaxaca, NETWORK Senior Government Relations Advocate for Immigration, explores how the bill cruelly cuts services to vital services, but also the road ahead that justice-seekers can pursue to defeat these measures.

In communities across the country, working families are already grappling with rising costs. Groceries, rent, childcare, and health care have all surged in price (and will continue to do so thanks to the recently passed budget bill), leaving many households struggling to make ends meet. Yet, Congress will deepen the hardship by stripping away vital support from those who need them most. 

Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, NY hold a sign at a June event on Capitol Hill at which Catholic Sisters strongly opposed the budget reconciliation bill.

This bill proposes to render many qualifying and lawfully present immigrants ineligible for vital programs while simultaneously slashing these programs by billions for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Except for green card holders, individuals residing in the U.S. according to a Compact of Free Association, and certain Cuban and Haitian entrants, the following programs will be severely restricted for non-citizens: 

  • Through passage of the budget reconciliation act, Congress ends Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for many of the most vulnerable including refugees, asylees, and several others. 
  • Congress also ends subsidized ACA Marketplace coverage for asylees, refugees, people with Temporary Protected Status, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients beginning on January 1, 2027. Furthermore, all lawfully present immigrants with incomes under 100 percent of the FPL would be rendered ineligible for ACA marketplace coverage beginning on January 1, 2026
  • Despite promises to protect Medicare, the bill quietly strips access from many eligible immigrants. This means those who had coverage at the time of the bill will have their coverage end after January 4, 2027. This move leaves thousands of ageing individuals without the care they’ve relied on.
  • Food insecurity is also poised to worsen. The bill would end food assistance for eligible immigrants receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The Road Ahead

Harsh policies needlessly instill fear in communities and drive people deeper into the shadows. Common-sense immigration policies should uphold dignity, promote fairness and lawfulness, and prioritize meaningful reforms like a path to permanent legal status, not unnecessarily punish those who are in good standing in their communities as this administration has relentlessly done. Catholic Social Justice calls us to uphold the dignity of every human being. The real human costs of this immoral bill are undeniable. 

Legislation must bear in mind human dignity and the common good, the principle that every person should have the opportunity to live with dignity, contribute to society, and reach their God-given potential. The bills’ swift passage and lack of guidance create conditions ripe for abuse, including worsening overcrowding in detention facilities, fast-tracked deportations that bypass due process, and the hasty awarding of contracts without proper oversight.  

As Congress debates even more federal funding for ICE through the annual appropriations process, NETWORK is closely monitoring H.R. 4016, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026 and H.R.4213 – Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, which increase funds related to enforcement, detention, and border security. This alarming increase in interior enforcement in our communities is coming at the expense of taxpayers and family unity, and we must stand firm. 

Concerned people of faith can help support family unity and their communities by sharing know-your-rights materials and connecting with local community-based organizations, uphold dignity by supporting just policies like the restoration of sensitive locations policy guidance to ICE, and push for robust oversight and accountability from local and federal government officials and agencies.

Read Part 1 on immigration enforcement and detention.

Read Part 2 on how unfair government fees threaten family unity.

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.

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.

 

Why We Need An Economy for All

Why We Need An Economy for All

Despite Major Setbacks Under the Trump Administration,
the Vision of a Better Tomorrow is Clear as Ever

Jane Sutter
Second Quarter 2025

Just five days before the inauguration of President Trump, NETWORK unveiled its An Economy for All policy agenda in a webinar that attracted more than 2,100 registrants. The agenda demands that elected leaders deliver what our communities need to thrive:

  • Jobs with paid leave and wages that cover our bills, retirement, and more
  • Affordable housing, food, and health care
  • Safe and welcoming neighborhoods
  • Clean air and water
  • A just tax code that ensures the wealthy pay their fair share
  • A just and humane immigration system
  • A politics responsive to the people, not the money
Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Interim Executive Director, speaks at an Ash Wednesday prayer service calling for a compassionate federal budget, March 5 on Capitol Hill. Photo: Catherine Gillette

Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Interim Executive Director, speaks at an Ash Wednesday prayer service calling for a compassionate federal budget, March 5 on Capitol Hill.
Photo: Catherine Gillette

In introducing the agenda, NETWORK Interim Executive Director Joan F. Neal noted, “We all recognize that these are challenging times for our country. Our democracy, our vision of a free, diverse, inclusive, pluralistic country is on the line, starting now.”

The challenging times became even more apparent as Trump enacted his “shock and awe” campaign and the House of Representatives narrowly passed its budget plan on Feb. 25 that extends previous tax cuts to billionaires and threatens to undo important safety net programs.

