Category Archives: Spirit Filled Network

Affirming the Black Catholic Voice and Presence in Our Church and Our Country

Affirming the Black Catholic Voice and Presence in Our Church and Our Country

Joan F. Neal
Aug 10, 2022

NETWORK applauds the National Black Sisters’ Conference (NBSC), National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, National Association of Black Catholic Deacons, and the National Association of Black Catholic Seminarians for a successful four-day gathering and congratulates the newly elected NBSC Board, including Sr. Addie Lorraine Walker, SSND, NBSC’s new President, who received the organization’s Harriet Tubman Award, for being the “Moses for her people.” As she accepted, Sr. Addie Lorraine said she would “only accept the award if those in the banquet hall would accept the responsibility of being Black in a white-dominated American Catholic church.“

The National Black Sisters’ Conference, which was founded in 1968 to serve as the unifying voice and forum for religious Black Sisters, held its Board election as part of the general assembly. The new Board for the 2022 -24 term includes:  President:  Sr. Addie Lorraine Walker, SSND, who has served on the NBSC Board since 2019; Vice President: Sr. Melinda Pellerin, SSJ, who has also served on the NBSC Board since 2019; Secretary: Sr. Nicole Trahan, FMI, who will be serving on the Board for the first time; and Treasurer:  Sr. Patty Chappell, SNDdeN, who has held previous Board positions.  The other elected members of the Board include:  Sr. LaKesha Church, CPPS, Sr. Roberta Fulton, SSMN, Sr. Gwynette Proctor, SNDdeN, Sr. Patricia Ralph, SSJ, and Sr. Callista Robinson, OSF.

Sandra Coles-Bell, NBSC Executive Director reported from the gathering, “After a two-year hiatus, 150 attendees and members of four national Black Catholic organizations met for four days of reflection, study, conversation, planning, and prayer on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana with the unifying theme of ‘Come Together Children.’ Participants were reminded of the importance of walking together in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and the relevance of the Black Catholic voice and presence in maintaining the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The South African principles of UBUNTU and SAWUBONA engaged participants in robust conversations on how to move prayerfully forward as Black men and women with the full force of Catholicism informed by the faith and experiences of Black people in this country.”

National Black Catholic Sisters Receive Inaugural Justice-Seeker AwardEarlier this year, NETWORK awarded the National Black Sisters’ Conference with the inaugural Distinguished Justice-Seeker Award to honor the NBSC’s dedicated and persistent witness for racial justice in the Catholic Church and society. NETWORK looks forward to collaborating with NBSC’s newly elected Board and commends the continued prophetic witness of the National Black Sisters’ Conference.

Rochester Reparations Vigil | NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Register for the Rochester, NY In-Person Prayer Vigil for Repair and Redress

Racism has been a well-preserved traveler across generations in large part because of government behavior, like: blocked access to the wealth-building opportunities of homeownership, racial bias throughout the criminal legal system, and segregation from “good” schools. Our communities suffer because redress has been denied. We’re glad you can join us!

Want to learn more about New York’s NETWORK Advocates Team, who are volunteer justice-seekers rooted in the community, or about future reparations events and actions? Contact Catherine Gillette, Senior NETWORK Grassroots Mobilization Organizer.

NETWORK Lobby Leaders Envision a Future Built Anew

Toward the Kin-dom

A More Just Future Depends on Everyone Building Together
Joan Neal, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Diversity Officer
Mary J. Novak, Executive Director

August 9, 2022

Movements of people striving for justice have the power to affect real change by pushing for policies that build up the common good. Throughout history, we have seen social and political movements arise, especially from moments of destruction and turmoil, to deliver righteous change. Advocates, organizers, and people of faith know that the process of building so often begins with rebuilding, with emerging from a deep hole and the rubble of broken structures and systems.

The process of re-building from a solid foundation has biblical roots. In the book of Isaiah the Lord says, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line” (Isaiah 28:16-17).

