Category Archives: Spirit Filled Network

The Healthcare Fight Still Isn’t Over

The Healthcare Fight Still Isn’t Over

Twitter Healthcare Graphic

Good news: due to incredible pressure from activists around the country like you, Senator McConnell pushed back a vote on healthcare until after the July 4 recess. But we can’t let this delay lead to passage like it did in the House — we’ve got to keep the pressure on! 

Call your Senators at 1-888-738-3058 NOW
to oppose the GOP health plan and protect Medicaid.
Call twice to reach both Senators.

These calls matter whether your Senators are Republicans or Democrats! Here are a few ways you can make noise in your community over the next few days:

  1. Keep making phone calls, and enourage anyone you know in Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, or West Virginia to make their calls as well.
  2. Read the news and write Letters to the Editor. These short messages should clearly state your opposition to Medicaid cuts and the Senate health proposals, and mention your Senator(s) by name. See our tips for getting your LTE published on NETWORK’s website, and send us published pieces at [email protected].
  3. Meet with your Senator at their office, town hall, 4th of July event, or elsewhere. Bring these:
  4. Post on social media! It sounds silly, but Senators and reporters alike are watching what’s being said online. Find your Senator on Facebook and Twitter, and let them know your thoughts using #Faith4Medicaid, #SaveMedicaid, and #ProtectOurCare. Or share NETWORK’s posts on Facebook or Twitter. You may want to share these graphics:

Medicaid’s Importance for My Family

Medicaid’s Importance for My Family

Janet Miller Rife
June 27, 2017

In 1985, I had never heard of Medicaid.  That year my son Brian, at age 20, sustained a traumatic brain injury in a car crash. Our family was plunged into crisis when we first saw Brian, intubated and unresponsive at Shock Trauma in Baltimore, given minimal chance to survive. Then after five weeks of dramatic ups and downs, spinal meningitis put him back into a coma for four months. As we hoped and prayed for him to come back to us, we were shocked to learn that if he improved, our health insurance had no coverage for rehabilitation.  I soon learned that Medicaid could help Brian, a college student without financial resources of his own. Mt. Vernon Hospital had applied to be a Medicaid provider, but that process took six months.  I learned that the Governor of Virginia had the authority to expedite the application.

Brian at 17. 1982

After sending letters to Governor Baliles from Brian’s primary nurse, parish and neighborhood friends, and even our son Eric’s 8th grade English class, we heard that Mt. Vernon Hospital would take Brian for rehabilitation with Medicaid coverage.  It felt like a miracle!

Once Brian’s inpatient rehab was complete and he walked triumphantly out of Mt. Vernon Hospital with his canes, he received his healthcare through our family insurance.  He lived at home until the mid-90’s and had various job trials, but no employment.  He DID find a mission for himself, giving prevention talks to several thousand high school students.  He was lauded in the community for his message:  “Don’t Drink and Drive – Wear Your Seatbelts.”  We believed he saved lives.  In 1995 when his youngest brother left for college, Brian wanted to live on his own.

Brian practicing walking with neighbor Ken, 1987

We secured a Section 8 subsidized apartment, with part time assistance. But then another brain infection required additional neurosurgery, and Brian was not well enough to return to the apartment, a heartbreaking development for all of us. Spending six months in a nursing home was difficult for Brian and painful for us, but Medicaid paid for the cost of his stay. With perseverance and help from Brain Injury Services, we moved Brian back into an apartment, with Medicaid funding a live-in assistant – much better for him and more cost-effective.

In 2003, Brian became eligible for the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Medicaid Waiver, and moved to his current two-bedroom apartment where two men from Ghana assist him, one five days, one two days.  He requires full-time care now because he has a high risk of falling and his impairments have become more severe over the years.  This stable, community-based arrangement has been very good for Brian who is now 52, and has given us considerable peace of mind.

Brian and his assistant Michael at Camp McCoy in 2015.

It’s now 32 years since Brian’s injury.  Paying for his housing and round-the-clock care remains as important as ever, and recent political developments are very concerning to our family. The Trump administration’s budget proposal cuts over $800 billion from Medicaid over 10 years. The House and Senate healthcare bills would institute per capita caps for Medicaid spending, resulting in a shortfall of hundreds of billions of dollars, leaving states to pay the difference themselves or reduce access to Medicaid.