As the drama unfolded in Washington, NETWORK friends and collaborators witnessed the implications for their work on the ground.

Politics responsive to the people

When Rev. Dr. Gregory Edwards, Executive Director of POWER Interfaith, talks about activism,

Rev. Dr. Gregory Edwards, Executive Director of POWER Interfaith, participates in an Oct. 1 roundtable discussion in Allentown, Pa. During the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour.

Rev. Dr. Gregory Edwards, Executive Director of POWER
Interfaith, participates in an Oct. 1 roundtable discussion in Allentown, Pa. During the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

he quotes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s exhortation of “the fierce urgency of now.”

A multi-regional, multi-faith, multi-class, multi-generational movement, building politically progressive organizations and working with more than 400 congregations in the Philadelphia area, the Lehigh Valley and Central Pennsylvania, POWER’s focus is on local and state issues (wages, equitable school funding, renewable energy, and more). However, Edwards calls proposals at the federal level “disastrous, [and] at the same time it’s also a distraction because people are panicking.”

What citizens need from the federal government, said Edwards, is a higher minimum wage and access to quality and affordable health care, housing, and schools.
“What we know to be true is that things only change when people, ordinary people, actually begin to organize and lift up their voices and not only vote but are able to, by the thousands, move their legislators…to a position that is in their own best interests, regardless of who’s in the White House.”

A just tax code

Tax policy expert Sarah Christopherson traveled with Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote Our Future” tour this past fall. She delivered a strong message: “Never let anyone tell you that we can’t afford to take care of our people, that we can’t afford to feed the hungry, that we can’t afford to have a good education for our children, that we can’t afford to get homes and have living wages, because there is so much money untaxed right now, and some of it will never go taxed, among the billionaire class.”

Sarah Christopherson is a tax justice advocate, seen here on the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour.

Sarah Christopherson is a tax justice advocate, seen here on the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

Christopherson points out that there are 815 people in the U.S. who are billionaires (according to an analysis of Forbes magazine data). “They are collectively worth six trillion dollars. You could tax them and still leave each one of them with a billion dollars and simultaneously have universal pre-K, have free school lunch, have full Medicaid coverage…It’s phenomenal what you could do, and they would still be billionaires.”

Christopherson describes how Republicans in Congress seek to renew tax for the ultra-rich and pay for them with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, education, and health care subsidies and the threat of not curtailing the excess hoarding of wealth.

Protect people seeking asylum

At the Kino Border Initiative’s (KBI) Migrant Outreach Center in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, staff and asylum seekers quickly saw the effects of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration measures. About 270,000 people who had registered for appointments at a Port of Entry to the United States were stranded in Mexico, according to statistics compiled by the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy organization.

Sr. Maria Engracia Robles, ME, of Kino Border Institute signs the Bus during the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends site visit to the U.S-Mexico Border. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

Sr. Maria Engracia Robles, ME, of Kino Border Institute signs the Bus during the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends site visit to the U.S-Mexico Border. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

KBI offers meals, shelter, clothing, legal and psychological assistance, and more. KBI Feedback Coordinator Sr. Maria Engracia Robles, ME, said through an interpreter, “All those Americans who have a good heart should understand the migrants in the U.S. are not criminals.” They are working in jobs such as agriculture, jobs that American citizens don’t want to do. “They are people of faith, they are working people.”

The reasons for migration have changed in recent years, Sr. Engracia said. Formerly, most migrants were seeking employment in the U.S. In recent years, migrants are families fleeing from violence or persecution. Despite recent events, the center’s clients remain hopeful, Sr. Engracia said. “They are hopefully waiting, God improves their lives,” and waiting patiently. “They are very sad but very strong at the same time.”

Jobs with fair wages

With the new Administration and Congress, Ani Halasz is greatly concerned that workers will struggle even more to make ends meet. Halasz is executive director at Long Island Jobs with Justice (LIJWJ), which works with labor unions, faithbased and other organizations, and activists to create living wage jobs, support worker organizing, and demand corporate accountability. The group’s mission aligns with NETWORK’s 2025 agenda – building an economy that works for all.

“We’ve known for a really long time that wealth inequality was destabilizing for democracies, but it didn’t feel urgent. … Now we’re to the point that you can’t deny it anymore.”

A top concern for Halasz is the status of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In January, Trump fired the only female board member, leaving the board without a quorum. In February, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced the shuttering of regional NLRB offices. The move will “make it almost impossible for us to protect the rights of workers in the future,” Halasz said. “It will be increasingly hard for workers to organize labor unions, because there won’t be an agency overseeing that, there won’t be a federal act protecting workers’ rights to organize.”

