Category Archives: Sister Spirit

Daring to Hope for our Nation

Daring to Hope for our Nation

Sister Susan Rose Francois, CSJP
October 15, 2020

Four years ago, it was my honor and privilege to be a Nun on the Bus. You remember that election, I’m sure. I was on the bus from Janesville, Wisconsin to Cleveland, Ohio. Along the way, I met some amazing people and heard incredible stories about the joys and struggles of our sisters and brothers across the country. My leg on the trip ended at the Republican National Convention where we passed out lemonade to attendees and asked them three questions:

  1. Who is difficult to talk to about politics in your family and why?
  2. What concerns you about the election?
  3. What gives you hope for our nation?

Four years later, I still remember those conversations. As I wrote in 2016, “‘Our diversity is our strength,’ one man from Wisconsin told me. ‘It can be scary, but over time our country will heal based on our strong values.’ Another from Tennessee said, ‘We have overcome a lot before as a nation and can do it again.’”

For that to be possible, we need to bridge the growing political divide. We need to sweeten the sour conversations in our body politic, in our families and in our communities. We need to talk with people with whom we do not normally engage. If we want to mend the gaps and reweave the fabric of society, then we need to move beyond trading barbs, attacks, and presumed facts, and focus instead on our hearts, probe our fears, and dare to hope for our nation.

Sadly, the divide has deepened and the gaps seem even wider today. I believe that this 2020 election comes at a critical time in our nation’s story. The theme of the 2020 Nuns on the Bus Tour is therefore quite fitting: Who We Elect Matters. For this reason, I decided to get back on the bus this year to talk about how I feel called to be a multi-issue voter.

In many ways, the voter I am today is because of my Mom. My Mom knew in her bones that who we elect matters in the lives of real people, especially those who are poor and vulnerable. She taught me to care for life at all stages, to promote human dignity and the common good, and to bring all those concerns into the voting booth (or onto the pages of a mail-in ballot, as the case may be).

I hope you participate during our 2020 Nuns on the Bus tour or find time to watch events that have been recorded and saved online. However, most importantly, I pray that all voters will take this election seriously, follow their conscience, and vote for the common good.

Susan Rose Francois, CSJP is a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace and a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph congregational leadership team. This reflection was originally published on Sister Susan’s blog “At the Corner of Susan and St. Joseph” (www.susanandstjoseph.com). You can also find her on Twitter, tweeting a daily prayer for President Trump at @susanfrancois.

This story was published in the Fourth Quarter 2020 issue of Connection magazine. Read the full issue.

Seeking the Divine in the Darkness

Seeking the Divine in the Darkness

Braving this Time with Courage and Wisdom

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
October 13, 2020

As we approach these days before a national election, we are called to embody the Divine spark in a new and challenging way. For us here at NETWORK we have been walking in new ways this election year.

For the first time in our forty-eight year history, we have taken a positon on a presidential candidate. We have opposed the re-election of President Trump because he does not embody any aspect of Catholic Social Teaching. (Read our statement: “Catholics Cannot Vote for Trump”.)

NETWORK has created a Pope Francis Voter website and created social media ads to promote it to viewers who might not otherwise see it. With the help of a NETWORK supporter, we have created this website in Spanish and created Spanish-language social media ads.

We have boldly spoken out about the fact that to solely support the criminalization of abortion or oppose a woman’s right to make a moral choice is not embodying the fullness of the teachings of our Catholic faith. We have spoken the truth that we are pro-life in our support for pregnant women through health care, nutrition, housing, and myriad other pro-life policies. (Download the Equally Sacred Scorecard.)

We have created a virtual Nuns on the Bus trip that is focused on being a multi-issue voter. This is a multi-faceted trip focused on critical states to advance our democratic effort to bring the Gospel to life. (Join the 2020 Virtual Bus Trip.)

