Sunday, June 20, 2021
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Florida’s ‘Cavalry’ Helps Secure the Border: ‘You’ve Got a Storm and We’re Coming to Help You’
Work is done on a new border wall being constructed in Jacumba, Calif., on Jan. 22, 2021. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
June 18, 2021 12:23, Last Updated: June 18, 2021 13:25
By Patricia Tolson
At a June 16 press conference, Florida’s Ron DeSantis became the first governor to answer the plea for help from fellow Republican governors—Doug Ducey of Arizona and Greg Abbott of Texas—by authorizing the deployment of law enforcement resources to help secure the border.
“It’s undeniable that the border crisis is out of control,” Christina Pushaw, press secretary to DeSantis told The Epoch Times. “Helping our fellow Americans in their moment of need is always the right thing to do. The governors of other states have sent resources to Florida in the past to help respond to natural disasters. With the federal government unable or unwilling to enforce our laws and secure our border, Florida is ready to step up to the plate and do our part.”
Time to Return the Favor
“Florida is stepping up to the plate,” Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey declared to The Epoch Times, saying, “Texas and Arizona, you’ve got a storm, and we’re coming to help you.”
“When the state of Florida has a storm that devastates an area, law enforcement resources from across the country respond and come to our rescue,” Ivey explained. “The concept of responding to the needs of a state in the aftermath of a storm is no different than responding to the needs of another state in the midst of a border crisis.”
It’s a sentiment shared by other Florida sheriffs.
“When the governor called Wednesday and expressed his concerns about our southern border, I immediately offered whatever resources we could spare for this endeavor,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden told The Epoch Times. “After all, these states have answered the call for us with hurricane relief and other emergencies, so it’s only fair that we return the effort when they call for help.”
“It’s doing the right thing,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told The Epoch Times. “Inevitably, whenever we have an emergency or a hurricane that comes through here, the governors of Texas and Arizona send us anything that we need.”
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford told The Epoch Times he also sees the cry for help from the governors of Texas and Arizona to secure the border as an opportunity to repay the debt he owes after hurricane Michael devastated Bay County and many sheriffs from other states came to their aid.
“So we’re going to volunteer to be the first ones there to help,” Ford said.
Securing the Border
“Securing the border helps Floridians,” Pushaw explained. “Even though Florida isn’t a border state, securing the southern border would help stop the flow of narcotics that end up in our state and ravage our communities. Illegal immigrants have also committed crimes in Florida, which could have been prevented if our immigration laws were enforced.”
As Marceno told The Epoch Times, fentanyl cases have gone up 230 percent in Lee County over the past six months and there has been a 3,000 percent increase in the number of sexual predators coming across U.S. borders.
“We’re not going to allow it,” Marceno asserted. “Florida’s residents are going to be safe and secure.”
“It’s something I think is missed sometimes in the talking points of this issue of a safe and secure border,” Ford observed. “It’s not just the individuals that may be coming across the border but the dangerous products they bring with them.”
According to Ford, Bay County has also been flooded with amphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin over the past six months.
While they would typically “high five” the seizure of a half-pound of meth, Ford said it’s now not uncommon to intercept five to six pounds, even upward of 10 to 12 pounds. There have also been 150 drug overdoses in Bay County since January, with 15 of them being fatal, all of which he attributes to the fentanyl coming across the border.
Proud of DeSantis
“This is exactly what leadership, crisis management, and commitment to law and order looks like” Ivey attested. “The guy’s got it going on. He’s not afraid to stand on the ledge and make decisions. He understands, like I do, that the government’s one and only responsibility is to protect its citizens, and he has taken an oath to protect his citizens, his cops, and his Constitution.”
“The governor is the true definition of an amazing leader,” Marceno explained, citing the extremely difficult decisions DeSantis made in the midst of the pandemic. “That is the reason why 904 people a day move to our state, for law enforcement and safety. He is a phenomenal leader. He’s an amazing man to work with. The communication is constant and I am very proud to say he’s our governor in the state of Florida.”