Other threats include a chilling effect on workers coming forward about wage theft and other exploitation, as well as Medicaid requirements that impose work requirements and exclude many immigrants.

“What we’re seeing happening right now in this country is the rolling back of almost every protection in this country that we fought for.”

Clean air and water

When Curtis Da’Von meets with citizens, his goal is to help them understand how things are connected between our environment and our everyday experiences. As part of his work as Southwest Pennsylvania Organizing Director for Clean Water Action, a national organization, he educates the community—including who have lost a loved one to violence—about the dangers of environmental lead on children and its connection to behavioral and developmental problems.

Curtis Da’Von of Clean Water Action gets a selfie with the Bus at the Oct. 5, 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends rally in Pittsburgh. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

Curtis Da’Von of Clean Water Action gets a selfie with the Bus at the Oct. 5, 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends rally in Pittsburgh. Photo: Jacob Schatz, CCR Studios

“So often in communities of color, there’s issues of high violence and crime. So you can start to connect the dots,” he says. “You can literally look at a map and areas that are high in lead are high in crime.”

The Pittsburgh area, where Da’Von works, already lacks enough government funding to cover the needs to remove lead from homes. Funding cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency further jeopardize their work.

Staying hopeful

Pope Francis’s exhortation that people be “Pilgrims of Hope” in this jubilee year has become a rallying cry for NETWORK and its volunteers. As Neal expressed to webinar attendees, “Let us be inspired to move to action, and as we do, let us call upon the God we know we can depend upon to carry us through today, tomorrow, and however long it takes.”

For More Information:
Clean Water Action
Kino Border Initiative
Long Island Jobs with Justice 
POWER Interfaith
Sarah Christopherson 

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

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

Rescission: What Will They Think of Next!?

Rescission: What Will They Think of Next?!

Weaponizing an Obscure Procedure Will Further Undermine Our System of Government

Jarrett Smith
July 11, 2025

Last week, the reconciliation bill passed Congress and was signed into law by President Trump on the Fourth of July. Now, only a few days after people in the U.S. grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and watched fireworks light up the sky, Capitol Hill is debating another budget bill. However, this time, it is to claw back previously approved funding for programs President Trump does not like. 

President Trump has proposed that Congress take away $9.4 billion in spending that was previous passed in the House on June 12. How can this happen, you ask? Well, Article I, Section 8 and 9 of the Constitution gives Congress the “power of the purse,” as we saw when Trump’s illegal efforts at the start of his second term to impound federal spending met with successful legal opinions. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean he’s out of options. 

Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, an administration can use specific processes for how and when a president can refuse to spend money that Congress has already appropriated. Under the statute, the president must send a “special” message to Congress explaining his reasons for impounding certain funds. One of his options is “rescission,” which is an option to cancel funding completely. For it to happen, both the House and Senate must approve the president’s request within 45 days. Unfortunately, it requires only a simple majority to pass. 

The Impoundment Control Act came about in response to President Nixon abusing his power of impoundment to block spending for programs he didn’t like. And now we are seeing similar White House action. The same stuff, different day! 

As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes of President Trump’s rescission proposal: “The proposed cuts would significantly damage life-saving global health programs, peacekeeping efforts, and economic development abroad, and would hurt domestic community TV and radio stations supported by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).” Lives are at stake with this funding, including in rural areas in the U.S. that can only receive emergency information from the public broadcasting system. 

Catholic Cares Coalition and NETWORK Lobby have worked many years to develop vaccination logistic systems in developing countries.  The hard deliberate work the faith community engaged in can be leveraged for future disease outbreaks including the next pandemic. However, the rescission package sets back this work for decades. 

No one should be surprised about these funding claw backs. This is yet another insidious move from the Project 2025 playbook to dismantle all the parts of the government that right-wing political extremists like Stephen Miller and Russell Vought want to eliminate. This manipulation of a procedural move designed to prevent overreach by a former president is yet another example of how the president’s agency heads want to unravel the fabric of our society. 

Finally, it also undermines the ability of our government to do things such as pass annual appropriations to fund the government. What reason will Democrats have to negotiate with Republicans on anything if they know Republicans will just claw back the funding?   

Under the budget reconciliation bill recently passed by Congress and signed on July 4 by President Trump, we witnessed unprecedented cuts to health care (including Medicaid and the ACA), child nutrition, and other life-saving programs. Now in addition to these cuts, we further damage our country’s capacity to do good and access good, accurate information through news media. It’s a betrayal of trust and our system of government. This is an attack on our country’s history and tradition.