But, the whole experience is groping in the dark as the spiritual journey and politics converge. And then hearing of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I was pulled into a deep sadness and sense of cataclysmic destruction. In the midst of tears, it led me to remember my August retreat where I had told my retreat director that I like the dark because the dark lets the Divine shine.

This led me to thinking about the Dark Night of the Soul and I began to consider that this is the dark night of our nation. Theologian Matthew Fox refers to this as “lucky darkness” where there is little or nothing to steer by but the fire deep in our hearts. Meister Eckhart calls this the “spark of God” urging us on to follow and learn.

In the midst of these dark nights, chaos reigns and there are no guideposts that are to be trusted. In the face of such darkness and worry, what are we to do?

This moment calls for spiritual courage to face the struggle and trust that the Divine spark is alive in our midst loving us into courageous action, wise words, and generous hearts.

In this experience of liberating darkness during these last weeks and days before the polls close, let us commit ourselves to sacred action. Then in whatever follows, let us commit ourselves to be missionaries for the common good. Let us bring the truth of the Gospel and the strength of the Spirit with us into action so that the prayer I prayed on the last night of the Democratic National Convention might be realized:

The very first paragraph of the Scripture that informs the three Abrahamic traditions tells us: “The Divine Spirit breathed over the waters of chaos and brought forth a new creation.” Encouraged by this promise that a new creation can come from chaos, let us pray:

O Divine Spirit!

During the weeks and months ahead, stir our hearts and minds that we might fight for a vision that is worthy of you and your call to honor the dignity of all of your creation.

A vision of who we are as a people, grounded in community and care for all, especially the most marginalized.

A vision that cares for our earth and heals the planet.

A vision that ends structural racism, bigotry, and sexism so rife now in our nation and in our history.

A vision that ensures hungry people are fed, children are nourished, immigrants are welcomed.

O Spirit, breathe in us and our leaders a new resolve…that committed to this new promise, we will work together to build a national community grounded in healing, fearlessly based on truth, and living out of a sense of shared responsibility.

In the name of all that is holy, O Spirit, bring out of this time of global and national chaos a new creation, a new community that can – with your help – realize this promise that we affirm tonight.

With profound hope, let we the people say: Amen!

Watch Sr. Simone deliver this prayer.

This story was published in the Fourth Quarter 2020 issue of Connection magazine. Read the full issue.

Let’s Go, Homeboys

Let’s Go, Homeboys

Sister Susan Rose Francois
October 6, 2020

Are we not each better than our worst moment?” I have never forgotten that question, ever since I first heard it raised by Fr. Gregory Boyle during a presentation at the LA Religious Education Congress more than a decade ago. It was such a countercultural question, centered on goodness, compassion, human dignity and the power of redemption. I have returned to that question at times when I have not been my best self. It has helped me pick myself up, dust off the cobwebs and start again. I have returned to that question when I’ve accompanied others. It is a question that leads to community and future possibility.

Flash forward to this week’s Nuns on the Bus virtual site visit with Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California. The goodness of the men gathered on the call for a conversation with Sr. Simone Campbell — Father Greg, Miguel and Franky — jumped off the screen. I found myself leaning into the screen and smiling, even as they shared stories of their own struggles. Miguel and Frank, both formerly incarcerated gang members, exuded care, compassion, love, and a desire to build community.

“I love life,” said Miguel. “I am living life to the fullest.” His eyes lit up as he told Sister Simone about being part of the Homeboys’ response to address food insecurity caused by the pandemic. Homeboy Industries has pivoted their operations and is now providing 10,000 meals each week to seniors and people experiencing homelessness. “It feels so good to be giving back to the community after taking so much,” said Miguel.

Franky talked about the transformative power of community. “The energy you see and feel here helps me to get where I want to be,” he said. Franky is working to get out the vote this election season, making sure that the formerly incarcerated know how to exercise their voting rights. He knows first-hand that voting matters because his own sentence was reduced due to California Proposition 57, passed by the voters in 2016, which authorized sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior and education.