Such is the model and inspiration for NETWORK’s Build Anew agenda. We seek to build up God’s beloved community, a kin-dom of God. Where our political and social systems in this country are not built to include and provide for everyone, we must dismantle, reimagine and build a new foundation, based on the cornerstones of justice, equity, and solidarity.
Pivotal movements such as the Civil Rights Era show us a road map for rebuilding. Racist policies and practices were denying people of color the right to participate fully in a society where they could feel safe and flourish. Civil Rights leaders and activists knew this was not the world God promised, and took on the responsibility to work toward dismantling the old racist structures and building a new social contract that includes everyone. The Catholic Sisters who founded NETWORK 50 years ago were operating out of the same Spirit.

We see these same efforts taking place now through the work of NETWORK Advocates teams and the policies being delivered by this Congress and Administration. The last several years left us in a crater socially and politically – with a global pandemic and political insurrection, on top of distrust in political leadership fueled by a politics of xenophobia and white nationalism. To build anew we must first emerge from this deep hole.

Congress and the Biden administration have stepped into this moment with policies promoting justice and equity. With legislation like the EQUAL Act and the Sentencing Reform package moving through Congress, we see a desire to repair practices that perpetuate racism and white supremacy and foment Christian nationalism. The advocacy work of our community on issues such as Title 42 expulsions at the border and establishing a federal reparations commission show the dedication to building anew.

The signs of our times are troubling and at times terrifying. With growing extremist ideology, an increase in violence, and pernicious political polarization, it can be hard to imagine creating a new world where all can live in dignity and peace. We are looking at the very real possibility of losing our democracy, and if we do, there will be no building anew for a very long time.
But this is our call. Democracy carries both rights and responsibilities. It is not optional to sit by and allow the destruction of a vision of our society that we know is possible. Now is the time that everyone, not just leaders, must step up and do their part.

We must take inspiration and teachings from the change-makers who came before us to continue building towards our vision of the kin-dom. We all have to do whatever we can to save the foundation upon which we were founded so that we can build “a new heaven and a new earth,” a future that embodies the truly representative, multi-racial society we all envision, centered on human dignity.

This article originally appeared in the Third Quarter 2022 issue of Connection, NETWORK’s quarterly magazine – A Time to Build. Read the entire issue here.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965--57 Years Later

Restoring the Promise of the Voting Rights Act — 57 Years Later

Restoring the Promise of the Voting Rights Act — 57 Years Later

Joan Neal, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Diversity Officer
August 9, 2022

Fifty-seven years ago, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a son of the South who recognized the grave wrong of denying African-Americans their right to vote. For the first time in U.S. history, Black Americans had the legal means to ensure compliance with the 15th Amendment of the Constitution and to challenge restrictive voting laws and practices designed to deny them access to the ballot. This was a victory brutally fought for in the Civil Rights Movement and a long time coming.

African Americans were hopeful that at last they could assume their place as full citizens of this country, participate equally in the political process, and exercise their right to vote without fear or harassment. But celebration was short-lived as the Voting Rights Act was met with almost immediate court challenges, mostly from Southern states, the same states where slavery had once thrived. Many people remained determined to deny the most basic right of citizenship to a large swath of their fellow citizens.

Sadly, this ‘tug of war’ for the full rights of citizenship for people of color has continued over time. In 1970, 1975, and 1982, Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act. In 2007, Congress amended it to include non-English speaking U.S. citizens, Indigenous people, and other excluded populations, and extended its enforcement provisions for 25 years. But many states, mostly in the South, continued to place obstacles in the way of non-white citizens’ exercise of their right to vote in order to dilute Black voters’ electoral power and their potential to threaten the political status quo.

Despite these efforts, the political power of Black, Latinx, Native American, and AAPI voters across the country has grown over time. Increasingly, Black and Brown voters have diversified the ranks of elected officials, making their voices heard through the ballot box so powerfully that in 2008, we saw the election of Barack Obama, the first Black President in U.S. history. In 2021, we saw the election of the first Black and the first Jewish Senators from Georgia. While these were historic victories for our country, many white citizens found them a threat to their traditional idea of America.