After the Budget Bill: What’s at Stake for Our Common Home — and How We Respond

After the Budget Bill: What’s at Stake for Our Common Home — and How We Respond

Drake Starling
July 18, 2025

From the coasts of California to the coalfields of Appalachia, from Midwestern farms to Gulf Coast towns, families across the country want the same things: clean air, safe water, a livable planet, and a future full of opportunity. That’s why, in 2022, communities of faith and frontline advocates alike came together to help push the historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) across the finish line—bringing with it groundbreaking investments in clean energy, environmental justice, and climate resilience.

But now, much of that progress is on the chopping block. The budget reconciliation bill that just narrowly passed in Congress rolls back key provisions of the IRA, gutting investments in clean energy, rescinding funds for frontline communities, and stalling the just transition we’ve fought for. Why? Because the Republican lawmakers who backed this bill chose to prioritize the profits of fossil fuel executives over the well-being of their constituents. This bill isn’t about fiscal responsibility—it’s about letting polluters off the hook.

In the wake of Congress passing the budget reconciliation bill, we at NETWORK are reflecting on the devastating toll this legislation takes on our environment — and the people and communities who bear the brunt of environmental harm. We know the true cost of this bill: polluted air, unsafe water, and a dangerous step backward in the fight to protect our climate.

A Blow to Clean Energy and Creation Care

The budget reconciliation bill strips away billions in clean energy investments that were once made possible through the historic Inflation Reduction Act. These investments supported wind and solar energy projects, domestic clean manufacturing, and affordable electricity for millions of families. Now, with clean energy tax credits rolled back and critical funding rescinded from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, we face the chilling prospect of stalled innovation and rising energy costs, especially for low-income households.

Clean Water Under Threat

The reconciliation bill also rescinds funds meant to improve water infrastructure and protect communities from toxic pollution. The backers of this bill gutted grants to replace lead pipes, clean up PFAS contamination, and address long-standing water inequities in marginalized communities. This decision endangers public health and disproportionately harms communities of color, Tribal nations, and rural families already facing unsafe drinking water.

Sacrificing Clean Air for Corporate Polluters

Perhaps most abhorrent is the bill’s attack on clean air. The bill’s backers slashed the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and eliminated programs designed to reduce carbon emissions and monitor air pollution near schools and ports. They also weakened enforcement of the methane emissions fee—a critical tool for reducing one of the most potent greenhouse gases—and offered new giveaways to fossil fuel CEOs under the guise of “permitting reform.”

Our Faith Calls Us to Respond

At NETWORK, we believe in a government that protects the dignity of all people and cares for our Common Home. The decisions made in this budget bill are not just policy choices — they are moral choices. Pope Francis was clear: “The climate crisis is not merely an environmental issue; it is a social issue.” But once again, the lawmakers voting for this bill were willing to sacrifice our communities—our health, our economic stability, and our futures—all in the name of profit and corporate greed.

What We’re Doing Now

We’re not standing idly by. In response to this dangerous legislation:

  • We are mobilizing our faith partners to act boldly, including through writing op-eds and letters to the editor and holding district meetings with lawmakers who supported these cuts.
  • We are defending what’s left of the Inflation Reduction Act by lobbying Congress to protect and restore funding for clean energy tax credits, energy efficiency programs, and environmental justice initiatives.
  • We are educating our supporters and all people of goodwill through webinars, briefings, and faith-based materials that explain what’s at stake — and how our Catholic values compel us to act.
  • We are building coalitions with environmental, labor, and faith-based partners to resist further rollbacks and to demand a just transition to a clean energy economy that centers workers and frontline communities.

This moment is difficult, but it is not the end. We are grounded in hope, fueled by faith, and committed to justice. Together, we will continue to advocate for policies that protect creation and promote the dignity of all people.

NETWORK Lobby's blog ends with an image that reads Act Boldly, Act UrgentlyTake Action

Contact your elected officials. Tell them that slashing climate, clean air, and clean water funding is unacceptable. Urge them to reject future rollbacks and to support legislation that heals both people and the planet.

Because justice demands it. And faith compels it.

Stay Rooted for Action

Stay Rooted for Action

In Community With One Another, We Can Endure These Scary Times

Sr. Emily TeKolste, SP

Over the past few months, I’ve spent some time with people across the country who really care. They are outraged and frustrated by the things they see every day from the Trump administration as they attack the funding our communities rely on, send ICE to raid our towns, give our data to private interests, and more.

