Tag Archives: Lent

Lent’s ‘Crosses of Resistance’ — Hunger

Young Advocates Resist the Scourge of Food Insecurity

Chelsea Puckett
April 1, 2026

On Sunday, March 8, stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients—now 40 hours a month—went into effect, excluding nearly three million young adults juggling school, work, and responsibilities at home from accessing the program.

Like so many of us, the Sr. Carol Coston, OP Fellows are deeply concerned about the destructive impacts of the Big Bad Budget and are particularly troubled by cuts to SNAP. The budget law will strip $186 billion from the program over the course of the next ten years, just as the Coston Fellows and their Gen Z peers transition into adulthood.

They’ve already seen their community and campus food pantries stretched thin, and yet these cuts and stricter work requirements will force millions more young adults to make choices no one should have to make—deciding between buying groceries, paying rent each month, continuing their studies, or picking up prescriptions.

As the Grassroots Mobilization Youth and Young Adult Mobilization Coordinator at NETWORK, I collaborate each week with our 12 Coston Fellows. I get to witness their shared commitment to the long work of justice in spite of, and I believe, because of this moment that has left so many young people discouraged and hopeless.

I was also a witness to the Coston Fellows’ dedication and hard work on March 8. The same Sunday that monthly work requirements for SNAP recipients increased and blocked so many young people from accessing federal food assistance, the 12 Coston Fellows were busy at the NETWORK office in Washington, preparing to advocate on Capitol Hill.

The Fellows’ weekend in DC began at the Capital Area Food Bank. We sorted frozen turkey drumsticks, hamburger patties, and bacon strips that would be trucked out to food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, senior programs, group homes, and multiservice nonprofits in the area. We learned that the food bank plans to serve 10 million more meals this year than anticipated, due to the rising need in communities as a result of mass federal layoffs, as well as the significant cuts to SNAP that passed in the Big Bad Budget last summer.

On the Monday of their visit, the 12 students shared stories with their senators’ offices, highlighting the deep need for affordable housing in their communities: New Orleans, Cleveland, the Bronx, Los Angeles, Miami, Dubuque, Chicago, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. They proclaimed their firm belief that no one should have to choose between having enough to eat or keeping a roof over their head.

It has been a few weeks since their visit, and the Coston Fellows are now busy organizing Stations of the Cross on their campuses. Here in Washington, I keep coming back to that hopeful, radical dissonance on the third Sunday of Lent—when SNAP became even more inaccessible to millions of young people and at the same time — a group of college students gathered from every corner of the country and prepared to speak truth to power. They carried their crosses of resistance into the halls of Congress and reminded us of what it looks like to hunger for justice.

Take Action with NETWORK:

Will you write a letter to your Members of Congress to urge them to restore SNAP funding? All of us deserve fresh food to eat – no exceptions.

Chelsea Puckett is NETWORK’s Youth and Young Adult Mobilization Coordinator.

Lent’s ‘Crosses of Resistance’ — Sensitive Locations

Lent Means Supporting Sacred Spaces

Giovana Oaxaca
March 18, 2026

The journey through Lent ultimately leads us to journey with Jesus as he makes his way to his death by crucifixion. We remember—even relive—that journey during this season through the practice of the Stations of the Cross.

Just as the Stations call to mind the suffering of Jesus, we remember our neighbors who suffer because they can’t venture out of their homes, for fear of being accosted or taken into detention and separated from their loved ones by federal immigration agents. In this environment, some church leaders have even offered special dispensations for Mass obligations and Holy Days.

In recent weeks, I’ve joined dozens of faith leaders, across faith traditions and denominations, to make the case to Congress for sensible restrictions on immigration enforcement at or near houses of worship, and other specially designated locations like pre-schools and hospitals. Numerous faith leaders I’ve encountered have personal stories of federal agents coming onto church grounds, know parishioners who were detained, or may have experienced disruptions to church-based outreach programs. I hear from faith leaders that they often pray for wisdom to support their communities while carrying the heavy emotional burdens of this moment.

With the Trump administration’s rescission of protection for “sensitive locations,” in immigration enforcement in January 2025, many people feel they cannot safely go to work, school, the doctor, or even church. They remain huddled in their homes, like the fearful Apostles in the upper room, waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.

People staying away from their church because they fear being accosted is unthinkable and an indictment of the priorities of the current administration, which has made religious liberty a central policy focus.