Backlash against Voting Rights

A growing number of white voters now fear their historical monopoly on political power in this country will be forever eroded if Black, Latinx, Native American, and other excluded voters are able to freely exercise their constitutionally protected right to vote.
This fear was apparent when the Supreme Court, in its Shelby County v Holder decision, struck down the enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. The court’s ruling found that the formula to determine which jurisdictions were subject to pre-clearance requirements was unconstitutional because it is based on an old formula and assumed there was no longer a need for such enforcement. Contrary to the Court’s assumption, immediately after the ruling was handed down, states began to pass restrictive voting laws and increase ID requirements once again.

State legislatures gerrymandered district maps and made it harder to access the voting booth by closing polling places, especially in communities of color, limiting early voting, placing restrictions on mail-in voting, and by putting people in positions who will enforce these restrictions no matter the infringement on their citizens’ rights. Since the beginning of 2021, 18 states have passed 34 restrictive voting laws, which disproportionately affect voters of color.

Reclaiming Our Right to Vote

Today, as a country, we find ourselves facing the same situation the Voting Rights Act was designed to end. Once again, Black and Brown citizens have to fight to retain the fundamental right to vote their conscience and their preference in free and fair elections.
This is not just a problem for people of color. Unfounded restrictions on lawful access to the ballot, excessive and undue requirements for citizens to exercise their right to vote, and the undergirding white supremacist ideology that fuels them, are a problem for all of us. Voting is the pillar and hallmark of a functioning democracy and when citizens are unduly prevented from the free and fair exercise of that right, it weakens our democracy. That is why everyone must step up to reject these unconstitutional attacks on the right to vote.

Now Is the Time to Act

Right now, our democracy is on the verge of collapse in the face of an unrelenting assault on our rights by people who seek only their own, unrestricted power. Everyone needs to wake up to this threat to our democracy!
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an important step in securing the rights of citizenship for all people. We cannot and must not let its legacy be lost. At this crucial time in our country’s history, we must come together to protect our right to vote from those who would withhold the full rights of democracy from some people based on race, ethnicity, or other arbitrary distinctions.

The Senate must join the House in passing H.R.4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. And it’s our time to emulate the Civil Rights advocates of the 1960s and demand the rights of democracy for all. Most importantly, we must use our political power to elect policymakers who will safeguard the right to vote for all citizens.
Our vote is our voice and right now, we have to raise our collective voice and overcome these anti-democracy forces once and for all. If we fail, we might wake up to find that we no longer live in a pluralistic, democratic society, but an autocracy enforced by the political and financial power of a small group of people who fundamentally do not believe in democracy at all. The time is now to act.

Email Your Senators to Pass the Inflation Reduction Act

TELL YOUR SENATORS: PASS THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

Pass the Inflation Reduction ActThe Inflation Reduction Act addresses injustice and harm facing our economy, people, and the planet. NETWORK applauds the Senate Democratic majority for negotiating legislation that lowers prescription drug prices, addresses climate change, and closes tax loopholes that big corporations and the wealthy take advantage of to avoid contributing fairly to our shared economy. Opponents of this historic legislation neglect to share that the Inflation Reduction Act is expected to reduce the deficit by $300 billion.

Fill out this form to contact your senators

Email Your Representative: Tell Them You Want the Inflation Reduction Act to Pass

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE: PASS THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

Tell the House to Pass the Inflation Reduction Act

Together, we’ve advocated for years for federal legislation that prioritizes the interests of people (families, those with lower incomes, workers, seniors, and children) over corporations. The Senate-passed Inflation Reduction Act will lower the cost of prescription drugs, health insurance, and everyday energy costs, and force the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Now the House must pass take action so President Biden can sign it into law.

Fill out this form to contact your Representative

Sign the Petition to Lament the Loss of Transformative Policy

Sign the Petition to Lament the Loss of Transformative Policy

We suffer when Congress fails to address the crises facing people and our planet

President Biden’s ‘Build Back Better Act’ would have reversed 40 years of trickle-down tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, provided funds for healthcare, eased financial barriers to childcare and early education, invested in wildfire prevention and drought relief efforts, and more. The House passed the BBB plan, but the Senate did not.

Instead of taking moral action, the Senate prioritized the wealthy and corporations over the people and communities that would have benefited from the jobs and equitable access to life-giving resources that the transformative legislation would have provided.