My mother spent many years working with incarcerated men and women, helping them to develop decision making skills and prepare for life after their release. I couldn’t help but think about my Mom as I listened to Miguel and Franky describe the power of community. “What I needed,” said Miguel, “was for my community to be able to hold me.” They both talked about what it meant to them when Father Greg remembered them, knew their name, and showed that he cared. “It’s kind of a thrill to be valued and cherished,” said Father Greg. “It’s the thing that motivates.”

Father Greg said that he hopes we all have 2020 vision now. “I am both hopeful and optimistic at the same time,” he said. Listening to Miguel and Franky, I am not surprised he feels this way.

My virtual site visit to Homeboy Industries was motivating and energizing. It reminded me that what really matters is being a community of support, in our own circles and beyond, in good times and in bad. Whether it’s bringing food to the hungry, encouraging their peers to vote or reconnecting with local communities and families in positive and life-giving ways, these men are witnesses to the power of community. Violence and fear will not have the last say. May love, not fear, go viral. Amen.

Virtual site visit to Homeboy Industries, picturing, top right, Sr. Simone Campbell of Network; top left, Franky Reyes; and bottom, Miguel (Susan Francois screenshot)

Virtual site visit to Homeboy Industries, picturing, top right, Sr. Simone Campbell of
Network; top left, Franky Reyes; and bottom, Miguel (Susan Francois screenshot)

 

[Susan Rose Francois is a member of the Congregation Leadership Team for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. She was a Bernardin scholar at Catholic Theological Union and has ministered as a justice educator and advocate. Read more of her work on her blog, At the Corner of Susan and St. Joseph or in GSR’s Horizons columns.]

This blog was originally published on Global Sisters Report.

Where Democracy and Science Fiction Merge

Where Democracy and Science Fiction Merge

Sister Michele Morek
September 25, 2020

I am a 2020 nun on the bus, and it is a “Star Trek” experience.

Instead of climbing on a bus Sept. 25, I walked to the back bedroom of our home in Roeland Park, Kansas, turned on the computer, and — “Beam me up, Scotty” — I was at a town hall in Buffalo, New York, engaging in my first virtual Nuns on the Bus event.

The 2020 Nuns on the Bus tour began Sept. 21 in Pittsburgh, but the official kickoff was Sept. 23 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Cory Booker, Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union, the Rev. Willie Barber II, Amy Jo Hutchison, and the Rev. Otis Moss III. I especially liked Amy Jo, who gave a vivid personal account of what it’s like to live in poverty in America.

The bus trip will conclude with a national rally Oct. 23 after crisscrossing 16 states with 63 live events, including town halls and site visits, spreading the message: “Who we elect matters.”

I jumped on the bus because I am worried. How can we have a democracy if we can’t talk to our family or neighbors about things that matter?

The first stop I made on the bus was the town hall for “Spirit-filled voters” in Buffalo. After a quick Zoom tutorial, we heard from Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, the Catholic lobby for social justice that organizes the bus tour, and three of the Nuns on the Bus — including me! — about why we are multi-issue voters.

All attendees got to talk to each other in small groups in virtual breakout rooms about how our faith informs our political engagement. (It is always good to start a conversation with discovering shared values.) We also discussed what issues we care about and why we are multi-issue voters, before coming back to share in the large group.

From the discussion, I picked up several good tips about how to talk about difficult issues:

  • Tell a personal story about why you feel the way you do about an issue. (Nobody can argue with a personal story.)
  • Ask them how their stories brought them to hold their values and opinions.
  • Listen with attention and compassion.

The really cool thing about this virtual tour? Whether you are a nun in real life or not, you can be a nun on the bus in an interactive game. Personally, I am well on the way to coloring in my bus for a prize. Click on the website to see the many wonderful activities and features. And then just say, “Beam me up, Scotty!”

And follow Network on Facebook and Twitter.