We also cannot forget our neighbors losing their access to health care, education, and even access to a fair hearing by a judge. All of these things are sacred, not just churches. We’re talking about the building blocks of our human capacity to thrive in a society. To force entire communities of people to forgo these essentials dehumanizes them and harms everyone in our society.

Like the Apostles, so many of us are also waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, which our faith proclaims 50 days after Easter, on Pentecost. This only comes after the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. But when we look at the situation today in cities around the United States, we realize communities are already carrying crosses of suffering. As justice-seekers, we have an opportunity to transform these crosses into Crosses of Resistance.

We resist the oppression of our immigrant neighbors through prayer and action. This Lent, NETWORK has created a Stations of the Cross (with facilitator script and participant handout) to draw our communities together into prayerful resistance. And we ask you to join us in advocating for protection for sensitive locations.

Take action with NETWORK:

Human Dignity is on the Line: Urge Congress to Protect Sacred Spaces

Too many of our neighbors are unable to meet their basic needs and run the risk of becoming even more isolated from their communities under the aggressive immigration enforcement tactics we see around us. They are merely surviving, not thriving. They are barred from realizing their full, God-given potential.

The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (H.R.1061/S.455) aims to reform immigration practices by codifying immigration enforcement restrictions at designated locations, specifically by prohibiting enforcement without prior authorization and only in rare cases. Specifically, it:

Designates places of worship, schools, hospitals, courthouses, and other vital community spaces as sensitive locations.

Reinstates clear guidance for agents, prohibiting enforcement within 1,000 feet of designated locations and allowing exceptions only in absolutely critical circumstances.

Mandates reporting to Congress whenever enforcement occurs at these locations, ensuring greater accountability and transparency.

This Lent, we’re calling on elected representatives to add their names to the 140-plus lawmakers demanding a change to immigration enforcement practices and protect sensitive locations. Will you call (202) 953-6731 to urge your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act?

Giovana Oaxaca is NETWORK’s Senior Government Relations Manager.

Lent’s ‘Crosses of Resistance’ — Climate Justice

Lent Means Resisting the Crucifixion of Creation

Drake Palmer Starling
March 4, 2026

The beginning of Lent always reminds us, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

Dust. Not shareholders. Not consumers. Not extraction machines. 

Dust, animated by the breath of God. 

In that fragile truth, the Book of Genesis names our dependence on Earth, our Common Home, and on one another. This is called creation. But even during this 40-day journey of repentance and renewal, powerful interests in Washington are advancing a different vision – one that treats the Earth not as a sacred gift, but as a disposable commodity.  

This year, we are witnessing coordinated efforts to gut clean air and water safeguards, fast-track destructive extraction under the banner of “permitting reform,” weaken environmental review, and roll back hard-won climate investments that protect the most at-risk communities. Proposals like the SPEED Act and other permitting legislation promise efficiency when it comes to new infrastructure, but risk sacrificing community voice, tribal sovereignty, and ecological protection for the sake of this expediency. 

We must be clear: not all reforms are bad. We need clean energy built quickly. We need transmission lines. We need affordable power. But reforms that silence our communities, short-circuit environmental justice reviews, or lock in fossil fuel expansion are not about progress. They are about profit without accountability.   

Catholic Social Teaching is clear: the Earth is our common home. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis warns against the “throwaway culture” that discards both people and planet. Environmental destruction and human suffering are not separate crises. They are one. 

When wetlands are stripped of protection, it is low-income communities who flood first. 

When methane standards are weakened, children with asthma gasp first. 

When mining laws are written for corporations instead of communities, Indigenous land is scarred and pillaged first. 

The prophets spoke of those who “sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.” Today we might add those who sell clean water for quarterly earnings and sacrifice public lands for short-term political gain. Lent calls this what it is: sin, structural sin. 

The crucifixion was the result of political convenience colliding with imperial power. The crucifixion of creation today follows a similar pattern: regulatory rollbacks buried in must-pass bills, community concerns dismissed as “red tape,” and environmental justice framed as obstruction. However, the Gospel does not end there. 

Resurrection is not denial of suffering; it is God’s refusal to let death have the final word. Climate action, environmental justice, and clean energy investment are signs of resurrection breaking into public life. When we defend clean air, clean water, and clean affordable energy, when we organize faith communities against harmful environmental rollbacks, we are proclaiming that another way is possible. 