Today, there are thousands of individuals in Virginia alone who have complex physical and intellectual disabilities similar to Brian’s, some of whom receive services paid for through Medicaid and thousands more who are on waiting lists to receive services.  I know so many of these men, women, children and their families.  Our Catholic faith teaches us that every person belongs to a single and interconnected human family.  We must continue to speak out against plans to take away these lifelines for our brothers and sisters.

Janet Miller Rife is a member of the Northern Virginia NETWORK Advocates Team.

Affordable Housing is Needed for Neighbors to Help Neighbors

Affordable Housing is Needed for Neighbors to Help Neighbors

Steven M. Ziegler
June 15, 2017

With a degree from Chestnut Hill College in reach and a job in a research facility at the University of Pennsylvania, Kiara Wilson could not have a pictured herself living in a shelter nearly two years ago.

“Shelter life is something a child should never experience,” she says. Her children are always her priority and despite their circumstances, she is working to build a better life for them. Much of Kiara’s talk about the shelter focuses on the impact the situation is having on her son and daughter.  Just last month, a man was shot in the street outside the shelter and the shooter attempted to force his way inside. Scheduled meal times create an erratic schedule for her young children.  The attitudes of other parents and children do not mesh well with the way she has raised her own.

Kiara’s journey to success was offset by a combination of domestic abuse, a job layoff, and the attempted suicide of her children’s father. Now, she, her son, 5, and daughter, 4, are navigating the United States’ affordable housing system in order to get back on track.

That system faces serious cuts under the Trump budget.  The proposed $6 billion dollars in cuts to the department of Housing and Urban Development will intensify difficulties for those who already live in public housing, let alone someone like Kiara who is fighting to find a place of her own.

The conditions of the North Philly shelter where she is staying are disheartening at best. Kiara speaks of the lack of empathy displayed by those working in the system and the general sense of desperation among the shelter’s inhabitants.

“This feels like an eternity,” Kiara says of the life she has been living since December, 2015. “Domestic abuse is not taken seriously because, it is not seen as something as serious as mental illness or drug addiction.”

Through conversations, phone calls, and skips through the chain of command, Kiara is inching closer and closer to her goal of permanent housing with her children.

“Once I have my job, it’ll be much easier, but I keep hearing that it’s not too far off. And I’m thankful for everything Mercy has done to get me ready for the next stage.”

I met Kiara about eight months ago when she enrolled her children at Mercy Neighborhood Ministries of Philadelphia, Inc. Our curriculum gave her peace of mind about her children’s early education experience as her children are able to benefit from high quality Head Start and Pre-K Counts programming. The collaborative spirit of Mercy has assisted Kiara in preparing for her next steps in life.

“To get something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done,” she says. “A short-term sacrifice leads to long-term comfort, and I’m going to be very comfortable when this is over.”

In Philadelphia today, 186,000 citizens, nearly 12% of the population, live in deep-poverty. Many of them are in situations like Kiara’s. Yet, these aren’t the stories you’ll hear from proponents of cutting public funding for “services” that should be considered human rights. Rather, you’ll hear about abuse of the system and a culture of dependence. Our motto at Mercy is “Neighbor helping neighbor, transforming lives, one person at a time.” We cannot build a community by cutting off resources from its members. Over the next four years, it is my sincere hope that the voices in power can quiet themselves long enough to hear stories like Kiara’s and not simply view them as numbers on a spreadsheet.

4 Mercy Neighborhood Ministries - steven headshot2
Steven Ziegler is the Director of Philanthropy for Mercy Neighborhood Ministries of Philadelphia, Inc. He is a Philadelphia native and has nearly a decade of experience as a nonprofit professional.