[Ursuline Sr. Michele Morek is Global Sisters Report’s liaison to sisters in North America. Her email address is [email protected].]

This blog was originally published on Global Sisters Report.

Praying for a New Creation to Come from Chaos

Praying for a New Creation to Come from Chaos

Sister Simone Campbell
August 20, 2020
Sr. Simone’s Invocation to the Democratic National Convention,
Thursday, August 20, 2020.

Good evening.

I’m Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK and Leader of Nuns on the Bus

Tonight marks an important next chapter in our story of who we will become as a nation. So I speak to you with a sense of urgency and hope, knowing the difficult work ahead, grounded in my faith.

The very first paragraph of the Scripture that informs the three Abrahamic traditions tells us: the Divine Spirit breathed over the waters of chaos and brought forth a new creation.

Encouraged by this promise that a new creation can come from chaos, let us pray:

O Divine Spirit!

During the weeks and months ahead, stir our hearts and minds that we might fight FOR a vision that is worthy of you and your call to honor the dignity of all of your creation.

A vision of who we are as a people, grounded in community and care for all, especially the most marginalized.

A vision that cares for our earth and heals the planet.

A vision that ends structural racism, bigotry and sexism so rife now in our nation and in our history.

A vision that ensures hungry people are fed, children are nourished, immigrants are welcomed.

O Spirit, breathe in us and our leaders a new resolve… that committed to this new American Promise, we will work together to build a national community grounded in healing, fearlessly based on truth, and living out of a sense of shared responsibility.

In the name of all that is holy, O Spirit, bring out of this time of global and national chaos a new creation, a new community that can, with your help, realize this New Promise that we affirm tonight.

With profound hope, let We The People say: Amen!

Grief, Anger, and Sacred Imagination

Grief, Anger, and Sacred Imagination

Confronting Injustices in Our Midst
Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
August 11, 2020

Protesters outside the White House in the days following the murder of George Floyd.

The litany of horrors in the last few months has at times overwhelmed us. The murder of innocent Black people and police attacks on peaceful protesters. The pandemic and the failure of the Trump administration to engage and lead. The necessary closing of business to protect each other from the disease and the resulting economic crisis. The effort to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable people brought Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate together for a brief moment as they crafted emergency legislation to respond. More action is needed though, to begin the healing in our nation.

As weeks have gone on, we have learned how the Black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Wisconsin, Black people represent 6% of the population and nearly 40% of COVID-19 fatalities. In Kansas, 6% of the population is Black and yet Black people account for more than 30% of COVID-19 deaths. These are the communities who do not have the opportunity to work from home. The Labor Department reported 30% of white workers could work from home in 2017 and 2018, while only 20% of Black workers and only 16% of Latinx workers could do so. The front line workers who work in grocery stores, drive buses, work in hospitals are the most exposed, and their families and communities have paid a high price because of that. Native American communities have some of the highest COVID-19 rates per capita in the country. At the same time, tax revenues from tribal businesses used to operate hospitals and clinics have dropped to nearly zero.

Then we have the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police and all of the reality of centuries of our original sin of racism. I don’t want to write another statement or say another lament, I want to CHANGE this behavior once and for all. Since it began tracking in 2015, the Washington Post has found that over 1,000 people are killed every year by the police and Black people, while only 13% of the population, are more than twice as likely to be a victim of police killing.

Then we have President Trump’s decision to use military force to clear peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters Lafayette Square across from the White House so he could pose for a photo holding up a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church. He violated both the constitutional rights and sacred human dignity of people so he could get a photo opportunity. To me this was the ultimate exercise of authority to reinforce and flaunt his white privilege.

In our work at NETWORK, we see the structures of white supremacy that have controlled the economic reality AND the political reality in this land since before the founding of our nation. Many of you have participated in our Racial Wealth and Income Gap experience, exploring 12 federal policies that created and perpetuate the inequality in our nation. Many of you studied our Recommit to Racial Justice guide that identifies and confronts the extent of white supremacy in our society, our politics, and our economy. I know that white people, like me, have so much to learn about racism and all of the small and large ways that my actions and my decisions perpetuate racial injustice. It is not a time just to lament, however. As we approach this year’s election in the face of these challenges, we must move beyond lamentation and engage.

In Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis’s Exhortation on Holiness, he calls us to a full engagement to protect the dignity of all life. In this moment in the United States, I believe that dismantling racism must be a foundational part of any pro-life agenda. He says in Paragraph 101: “We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as other look on from afar.” Even more so, we must live out the Pope’s message addressed to the people of the United States following the murder of George Floyd, “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.”

This leads us to our work in this 2020 election. Black lives matter, and we must examine and transform all policies and systems that deny this sacred truth. We must promote the life of all of our people by changing policing to protect Black lives. We must promote life by ensuring that everyone in our nation has access to quality health care. We must promote life by guaranteeing that all can live in dignity with a roof over their heads and enough food on their plates. We must promote life by ending the economic inequality upheld by our tax laws. We must promote life by ensuring that our immigrant siblings are welcomed and honored for their inherent dignity.

As we continue sheltering in place, we cannot stay silent or confused. We are called in this time to live the Gospel call to love one another. This means pushing back against racism, facing our own complicity, speaking out to make change. The urgency of a pandemic, police violence, racism of our leaders and our systems all demand it. Let us commit ourselves to working for change. I believe that we are at a crossroads as it says in Deuteronomy 30:19:

Today, I call heaven and earth to witness, I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then so that you and your descendants may live in the love of Yahweh.

Let us commit ourselves to working for change!

This story was originally published in the Third Quarter 2020 issue of Connection magazine. Read the full issue. 

Sisters Urge Cardinal Dolan to Rethink Support for President Trump

Sisters Urge Cardinal Dolan to Rethink Support for President Trump

Colleen Ross
May 15, 2020

The Sisters of the Holy Names, U.S.-Ontario Province added their voices to the many Catholic voices rejecting Cardinal Dolan’s praise of President Trump. The Sisters of the Holy Names, along with the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-in-the-Woods and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet all authored letters in recent weeks addressing Cardinal Dolan’s statements of support for President Trump. Read about all of the letters in coverage from Global Sisters Report. We applaud these women religious for their prophetic witness and their faithful witness to the Gospel.

Read the Sisters of the Holy Names, U.S.-Ontario Province letter here, or below:

We, the Leadership Team of the Sisters of the Holy Names (SNJM), U.S.-Ontario Province, would like to add our voices to the thousands of others telling Cardinal Dolan how shocked and saddened we were when we heard him publicly praise President Trump in a speech given April 25, 2020:

“I salute his leadership… and praise his leadership and sensitivity to the feelings of the religious community.”

As a community of women religious who for the past 175 years have been educating people based on the values of justice, respect and the teachings of the social encyclicals of the Church, we find it particularly offensive for Cardinal Dolan to raise up as a model for all of us – especially our students – a person whose actions are so contrary to Gospel values and everything we teach. These include:

  • Bullying and making fun of people.
  • Calling people from other countries degrading names.
  • Promoting policies that favor the rich.
  • Lacking a sensitivity to people suffering and in need.
  • Protecting life in the womb but opposing policies that help families with life after birth.

We, as women religious and educators, are confident that when our students list the values they are being taught in our schools and compare them to statements, policies and actions the President expresses and lives by, they will be very puzzled why Cardinal Dolan could consider President Trump an “inspiring leader.”

Certainly meeting and talking to the president of our country is an important, privileged and significant event. We count on “speaking truth to power” as a guiding principle.

As we go forward and live together into these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we pray for wisdom, compassion and integrity in our church and civic leaders as well as strength and healing for the people of our world.