Lent asks us: 

Will we accept an economy that crucifies creation and calls it growth? Or will we shoulder the cross of resistance and insist that public policy reflect the common good?  To fast this Lent may mean fasting from indifference. To pray may mean calling out lawmakers by name. To give alms may mean investing our time and voices in protecting a livable climate. 

We are dust, yes. But we are dust loved into covenant. 

And the same God who formed Adam from the soil entrusted us with its care.

Take action, and help us carry Crosses of Resistance into your community. Our new Stations of the Cross (with facilitator script and participant handout) is now available.

Call (202) 953-6731 and let your elected official know, they must work for the common good to:

Oppose any legislation that weakens the Toxic Substances Control Act, and protect the EPA’s authority to regulate toxic chemicals.
Protect clean air and safe water in every community
Oppose environmental rollbacks that harm our planet, such as the SPEED Act (Senate Bill S. 3224) and the PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898)
Invest in clean energy jobs that prioritize people over corporate polluters

This Lent, let us mark not only our foreheads — but our commitments.

Because the cross we carry for creation is not a burden of despair.

It is a sign that resurrection is already underway.

Drake Palmer Starling is NETWORK’s Senior Government Relations Advocate.

Lent’s ‘Crosses of Resistance’ — Voting Rights

Ash Wednesday is a Call To Resist the Trampling of Voting Rights

Min. Christian S. Watkins
February 18, 2026

Lent begins with the smudge of ash on our brows and the whispered truth: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” In that stark confession, the Church names both our fragility and our belovedness before God.

Yet while Christians prepare to walk this 40-day road of repentance and renewal, congressional Republicans are advancing a different kind of mark, one that would brand millions of citizens at the ballot box. Two bills, the Senate’s SAVE America Act (S.3752) and the House’s Make Election Great Again (MEGA) Act (H.R.7300), carry on the egregious legacy of the stalled SAVE Act (H.R.22) and its promotion of a “show your papers” regime.

These bills force eligible voters to present proof of citizenship in person to register to vote, update their registration, and in some cases even to cast a ballot. This functionally eliminates online and mail-in registration and sabotages voter registration drives.

More info: How the SAVE Act would disenfranchise rural voters (Center for American Progress)

The House’s MEGA Act also piles on restrictive photo ID requirements, bans universal vote-by-mail, and mandates aggressive voter roll purges every 30 days, ending long-standing protections against last-minute disenfranchisement. This would hand the federal government sweeping power to decide which citizens get to participate in our democracy.

Catholic Social Teaching names participation in public life, including voting, as a moral duty flowing from the dignity of the human person and our call to the common good. Any law that weaponizes bureaucracy against people in poverty, the young, Black and brown communities, and those without stable housing stands in direct opposition to that duty.

During Lent, the prophets condemn those “who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.” The SAVE 2.0 and MEGA Acts are part of a coordinated effort to trample voting itself. This is not about preventing the rare noncitizen vote; it is about manufacturing distrust so that a shrinking minority can cling to power.

We have seen the Trump administration escalating demands for sensitive voter data—including a push tied to the atrocities carried out in Minnesota—while federal law enforcement has targeted election records in Fulton County, Georgia.

The Gospel calls us to repent of the country’s long history of racist voter suppression, to organize, accompany, and advocate so that every eligible neighbor can vote without fear or unnecessary obstacle. This is as important as feeding the hungry or visiting the incarcerated person.

The ballot is not a perk for the well-resourced. It is part of the dignity of the human person in public life – a way for our leaders and policies to represent us. When lawmakers criminalize paperwork mistakes, punish election officials for doing their jobs, and build systems that block working people, elders, students, disabled voters, and low-income families, they are not strengthening democracy.

As we journey toward Easter, we proclaim a crucified and risen Christ who breaks chains, not ballots; who opens doors, not shutters them; who pours out the Spirit so that every voice can testify. Will we consent to new crosses laid upon the backs of the poor in the voting booth, or will we shoulder the cross of resistance and insist that our laws reflect God’s liberating love?

Take Action with NETWORK: Help us resist legislation that denies voting rights to all eligible voters. Call your Senators and let them know that these bills must not pass! Call this number: (202) 915-4877.

Min. Christian S. Watkins is NETWORK’s Senior Government Relations Advocate.