The McGrath Family’s Medicaid Story

Healthcare: The McGrath Family’s Story

NETWORK members Joe and Rita McGrath of Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania know firsthand why Medicaid is important. It has been critical in keeping their daughter alive and the family from bankruptcy. When preparing for the arrival of their first child, Joe and Rita received the news their daughter would be born with Down syndrome. Some people asked Joe and Rita if they were going to terminate the pregnancy, but for the McGraths, it was never a question. The first few months of Maura’s life were difficult, but the McGraths pushed through the dark days with the support of friends and family.  A little more than a year later Joe and Rita welcomed their second daughter, Michelle.

Now 17 years old, Maura continues to be the blessing her parents have always known her to be. In addition to Down syndrome, Maura is also nonverbal and has been diagnosed with autism and behavioral issues. As a minor living with disabilities, Maura qualifies for Medicaid benefits. Even though Joe and Rita both work, the cost of Maura’s healthcare is too expensive for their family to afford on their own.

An integral part of Maura’s wellbeing is the care Maura receives from her home health aide, Williamina. Taking care of Maura is a full time job and looking after her became more difficult for her mother, Rita, after she fought cancer. Additionally, Joe has Parkinson’s disease. Medicaid provided the necessary funds for the McGraths to hire assistance, and in the past seven years Williamina has become like a family member.

In addition to a home health aide, Maura needs eight different medications, medical equipment and supplies, and frequent doctor appointments. Medicaid covers these costs. Without Medicaid the McGrath family would be in financial ruin. The cost of Maura’s medicine alone would be several hundred dollars every month. These are expenses the McGraths, and many families in similar situations, would be unable to afford without the help of Medicaid.

Joe and Rita have experienced the life-changing impact of affordable healthcare, and there are millions of families like the McGraths that need Medicaid. Each of these human lives is more valuable than cutting costs or turning a profit. We are one another’s keeper and the care Medicaid recipients are entitled to is our shared responsibility.

On March 24, 2017, during debate over the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in the House of Representatives, Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-13) shared Maura McGrath’s story on the House floor and urged his fellow members to vote no on the AHCA.

Michigan Advocates Lobby

NETWORK Advocates Lobby on Mending the Gaps in Michigan

Meg Olson
April 26, 2017

On Thursday, April 13, 2017, members of the East Lansing Catholic Network, one of NETWORK’s advocates teams, Ed Welch, Joe Garcia, Pat Hepp, and Sandy Maxim met with Representative Mike Bishop (MI-08) at his Brighton, Michigan office.

The focus of the meeting was immigration. Ed, Joe, Pat, and Sandy requested Representative Bishop’s support for a pathway to citizenship and his help in protecting Dreamers from deportation. During the meeting, Representative Bishop acknowledged to the NETWORK advocates that the immigration system is “upside-down,” but stated that immigration will probably not be addressed in the near future because of other pressing issues in Washington, D.C.. Next, the advocates asked Representative Bishop to refuse funding a border wall in upcoming budget legislation.

As a NETWORK advocates team, the East Lansing Catholic Network has met with Congressman Bishop and his staff several times about issues such as the EITC and Child Nutrition Reauthorization. While the Congressman doesn’t always share NETWORK’s vision on how to mend the gaps, the team members continue to build a relationship with him and hold him accountable for his actions in Washington D.C.

Guest Blog: Hope From the Bottom Up

Guest Blog: Hope From the Bottom Up

Robert Beezat
April 11, 2017

For many of us, the last 12 months have been an unrelenting downer. What started as a quixotic run for the Presidency by Donald Trump turned into a victory. That victory has left many of us bewildered and afraid of what the next few years might bring domestically and internationally.

We have seen attacks on immigrants, attempts to take away health care from millions of people, and the removal of a number of environmental protections to name just a few serious threats to what many of us consider matters of social justice and equity.

What has happened to our country? What will happen to our country over the next few years?

These are important questions. Many of them cannot be answered yet. But amidst this pessimism, there are some signs of hope.

On a national basis, people around the country have become active again in our democratic processes. People showed up at airports to assist citizens and immigrants banned from re-entering or entering our country. A massive number of individuals and groups opposed the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In both of these matters, the fight for social justice is not over. But elected officials at the national level have taken note of this surge of citizen activism and are reconsidering the policies they propose and support.

Another positive sign of hope is the growing number of people and organizations who are making part of the world a better place from the bottom up.