“I think it’s very important that we heed those calls because we were in a time of great need two years ago,” Ford stated. “I just remember that feeling of having the cavalry roll in to assist, not asking any questions like who’s going to pay for it but just being available. I know the burden they’re carrying on the border.”
“The situation at the border is more than a crisis and one that must be dealt with immediately,” Aden asserted. “It’s a matter of national security. But if the federal government cannot or will not gain control, then states like Florida will come to the aid of our fellow states pleading for help.”
Critical Democrats
Despite the overwhelming support DeSantis has received from Florida’s law enforcement, some Democrats have criticized the move by DeSantis.
Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), one of two Democrat declared candidates to run for the position of governor in 2022, called the decision to send Florida law enforcement to the border a “political stunt.” Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the second declared Democrat candidate for governor, wrote on Twitter: “Florida’s current governor just makes controversies up to get on Fox News.”
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani wrote: “Another political stunt by @GovRonDeSantis—instead of perpetuating the attacks on immigrants & going after Biden Administration why don’t you focus on the people who live in FL!”
“These are real issues that affect Floridians’ everyday lives, and it’s wrong to dismiss the Governor’s attempt to address these issues as a mere ‘political stunt,’” Pushaw insisted. “Those who criticize Gov. DeSantis’ decision are the ones engaging in political grandstanding at Floridians’ expense.”
Wide-Ranging Catholic Call for Regional Church Response to Needs of Migrants
A wide range group of Catholic organizations, including many connected to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) throughout the Americas, is encouraging Catholic bishops throughout the United States, Mexico, and Central America to work collaboratively to protect migrants and improve life in the communities they are fleeing from.
In a letter dated June 17, over 160 organizations urged the leaders of the Catholic bishops’ conferences in the United States, Mexico, and Central America to “hear the cries of our brothers and sisters on the move and respond with bold leadership.” Noting the promise of a new U.S. Administration to address the root causes of migration the group highlighted three key areas for collective action by the Catholic Church: 1. Responding humanely to increased migration; 2. Putting immigrants in the U.S. on a pathway to citizenship; and 3. Addressing the underlying conditions that force people to migrate.
The encouraging call to action to Catholic bishops comes as faith-based many organizations, including the Ignatian Solidarity Network and Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology, have been advocating for legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders.
The letter was spearheaded by Faith in Action and Hope Border Institute. Signatories connected to the Ignatian network and Jesuit works in the U.S. included: Ignatian Solidarity Network, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States Office of Justice & Ecology, Jesuit Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, USA Jesuits West Province, Kino Border Initiative, Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, and St. Francis Xavier Church in Phoenix, AZ. And in Latin America: Red Jesuita con Migrantes Latinoamérica y el Caribe (RJM-LAC), Red Jesuita con Migrantes Centro y Norteamérica (RJM-CANA), and Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados México. The letter was also signed by over 50 women religious communities, many of who minister to migrants throughout the region.
For the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the letter’s arrival was timely coming amid their semi-annual meeting taking place June 16-18, virtually due to COVID-19.
The full letter can be found in English and Spanish.
The encouraging call to action to Catholic bishops comes as faith-based many organizations, including the Ignatian Solidarity Network and Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology, have been advocating for legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders.
The letter was spearheaded by Faith in Action and Hope Border Institute. Signatories connected to the Ignatian network and Jesuit works in the U.S. included: Ignatian Solidarity Network, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States Office of Justice & Ecology, Jesuit Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, USA Jesuits West Province, Kino Border Initiative, Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, and St. Francis Xavier Church in Phoenix, AZ. And in Latin America: Red Jesuita con Migrantes Latinoamérica y el Caribe (RJM-LAC), Red Jesuita con Migrantes Centro y Norteamérica (RJM-CANA), and Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados México. The letter was also signed by over 50 women religious communities, many of who minister to migrants throughout the region.
For the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the letter’s arrival was timely coming amid their semi-annual meeting taking place June 16-18, virtually due to COVID-19.
The full letter can be found in English and Spanish.
2021-06-18/
‘I Dare You’: Pro-Abortion Democrat Ted Lieu Challenges Catholic Bishops...