NETWORK Advocates and others across the country want to make a difference. Many also express feeling overwhelmed and struggling to find hope. Many of us want to call for more from those who are supposed to represent us — from our elected officials to leaders in the church. Amidst what feels like a daily onslaught of bad news, what is ours to do? Here are some practices and reminders for staying rooted and active:

Ground yourself

This Administration wants us to feel overwhelmed and discouraged so that we won’t be motivated to push back against their power-grabs. That’s precisely why they are pushing their agenda forward with such speed.

Take a moment each day to ground yourself. Take a deep breath. Remind yourself that in this moment you are safe. Staying grounded and in a parasympathetic emotional state will enable you to be more effective in the work you are doing. Recognize that you are part of a bigger whole. At the same time, you are one person. One person doesn’t change the world alone. By trying to do it all, you will burn yourself out, and we can’t afford that!

Act from where you are

Maybe you’re surrounded by people who feel very differently than you. Perhaps your job is to build authentic connections with them, learn from them, and sow small seeds of relationship that might open up something new. Or maybe you’re mostly in relationship with people who share your perspective. Invite them to join you in taking action. Thinking together doesn’t change things; acting together does.

Set realistic expectations

We don’t have to look for big actions that will have big results. Focus on small actions that will have small results – and then do them regularly. As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) said, “There is no action too small because when we all act together, even in small ways, it adds up to something huge.”

Do your part and nobody else’s

You are not alone. You are part of a wide community of people working to make this country a place where everyone can thrive. Our faith assures us that our work today is part of a bigger picture of God’s justice.

We have to share the workload. Each person doing their own part well allows us together to do great things well. It could be going to a lobby visit, writing a letter to the editor, donating your time or money, or distributing Know Your Rights pamphlets at your parish. Start by looking for one concrete thing you feel called to do and focus on that. Trust that other people also really care and are doing their parts as best they can.

Focus on action, not fear

What is happening in our country is scary. But autocrats rely on fear. Their power is built on illusion and intimidation. They have no power if we refuse to be intimidated. At the end of the day, we have to choose compassion and solidarity over fear. As the first letter of John says, “Perfect love casts out fear!”

Find joy, celebrate successes

Though there will be setbacks along the way, there will also be successes. For example, our collective pressure recently forced the Trump administration to roll back their devastating federal funding freeze. Even if temporary, these wins matter! No matter how small, celebrate those successes. Find joy in the community you’re building. These are the things that will sustain us.

Find compassion

The Administration’s actions are hateful, and we must answer with compassion. Find compassion, including for yourself and those around you. Reach out and check in on neighbors. We don’t need people showing up perfectly. We just need to show up.

Collaborate

Connect with other groups in your local area. Attend their events and build relationships there. And then invite folks you meet there (and folks you already know) to join you for NETWORK events. That’s how we keep growing and stay connected and effective! Friends, when we act together, we have enormous power. Our pressure is working, so we must keep it up. Together.

This story was published in the Quarter 2 2025 issue of Connection.
Sisters Speak Out-Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa

Catholic Sisters Called for Justice at Sisters Speak Out, NETWORK was there

Catholic Sisters Called for Justice at Sisters Speak Out

Catholic Sisters from more than 50 congregations around the country gathered in 100 degree heat for prayer and public witness on Capitol Hill on June 24, 2025 for Sisters Speak Out. Joined by social justice organizations and Spirit-filled advocates, they urged the Senate to reject steep budget cuts that will gut Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and more programs vital to the well-being of people in every state in our country.

The group of over 300 people also heard Sisters Speak Out in opposition to the massive increase in spending for the inhumane roundup of our immigrant neighbors, their deportation without due process, and the cruelty of family separation.

Through excessively high temperatures, spirits and hopes remained high through passionate Sister stories and reflections, soul-stirring spirituals, and powerful prayers (including a lovely rosary to end the gathering). The Sisters did not end the day on a grassy patch on the Hill. Dozens were accompanied by NETWORK staff for lobby visits to Senate offices. Their day ended with time spent with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (CA-11) and Senator Raphael Warnock (GA) for conversation and prayer.

Selected images from the beautiful day are on this page. You can find more photos and images on the NETWORK Flickr account.

——-
For more than a century, Catholic Sisters (also known as nuns) have been at the forefront of serving with vulnerable communities in the United States through ministries of health care, education, and social services. They sponsor many of the country’s largest Catholic hospital systems, universities, and social services agencies.

For inquiries about Sisters Speak Out, please contact Sister, Eilis McCulloh, HM, NETWORK’s Grassroots Education and Organizing Coordinator at [email protected]

Sisters Speak Out

Catholic Sisters Called for Justice at Sisters Speak Out, NETWORK offers this image gallery of the nuns Prayer and Public Witness Justice event in Washington, DC on June 24, 2026