An example of this is what is going on in the Greater Racine area. Two grassroots groups have sprung up in the last two years to mobilize the community to address a wide range of issues affecting our area. One group is called Visioning a Greater Racine (VGR). The other group is called Greening Greater Racine (GGR).

VGR is conducting community visioning sessions which involve a diverse group of over 1,000 people representing neighborhoods, schools, businesses, not for profits, churches, and local governments, as well as many individuals who want to make a positive difference. Community goals are being defined, priorities are being determined, and programs are being developed.

GGR is bringing together a broad range of organizations which impact the environment of our area. At these meetings, the organizations are learning from each other, coordinating their efforts, and celebrating their successes.

The GGR movement sprung from Racine Green Congregations, an ecumenical group which formed 8 years ago. Green Congregations’ initial purpose was to share ideas and successes in making their own places of worship more energy efficient. Much has been accomplished along those lines.

Then, based on the broader environmental concerns shared by all worship groups in the community, Green Congregations helped lead the formation of the larger Greening Greater Racine movement. The informal mantra of both groups is: Inform…Inspire…Celebrate!

From an information standpoint, we have all been amazed about how many good things are already happening in our community every day. Good people and good organizations are making a positive difference to quality of life from an economic and environmental perspective.

From an inspiration standpoint, it lifts all of our spirits to meet and work with so many people who are already making a positive difference. As we get to know each other better, build trust, and see new possibilities for future accomplishments, we are filled with hope.

From a celebration standpoint, we make it a point to not take for granted the good work that is already being done to make our community a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

One example of this spirit of celebration first happened in the Spring of 2016 and was repeated this Spring. Greening Greater Racine worked with our local community college, Gateway Technical College, to host EcoFest. 60 plus organizations set up informative and interactive displays of their environmental work at the community college. Close to 1,000 people visited EcoFest both years. People were simply amazed regarding the many positive programs that are already going on. Many have been inspired to join these efforts.

I look at the challenges ahead remembering these words from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Let us…exult in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation works out endurance, and endurance tried virtue, and tried virtue hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

I also think of the words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” We all need to make this period of tribulation an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to pour forth God’s love into our hearts and into our world. And we need to remember that what starts from the bottom up can bring about positive and great change for our communities, our country, and our world.

Robert Beezat is a NETWORK Advocate based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected] or www.robertbeezat.com.

Caring For All of God’s Creation

Caring For All of God’s Creation

By Shantha Ready Alonso
From NETWORK’s Catholic Social Justice Reflection Guide

I find it profound to worship a God who revels in the knowledge that the diversity of creation is very good. Beginning in the book of Genesis, we learn of a Creator who finds joy in difference – distinguishing land from water, forming a variety of plants and creatures, and calling forth humans of different genders, many colors and various creeds.

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis introduces to us the concept of integral ecology, which expands our concept of what is included when we think of “God’s creation.” Creation not only encompasses the natural world, but also everything we co-create with God: built environments, economies, political systems, currencies, cuisines, languages, and music. From an integral ecology perspective, care for God’s creation means caring for the whole inhabited earth, and the cosmos beyond.

As people living in the United States, one way to delve into caring for creation is through our vast system of public lands: national parks, forests, monuments, refuges, sanctuaries and wilderness areas. Together, we the people collectively share responsibility for stewardship of these public lands. Through this system, together we can conserve our spiritual, natural, historical, and cultural heritage.

The heritage preserved in our public lands is something we can all treasure. But, our nation’s racist history of forced removal of people from land, confinement to reservations, segregation, discrimination, and unfair or forced labor practices has left a painful legacy – even in our public lands system. Likewise, our nation’s history of low regard for threatened and endangered species needs to be overcome by greater care. We have work to do to ensure our public lands belong to all of God’s creation.

Recently, the values of cultural and bio-diversity have become more prominent in our public lands and waters system. In the past five years, we have seen more and more monument designations that honor social justice leaders of courage, including the Cesar Chavez National Monument in California, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland, and the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington DC. For the first time in our history, the public lands system has a national monument with a focus on Native American heritage: Bears Ears National Monument. This 1.35 acres of land in Utah is sacred to multiple tribes, and through this monument, we can all benefit from the wisdom of the tribes that claim Bears Ears as their ancestral land.