‘I Dare You’: Pro-Abortion Democrat Ted Lieu Challenges Catholic Bishops To Deny Him Communion
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
MARY MARGARET OLOHAN
SOCIAL ISSUES REPORTER
June 18, 20215:56 PM
Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu publicly challenged Catholic bishops Friday to deny him Communion for supporting contraception, abortion, same sex marriage and more.
Lieu responded to news that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly approved a measure Friday to draft a statement discussing whether high profile pro-abortion politicians, like President Joe Biden, may be denied Communion. (RELATED: ‘Devout’ Or ‘Extreme’: Media Treats Catholicism In Vastly Different Ways Depending On Politics)
“Dear USCCB,” Lieu tweeted. “I’m Catholic and I support: -Contraception -A woman’s right to choose -Treatments for infertility -The right for people to get a divorce -The right of same sex marriage.”
“Next time I go to Church, I dare you to deny me Communion,” the congressman said. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Lieu represents California’s 33rd district which covers Los Angeles County, an archdiocese that Archbishop José Horacio Gómez oversees. Gómez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF about Lieu’s challenge.
Sixty Catholic Democrats also issued a “Statement of Principles” Friday warning U.S. bishops against “the weaponization of the Eucharist.” Signers included Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and New York Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez.
Lieu’s name does not appear on the letter.
Biden has spoken about his Catholicism through his entire political career, referring to his faith as a source of solace during turbulent times in his life. Biden exhibits many outward signs of his Catholicism: he frequently goes to mass, has met with Pope Francis, mentions praying the rosary and visits the cemetery where his family members are buried.
Yet as soon as he became president, Biden immediately took action to fund and promote abortion — which the Catholic Church condemns as a “crime against human life.”
Most media celebrates Biden’s Catholicism as “devout” without noting the significance of his divergence from Catholic teaching. Others suggest that the Catholic sentiment is changing due to public opinion on these topics — though Catholic teaching has not changed.
The Catholic Church teaches that Catholics may not receive Holy Communion if they are “conscious of a grave sin.” Catholics who have committed any grave sins must make a good confession before they can receive, according to the Church.
Source
Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu publicly challenged Catholic bishops Friday to deny him Communion for supporting contraception, abortion, same sex marriage and more.
Lieu responded to news that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly approved a measure Friday to draft a statement discussing whether high profile pro-abortion politicians, like President Joe Biden, may be denied Communion. (RELATED: ‘Devout’ Or ‘Extreme’: Media Treats Catholicism In Vastly Different Ways Depending On Politics)
“Dear USCCB,” Lieu tweeted. “I’m Catholic and I support: -Contraception -A woman’s right to choose -Treatments for infertility -The right for people to get a divorce -The right of same sex marriage.”
“Next time I go to Church, I dare you to deny me Communion,” the congressman said. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Lieu represents California’s 33rd district which covers Los Angeles County, an archdiocese that Archbishop José Horacio Gómez oversees. Gómez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF about Lieu’s challenge.
Sixty Catholic Democrats also issued a “Statement of Principles” Friday warning U.S. bishops against “the weaponization of the Eucharist.” Signers included Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and New York Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez.
Lieu’s name does not appear on the letter.
Biden has spoken about his Catholicism through his entire political career, referring to his faith as a source of solace during turbulent times in his life. Biden exhibits many outward signs of his Catholicism: he frequently goes to mass, has met with Pope Francis, mentions praying the rosary and visits the cemetery where his family members are buried.
Yet as soon as he became president, Biden immediately took action to fund and promote abortion — which the Catholic Church condemns as a “crime against human life.”
Most media celebrates Biden’s Catholicism as “devout” without noting the significance of his divergence from Catholic teaching. Others suggest that the Catholic sentiment is changing due to public opinion on these topics — though Catholic teaching has not changed.
The Catholic Church teaches that Catholics may not receive Holy Communion if they are “conscious of a grave sin.” Catholics who have committed any grave sins must make a good confession before they can receive, according to the Church.