Peace and many blessings,
The Leadership Team of the Sisters of the Holy Names, U.S.-Ontario Province
Sister Mary Breiling SNJM
Sister Maureen Delaney SNJM
Sister Guadalupe Guajardo, SNJM
Sister Margaret Kennedy, SNJM
Sister Mary Rita Rhode, SNJM

Responding to the Need Laid Bare

Responding to the Need Laid Bare

Working to Mend the Gaps in a Time of Crisis

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
May 5, 2020

When I testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at the beginning of February, our world was a very different place than it is today. However, the issues that I spoke of at that time are more urgent than ever. While you can read the details of the testimony in this issue of Connection, the substance boils down to a simple fact: the Trump administration’s attempt to define people out of poverty is a cruel hoax to prop up conservative economic talking points.

In the COVID-19 crisis, we have quickly learned how tattered our safety net is. Now, even Republicans, are beginning to see that we need to care for all of our people in order to protect the common good. COVID-19 is demonstrating that we are all vulnerable. The virus respects neither economic privilege nor zip codes. Some who were previously hostile to the idea of a safety net now see that we are connected and my concern for another is a concern for my family and friends also.

One example of this is the Community Health Centers whose long term funding has been held up in Congress as a “bargaining chip” in the effort to reduce drug costs. Some of these centers, which serve the most vulnerable uninsured people in our country, have had to close their doors because of a lack of funding. Now, they received emergency funding.

We have heard of people who have lost their jobs and have no income and a rent payment due. They are receiving increased unemployment benefits as quickly as states can do it.

We have heard of a farmer who was going to sell some machinery to pay the loan that they took out last year to get through a “hard patch.” Now the loan is due, but there is no market to sell the machinery. There are provisions for cash-strapped farmers as they begin planting season.

The stories go on and on. I find myself often on the point of tears. These tears led me to realize that the response to this crisis in many ways is up to us. Will we continue to use this moment to reclaim the fact that we are based in community and end the unpatriotic lie of individualism? This is our moment. This is our chance. We have Members of Congress listening who never listened before.

We must minister to our people. We need to lift up the stories of solidarity (even though we are socially distancing). The truth is that we are interconnected, as this invisible virus has demonstrated. There are no national boundaries when it comes to our care. There is no Republican virus or Democratic virus. Our legislation needs to reflect this deep truth: We are one body.

A Faithful Response to “Catholics for Trump”

A Faithful Response to “Catholics for Trump”

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
April 2, 2020

After postponing the “Catholics for Trump” rally previously scheduled for March in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Catholics for Trump coalition is now launching online. Despite the current coronavirus pandemic, President Trump’s re-election campaign is continuing to try to engage Catholics remotely.

This campaign was planned and is now being executed with the assumption that a large group of Catholics will support President Trump’s re-election campaign. I am in favor of Catholics participating in politics — as Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby, that much is clear. Even the Pope calls on Catholics to participate in politics to promote the common good, saying “A good Catholic meddles in politics.”

But I cannot understand how Catholics, following Pope Francis’s urging to participate in politics, could support our current President and his policies. In fact, I believe that participating in “Catholics for Trump” activities, online or in person, directly contradicts the most essential Catholic beliefs.

Catholics are called to follow the life and teachings of Jesus, who above all else, instructs us to love our neighbors, especially those who are most vulnerable and marginalized in their society. The Trump administration has turned its back on that call at almost every turn.

In March, I was relieved to read Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s clear announcement that the “Catholics for Trump” rally was not hosted by the Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee were not endorsing or affiliated with the rally. As President Trump’s re-election campaign continues, I urge any Church leaders who find themselves in a similar situation to do the same.

In addition to making it clear that the Church does not endorse or support these events, Catholic leaders should continue to make it clear what “side” we are called to be on in these turbulent times. Jesus did not say to vote Democrat or Republican. Instead, Jesus taught his followers, by his actions, to heal those who were sick and align themselves with those who had the least power. That is the “side” we should be on as Catholics.