Our public lands and waters tell our stories and shape our collective memory. They are places where we learn, play, and pray. We all depend on the integrity of God’s creation, which brings us together. All of us want clean air, water, and land for ourselves and our families. May we treasure the earth and these places of beauty that reveal the wonders of our Creator. In reflecting on the importance and sacredness of the earth, may we understand that it is a lens for us to see our interconnectedness and to celebrate our diversity.

Shantha Ready Alonso is the Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries, which represents the creation care and environmental justice policies of major Christian denominations throughout the United States. Read more about their work at http://www.creationjustice.org.

View the full Catholic Social Justice Reflection guide here.

View the Lent Calendar to take action on healthcare here.

Called to Defend the Rights of Workers

Called to Defend the Rights of Workers

By Joseph Geevarghese
From NETWORK’s Catholic Social Justice Reflection Guide

Every day, Charles Gladden wakes up and goes to work at the US Capitol. As a cook and cleaner at the Senate, Charles serves some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in our nation. But every night, Charles goes to sleep outside a metro station just a few blocks from the White House. Even though Charles worked full-time, he was homeless.

Charles is just one of millions of low-wage federal contract workers who earn so little that they cannot live in dignity. In fact, the U.S. Government is America’s leading low-wage job creator, using our tax dollars to fund more poverty jobs than Wal-Mart and McDonalds combined.

This means that we the people – as taxpayers and citizens – are complicit in creating an economy that keeps Charles and other workers struggling to survive. But it also means that we have the power to stand-up and transform a broken system.

Charles is already taking action alongside other low-wage federal contract workers. Over the past four years, thousands of these workers – supported by Sr. Simone and other faith leaders – walked off their jobs 20 times to help 20 million contract workers win higher wages, protection against wage theft and other labor abuses, and paid leave benefits through Presidential action.

However, these gains are now at risk of being lost. Like our Latino and Muslim brothers and sisters, the rights of workers are under attack.

Catholic social teaching calls us to stand in solidarity with workers to transform unjust political and economic systems that put people last. We are called to defend the right of workers who are organizing to create a better life for themselves and their families. We are called to safeguard the right of workers to enjoy the fruits of their labor. And, importantly, we are called to unite with workers like Charles to hold our elected officials accountable to end our government-sponsored low-wage economy.

Joseph Geevarghese is the Director of Good Jobs Nation, an organization of low-wage federal contractors organizing for living wages and union rights. Read more at: http://goodjobsnation.org.

View the full Catholic Social Justice Reflection guide here.

View the Lent Calendar to take action on healthcare here.

NETWORK Joins Moral Rally to Save Healthcare

NETWORK Joins Moral Rally for Healthcare Before House Vote

March 22, 2017

The day before the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Republican replacement, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), NETWORK joined with Rev. William Barber, II, Faith in Public Life, and clergy representing many faiths, to speak on the moral call for healthcare for all. Laura Peralta-Schulte, NETWORK Senior Government Relations Advocate, spoke; watch her remarks or read the transcript below:

Healthcare is a matter of life and death.

For Catholics, our Church’s teaching on healthcare is simple: Healthcare is fundamental right, not a privilege for those who can afford it.

It was Pope Benedict who summed it up best when he said, “it is the moral responsible of nations to guarantee access to health care for all of their citizens, regardless of social and economic status or their ability to pay.”

Our long and rich tradition is based on the Gospel’s call to love our neighbor.  We are called to imitate the practices of Christ who ministered to the sick, cared for those in poverty, and went directly to the people who were on the margins.

Our teaching is not a theory or an intellectual exercise.  It is the way we are called to live in this very broken and suffering world.

The Catholic Sisters who founded NETWORK over four decades ago have shown an unwavering commitment to justice for healthcare.  We believed the Affordable Care Act was a huge step in the right direction.

NETWORK’s Executive Director Sister Simone, boldly proclaimed it in 2010 creating the “Nun’s Letter” and we were hopefully, a little bit a part of how that bill got passed.

And you know what? They were right.  The law has made a profound difference as we’re here today and look at these beautiful babies.