Source
Related
Nationality: American
Spouse: Betty Lieu
Juneteenth supposedly marked the end of slavery—so why did the Jesuits keep a man in bondage for two years after that?
Juneteenth supposedly marked the end of slavery—so why did the Jesuits keep a man in bondage for two years after that?
Patrick Saint-Jean
June 17, 2021
A demonstrator in St. Paul, Minn., uses a megaphone during a Black Lives Matter demonstration on March 19, 2021. (CNS photo/Nicholas Pfosi, Reuters)
When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he announced that all enslaved people in the Confederated states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” In reality, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in name only. The freedom promised was conditional on the Union winning the war. The decree didn’t apply to slave-holding border states—and the Confederate states refused to accept it. Jesuit missions that relied on slave labor also ignored the decree.
Texas was one of the states that disregarded the Emancipation Proclamation. Geographically, it was far enough away from the Civil War battles that enslaved people could not easily escape behind Union lines. As a result, Texas was seen as a safe haven for slavery and many enslavers moved there. After the war came to a close in April of 1865, slavery continued to be practiced in Texas for another two months.
Then, on June 19, 1865, the Union general Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Tex., bringing the news of the Confederate defeat to the 250,000 enslaved people who lived in Texas. “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” Granger announced. “This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employers and hired labor.” This was a happy day, and celebrations erupted among the newly freed people.
In reality, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in name only.
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There was a caveat, however: Those who had been enslaved were encouraged to remain with their former owners. “The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages,” Granger said. “They are informed that they...will not be supported in idleness.” The documents ensuring freedom had been signed, yet many Black Americans still remained in a form of bondage.
Peter Hawkins and his wife Margaret were two of those for whom freedom would be slow in coming. A slave his entire life, according to an eminent researcher on Jesuit history, Dr. Kelly Schmidt, Peter was born and grew up on Jesuit properties in Saint Louis, Mo. There he saw members of his community flogged, and he suffered the pain of separation from friends and family when the Jesuits sold them away.
And yet Peter was a religious man, and his piety convinced the Jesuits that he was “the best slave.” Because of their high opinion, they allowed him to purchase his freedom—but Peter wanted his wife to be free as well. The Jesuits asked him to pay an additional amount that would be equivalent to $20,300 today, and Peter worked night and day for two years, trying to earn the money. Finally, in May 1864, he begged the Jesuits to take pity on him and his wife.
According to a document at the Jesuit archive in St. Louis, a Jesuit superior reported in a meeting with the house consultors at that time that Peter, “like almost all the other slaves these days,” had “gone giddy.” Reluctantly, however, they came up with an offer: If Peter and Margaret would labor for the Jesuits for another two years, they would grant Margaret her freedom.
Less than a year later, in January 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, abolishing slavery in the United States. The Missouri Society of Jesus contracted with their Black workers to continue working for a salary—but they did not apply this arrangement to Peter and Margaret, who continued to labor without pay for another two years. When they finally received a salary, Peter’s wages were fourteen dollars per month (the equivalent of about $200 in today’s economy). Margaret’s were five dollars per month (roughly equivalent to $80 today).
Slavery may have legally ended in 1865, but for Black people like Peter and Margaret Hawkins, the oppression continued.
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Slavery may have legally ended in 1865, but for Black people like Peter and Margaret Hawkins, the oppression continued. Throughout the South, “black codes” limited the ways in which formerly enslaved people could work. Later, the country enacted Jim Crow laws that allowed ongoing discrimiation and segregation. Thankfully, the Jim Crow era came to an end—but white supremacy still lives on within American’s institutions.
The past couple of years have been particularly difficult ones as our country has reckoned with its history of racial injustice. There is much that remains to be done. Still, in cities all over the country, there are people coming together to affirm African American freedom, achievement and pride. This Juneteenth we will again have the chance to celebrate the power of new hope and possibility. It is a moment to remember the belief of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that “God’s image is ineffably etched” in all humans. As Catholics, this is yet another invitation to understand what St. Ignatius asks of us—the opening of our eyes to see the manifestation of God in each and every human being.