For Catholics engaging in politics during this election season, I encourage you to join us at NETWORK in being “Mend the Gaps” voters. We have an election toolkit that includes a fill-out-your-own side by side to compare candidates, an LTE writing kit, and questions to ask a candidate at a town hall, and we’re still adding more resources.

President Trump is running on policies that directly contradict long-held positions of the Catholic Church. His immoral immigration policies throw children in cages. He works to expand the death penalty, he participates in what Pope Francis calls “covert euthanasia” by stripping health care and nutrition assistance from families, and he rolls back policies that protect the Earth. His is not a campaign that Catholics can support, and our faith should not be used as a political tool to reelect an immoral President.

 

Get involved: Go to NETWORK’s 2020 Election Toolkit.

This Easter, We Can Start the Healing

This Easter, We Can Start the Healing

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS
April 13, 2020

Easter is a celebration of the core mystery of the Christian faith that life follows death. In Jesus’s resurrection, love conquered death and showed the bewildered disciples a way forward. The world was changed and the love of God triumphed.

Today, the brokenness of our world has been exposed by the coronavirus. Millions in our nation go without health care or an income that can sustain them in crisis. Our President and his administration are unprepared and often uninterested in helping the most vulnerable. We are sheltered at home, praying the disease will pass us by. It feels too much like a continuation of Good Friday. Our Easter of 2020 seems to be missing. Unless love conquers our current politics of exclusion, how can we be redeemed? Our healthcare workers show us the path forward.

Every front page across the country is showing the generosity and self-sacrifice of our healthcare professionals. Their willingness to be of service to critically ill patients in the midst of this pandemic is heroic. As a Christian, this self-giving mirrors Jesus command: Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). This is the story of Good Friday and Easter.

We who are not healthcare professionals can do our part. We are sheltering at home. We are making cloth masks. We are connecting with friends and neighbors while social distancing. When we learn how connected we are, we discover that we have the courage to respond to the needs around us. We can make a difference. This is the best of the human species.

But then I realize that still not everyone in our wealthy nation has access to health care. States have still refused to expand Medicaid coverage for their most vulnerable citizens. Policy makers have consistently kept immigrants – documented and undocumented – from access to health insurance on the exchanges or to care at all. This was all a political calculus on the part of some politicians to make low income people and immigrants the enemy. This is the most catastrophic public health policy that I can imagine. This novel coronavirus is showing the consequence of their political games. It is a threat to all in our nation.

And then the President and his advisers are starting to talk about “opening up the economy.” The President’s approach once again puts the economy over the needs of the people. This is wrong. Pope Francis makes it abundantly clear that we must say NO to an economy that kills. We must say NO to an economy of exclusion and inequality. We must say NO to sacrificing our people so that the wealthy may continue to make a profit.

In this week that we Christians call Holy, we must let our faith shine out in this challenging time. We must ensure that all have access to healthcare regardless of income or immigration status. We need to support all who are valiantly trying to do their part to keep others safe. This is indeed what Jesus did in caring for the sick and confronting politicians who challenged his right to heal.

This Easter, we must let our faith shine in our resistance to putting the economy over the needs of the people. We must resist the political messaging that put the economy before the people. We are called to embrace policies and an economy that works for all.

This crisis has shown that politicians can still enact laws to meet the needs of the people. There is a glimmer of hope in that recognition. Many politicians didn’t believe in the social safety net until they themselves began to fall through the cracks and become vulnerable. This moment of awareness got them to vote for assistance to vulnerable families.

Let us continue to use this historic moment of reckoning to let love conquer all. Our nation is certainly broken, but it can be healed. Together we can cast aside the policies of exclusion that leave out our most vulnerable. This Easter, we can’t come out of physical hiding just yet, but we can start the healing with love for one another and advocating policies that reflect that love. Let us all be more like the healthcare professionals. Let us generously care for our neighbors and ensure that all can survive this moment. Let us put people first. Let us be Jesus in this time. Let us love one another. This will be an Easter gift to our nation.