So, Speaker Ryan tomorrow your bill is on the floor and you are taking our country in a very different direction. That bill will deny healthcare to millions of people.  That includes almost 50,000 women, children, and men in your own district who stand to lose healthcare.

At the same time, the Speaker’s bill gives the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, and the wealthiest families in America a big, fat tax cut paid for by none other than Medicaid.

Speaker Ryan we say to you today: This bill is shameful and violates the core beliefs of our Catholic faith.  Rather than providing a preferential option for the poor, it provides a preferential option for the wealthy and well connected.

It is not a faithful way forward.  We plead with House Members to reject this bill and the suffering it will produce.

Blessed Pope John Paul II said in his farewell address to America, “The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones.”

Those comments were echoed by Pope Francis in his visit to Washington when he said, “You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.

Tomorrow, House Members have a choice.  Whose side will they chose? Will they stand with the 24 million Americans who will lose coverage under this bill, or not?

Speaker Ryan: You are called by faith to do better than this. In this season of Lent, we pray you and House Members will reject this bill for the health and well-being of the people you pledged to represent.

We Are There for Each Other

We Are There for Each Other

By Alice Kitchen
From NETWORK’s Catholic Social Justice Reflection Guide

My inspiration to pursue justice comes from a confluence of family, educational experiences, and exposure to many courageous faith leaders through the years. These remarkable leaders have spoken up when their voices were not welcome, marched in cold winter weather, disobeyed unjust laws, and became shields for those in harm’s way. I learned from them that to be silent is to be complicit in injustice and oppression.

In my community, I have found that working with our local Jobs with Justice (JwJ) organizers, a part of the national Jobs with Justice, as a Co-Member of Loretto has afforded me a deep connection to what Solidarity looks like up close. We, faith leaders, work as a part of the team supporting the priorities decided by the JwJ core committee. This has led us to work with unions in the low wage worker movement, now for the fourth year.

We must work to overturn the prejudice against workers and their right to unionize. Unions are the structural way to provide working people with human dignity. 100 years of Catholic Social Teaching is deeply pro-union and is loudly proclaimed in five major encyclicals.

Applying NETWORK’S 2020 Mend the Gaps policy vision locally, I focus on the wage gap for fast food workers, home care workers, child care workers, and adjunct faculty and their employers. As faith leaders and justice-seekers, we are encouraged to accompany them on such action steps as:

  • Going out on strike when the workers exercise their legal right to strike without fear of being fired, connect them to the media ( we are not their voice, we amplify their voice)
  • Securing signatures for referendum ballot initiatives and petitions, writing letters to the Editors, speaking out on talk radio and social media
  • Joining with workers in the exercise of civil disobedience to witness to injustice
  • Accompanying workers at rallies to demonstrate the need to shrink the wage gap, secure health care coverage, and sick leave and a family-friendly work place. (Remember the acompañamiento model, from the experience of women in Nicaragua working with Canadian social workers. Accompaniment is best characterized by nonintrusive collaboration, mutual trust, agreement on the social ill, egalitarian spirit, commitment to solidarity, and an agreed upon plan of action)
  • Joining with a worker when they go to court, traveling to the state capital to educate elected officials to pass minimum wage laws- $15 and a union

Solidarity means working with organizations across our communities and states in a unified manner to carry out shared goals. That means we meet with them, create implementation plans, and support the identified lead agencies. Cohesion is a challenge as each organization has a unique mission and they often have differing approaches. This requires the hard work of identifying, analyzing and planning strategy. It can mean compromise, lining up behind others, and bringing our members along to support others.

The power of working in unison with others is:  strength in numbers, voices, and the ability to leverage structural change and increase wages. This is not a one way street. Reciprocity is the ingredient needed to make this work. We are there for each other, standing in solidarity, no matter whether the issue is ecological reforms, payday lending regulators, health care coverage or minimum wage increases.

Alice Kitchen is a NETWORK board member, Co-member of the Sisters of Loretto, Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Social Work, and retired Licensed Social Worker.

View the full Catholic Social Justice Reflection guide here.

View the Lent Calendar to take action on healthcare here.