As we celebrate Juneteenth in 2021, the events of the past couple of years challenge us to embrace our shared humanity, with all its contradictions. God said to Jeremiah, “The human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Only I the Lord” (Jer 17: 9-10), and we have seen more than enough examples of our desperate sickness lately.
The artist Kendrick Lamar, however, reminds us of the complexity of the human heart, saying, “I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA.” In Dr. King’s words, “A persistent civil war rages within all of our lives.... There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.” Each of us can be both oppressor and oppressed, both freedom activist and racist, both privileged and disadvantaged. This is the reality of our shared human nature.
We must be transformed internally, so that we can be empowered to build a better world externally.
Tweet this
This is something that challenges me personally. I claim a sense of belonging in the Jesuits. Our bond as a group of brothers is strong, and our love for one another is genuine. And yet, as a Black man, I cannot help but remember Peter and Margaret Hawkins and all the others like them, including my own ancestors—people who were forced to wait too long for freedom and justice.
St. Ignatius gives me the only answer that makes sense of our human contradictions, our potential for both justice and injustice: We are all sinners—and yet we are loved by Christ. Therein lies our hope. Even as we work for racial justice in our streets and schools and courts of law, we must also make room for Divine Love to work deep within our hearts. We must be transformed internally, so that we can be empowered to build a better world externally.
Juneteenth is more than a day of celebration. It is a challenge to be accountable to one another as members of a beloved community. It is a call to enter into a conversation with each other, creating a time and space where we can nourish a fragile community that is living by grace. As individuals and as a community, we have the chance to expand our spirituality and extend our moral imagination in ways that allow us to come together, united by justice. As St. Ignatius reminded novices in the 16th century, we must “never delay the good work.”
And so, as we celebrate Juneteenth this year, may we be empowered to answer the call to racial justice in our hearts—and make it real in the world around us.
This Juneteenth is our moment.
When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he announced that all enslaved people in the Confederated states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” In reality, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in name only. The freedom promised was conditional on the Union winning the war. The decree didn’t apply to slave-holding border states—and the Confederate states refused to accept it. Jesuit missions that relied on slave labor also ignored the decree.
Texas was one of the states that disregarded the Emancipation Proclamation. Geographically, it was far enough away from the Civil War battles that enslaved people could not easily escape behind Union lines. As a result, Texas was seen as a safe haven for slavery and many enslavers moved there. After the war came to a close in April of 1865, slavery continued to be practiced in Texas for another two months.
Then, on June 19, 1865, the Union general Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Tex., bringing the news of the Confederate defeat to the 250,000 enslaved people who lived in Texas. “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a proclamation from the executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” Granger announced. “This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employers and hired labor.” This was a happy day, and celebrations erupted among the newly freed people.
In reality, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in name only.
Tweet this
There was a caveat, however: Those who had been enslaved were encouraged to remain with their former owners. “The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages,” Granger said. “They are informed that they...will not be supported in idleness.” The documents ensuring freedom had been signed, yet many Black Americans still remained in a form of bondage.
Peter Hawkins and his wife Margaret were two of those for whom freedom would be slow in coming. A slave his entire life, according to an eminent researcher on Jesuit history, Dr. Kelly Schmidt, Peter was born and grew up on Jesuit properties in Saint Louis, Mo. There he saw members of his community flogged, and he suffered the pain of separation from friends and family when the Jesuits sold them away.
And yet Peter was a religious man, and his piety convinced the Jesuits that he was “the best slave.” Because of their high opinion, they allowed him to purchase his freedom—but Peter wanted his wife to be free as well. The Jesuits asked him to pay an additional amount that would be equivalent to $20,300 today, and Peter worked night and day for two years, trying to earn the money. Finally, in May 1864, he begged the Jesuits to take pity on him and his wife.
According to a document at the Jesuit archive in St. Louis, a Jesuit superior reported in a meeting with the house consultors at that time that Peter, “like almost all the other slaves these days,” had “gone giddy.” Reluctantly, however, they came up with an offer: If Peter and Margaret would labor for the Jesuits for another two years, they would grant Margaret her freedom.