Who would have benefited from BBB? Working people, school-aged children, Black and Brown people, tax payers, rural communities, the climate and ecological concerns, Tribal lands and citizens, college students, immigrants…all of us. Congress is in the final days of budget reconciliation negotiations for less impactful, piecemeal solutions as an alternative to BBB.

We lament the investments in affordable housing, support for children and families, and efforts to combat climate change missing from the budget reconciliation package. It is shameful that our country will suffer as a result of Congress’s moral failure. Join your lament with ours and sign the petition to lament the loss of transformative policy.

We invite you to sign our petition
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Celebrates NETWORK Lobby's 50th Anniversary

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Celebrates NETWORK Lobby’s Legacy of Connecting the Common Good to Politics

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
July 26, 2022

A Legacy of Connecting the Common Good to Politics is Cause for Thanksgiving

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is a NETWORK SupporterWe are called to be a sacrificial people. Each person must imbue that call with meaning. The network of parishes, dear priests, Catholic school teachers and administrators, church societies and quarterly church events build community at the parish level. This becomes even more important as modern societies become more transient and often rootless. And that is why it is especially a blessing that, thanks to the vision of women religious – for the past 50 years – this connection has also been represented on Capitol Hill.

I recall well when I was first elected to Congress and sworn in, a dear, diminutive NETWORK Sister by the name of Sr. Bridget O’Malley made a concerted, warm effort to welcome me to Washington. Her kindness was a blessing in those early foundational years. I remember many conversations and lunches with her as she addressed serious topics — B-1 bombers, child hunger, and housing for families in need.

Together, I recall we attended a White House Holiday gathering. With our noses almost pressed against glass cabinets, we admired the White House china collection from all presidential administrations and, of course, the mammoth Christmas tree.

A few years later, a polite, take-charge NETWORK Sister dropped by our office and gingerly but authoritatively took a seat in our office waiting area. She wore sturdy leather shoes with thick soles to manage the miles she walked over her three decades as NETWORK’s top lobbyist. She generally staked out a position outside Members’ offices where she could be certain a Member would walk by. This is how I met the brilliant, indefatigable, good-humored Sister Catherine Pinkerton. A Sister of St. Joseph who left a legacy of education and human development wherever she served – Sr. Catherine was a high respected, indeed revered, lobbyist.

The Roman Catholic faith is a central pillar of my being, particularly as an American of Polish heritage. First, through the intergenerational history of our family, it was the Roman Catholic faith that offered our ancestors worth and hope — during times of bondage, repression, punishment, war, illness, and harrowing economic downturns. Our faith gives value to each human life and to the limitless possibilities of each person and family. This belief animated the tireless work of Sr. Catherine, and it remains with the people who carry on that legacy of advocacy today.

Even when Sr. Catherine retired and returned to live with her community in River’s Edge in Cleveland, she still offered hospitality and counsel to her visitors. When our Congressional district was stretched across Ohio to include Sister Catherine’s residence, she welcomed me to rest there when I was required to stay overnight. That was so extremely thoughtful and appreciated, as our lumbering coastal district requires a more than two-hour drive from one end to the other.

The Catholic Church’s teachings over 2,000 years of human experience provide anchors for values and promote understanding. The preferential option for people experiencing poverty, the enduring call to serve others, and litany of saints remain noble and timeless. It is a faith calling with discipline and love.

And just as faith without works is dead, we owe so much to the NETWORK Lobby for making our faith come alive in the halls of power. Their commitment to the common good has helped ensure that love and care for our neighbors finds expression in federal policy and are lived out more fully on the peripheries and throughout society.

Warmest congratulatory wishes to NETWORK and your faith-filled, devoted membership on your 50th anniversary! Bravo! Onward!

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur represents Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. She has served in Congress since 1983 and is the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives. This essay originally appeared in Connection, Second Quarter 2022 – “Networked for Faith and Love: A Legacy of Connecting the Common Good to Politics is Cause for Thanksgiving ”  *Special 50th Anniversary Edition*).

A Decade of DACA: Cecilia’s Story

A Decade of DACA: Cecilia’s Story

Cecilia Y.
June 14, 2022

As a child, we don’t see the world as it is. A child’s worries are not always the same as an adult’s. For some children, their worries may be getting a new toy, wondering what they’ll have for lunch, or even with whom they will play. For other children, their worries are wondering what their parents look like, where and with whom they sleep that night, or even worrying about their safety, security, shelter, and food. As a six-year-old, I had the same worries as the latter. I immigrated from El Salvador to live with my parents in the U.S. at this age. I left behind my family and friends I grew up with.

My parents were immigrants themselves, and we were constantly worried that if anything happened, anyone of us could be deported back to El Salvador. My parents worked jobs such as being a construction worker, doing house cleaning, and being a restaurant worker. All this was done so that in the future, I could receive the education they could not achieve.

Coming to the U.S. was a difficult transition. I went to public school, where I learned how to speak English and helped others from other Spanish-speaking countries learn English, too. My joy in helping others began in elementary school and continues growing. I dreamed of helping others and supporting their dreams. I wanted to go to college so that I could obtain a degree that would allow me to be a teacher to teach, support, and care for children. Being a DACA recipient has made all of this possible.

In high school, I was afraid I wouldn’t go to college because I would have to pay out-of-state tuition, but DACA made it possible for me to search for organizations that support Dreamers in their educational journey. I was able to go to college and pay in-state tuition. During my time in college, I was financially helping my family. DACA allowed me to work at a part-time job. Now that I have graduated from college with a degree in Elementary Education, I can work at a school and help and support students in their learning and social development.

Until this day, I continue to worry about what will happen if my DACA is rejected. I worry that I will no longer be able to impact many students’ lives. I worry that I will be deported back to El Salvador even after I have made a life here in the U.S. I worry about the lives of those children who will lose their families and homes because they will no longer be able to work in their everyday jobs. My dream for the future of our country is to take that worry away from all those children and their families. Permanent protection for Dreamers will ensure they continue to make an impact in others’ lives, and it will provide protection for their families and for generations to come.

Name abbreviated for anonymity. 

A Decade of DACA: Haziel’s Story

A Decade of DACA: Haziel’s Story

Haziel A.
June 15, 2022

At the age of three, I arrived in the United States with my aunt, grandparents, and older sister from La Paz, Bolivia. It was 2001 and my parents were not able to come with us due to a restriction in visa approvals after the 9/11 attacks, and their visas were denied for the next four years. I recall moments when I missed my parents and did not understand why we had to be apart. I eventually grew accustomed to not having my parents around.

Although I do not remember my parents outwardly telling me that I was undocumented, there were three instances when I realized that I was, in fact, undocumented and felt the repercussions of being undocumented. The first time was when I wanted to go on class trips in elementary school outside of the country and could not. The second time was when I saw my older sister, who is also undocumented, struggle to get through high school and college. The third one was when my father was detained by ICE at a traffic stop as he was coming home from work one night and taken to Farmville Detention Center. In 2012, I was 14 and Obama took executive action and announced that DACA would be enacted in Washington, D.C. I remember watching the announcement on TV feeling a sense of relief that I would not have to endure the struggles that my sister, my dad, and the community around me did.

Fast forward a decade to today, I recently graduated college from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. I have also gotten my driver’s license and have been able to apply and accept work in my field and moving constantly toward my dream job. While DACA has been able to secure me during my upbringing, the future of DACA is still and always will be at stake due to the fact that it is not a permanent protection. There are many things that I wish I had known growing up, one of them being that the looming uncertainty I have felt my entire life was caused by the fact that even when there was a “solution” presented by the government, it was never a permanent one. My dream for the future of this country is to repair and rebuild from the ground up as a collective to bring about real solutions in our flawed systems that do not feel like just Band-Aids. I believe that my family and our communities deserve to contribute and exist peacefully as we have always done even in the midst of all the disruption and chaos. Although DACA has given me many opportunities that I will forever be grateful for, for many, it is also a gatekeeping Band-Aid solution and a constant reminder to 825,000 of us that our undocumented communities are not wanted. It is ultimately a temporary solution to an even greater problem that this country needs to fully address.

Name abbreviated for anonymity.