Less than a year later, in January 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, abolishing slavery in the United States. The Missouri Society of Jesus contracted with their Black workers to continue working for a salary—but they did not apply this arrangement to Peter and Margaret, who continued to labor without pay for another two years. When they finally received a salary, Peter’s wages were fourteen dollars per month (the equivalent of about $200 in today’s economy). Margaret’s were five dollars per month (roughly equivalent to $80 today).
Slavery may have legally ended in 1865, but for Black people like Peter and Margaret Hawkins, the oppression continued.
Tweet this
Slavery may have legally ended in 1865, but for Black people like Peter and Margaret Hawkins, the oppression continued. Throughout the South, “black codes” limited the ways in which formerly enslaved people could work. Later, the country enacted Jim Crow laws that allowed ongoing discrimiation and segregation. Thankfully, the Jim Crow era came to an end—but white supremacy still lives on within American’s institutions.
The past couple of years have been particularly difficult ones as our country has reckoned with its history of racial injustice. There is much that remains to be done. Still, in cities all over the country, there are people coming together to affirm African American freedom, achievement and pride. This Juneteenth we will again have the chance to celebrate the power of new hope and possibility. It is a moment to remember the belief of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that “God’s image is ineffably etched” in all humans. As Catholics, this is yet another invitation to understand what St. Ignatius asks of us—the opening of our eyes to see the manifestation of God in each and every human being.
As we celebrate Juneteenth in 2021, the events of the past couple of years challenge us to embrace our shared humanity, with all its contradictions. God said to Jeremiah, “The human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Only I the Lord” (Jer 17: 9-10), and we have seen more than enough examples of our desperate sickness lately.
The artist Kendrick Lamar, however, reminds us of the complexity of the human heart, saying, “I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA.” In Dr. King’s words, “A persistent civil war rages within all of our lives.... There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.” Each of us can be both oppressor and oppressed, both freedom activist and racist, both privileged and disadvantaged. This is the reality of our shared human nature.
We must be transformed internally, so that we can be empowered to build a better world externally.
Tweet this
This is something that challenges me personally. I claim a sense of belonging in the Jesuits. Our bond as a group of brothers is strong, and our love for one another is genuine. And yet, as a Black man, I cannot help but remember Peter and Margaret Hawkins and all the others like them, including my own ancestors—people who were forced to wait too long for freedom and justice.
St. Ignatius gives me the only answer that makes sense of our human contradictions, our potential for both justice and injustice: We are all sinners—and yet we are loved by Christ. Therein lies our hope. Even as we work for racial justice in our streets and schools and courts of law, we must also make room for Divine Love to work deep within our hearts. We must be transformed internally, so that we can be empowered to build a better world externally.
Juneteenth is more than a day of celebration. It is a challenge to be accountable to one another as members of a beloved community. It is a call to enter into a conversation with each other, creating a time and space where we can nourish a fragile community that is living by grace. As individuals and as a community, we have the chance to expand our spirituality and extend our moral imagination in ways that allow us to come together, united by justice. As St. Ignatius reminded novices in the 16th century, we must “never delay the good work.”
And so, as we celebrate Juneteenth this year, may we be empowered to answer the call to racial justice in our hearts—and make it real in the world around us.
This Juneteenth is our moment.
Friday, June 18, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Congress votes overwhelmingly to make Juneteenth a federal holiday...
Congress votes overwhelmingly to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. The day commemorates the end of slavery in Texas in 1865.
The House on June 16 passed a bill to make Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in Texas, a federal holiday. (The Washington Post)
By
Mike DeBonis
June 16, 2021 at 11:29 p.m. EDT
Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, elevating the day marking the end of slavery in Texas to a national commemoration of emancipation amid a larger reckoning about America’s turbulent history with racism.
It is the first new federal holiday created by Congress since 1983, when lawmakers voted to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day after a 15-year fight to commemorate the assassinated civil rights leader.
The vote was heralded by the bill’s supporters as a milestone in the effort to foster a greater recognition of the horrors of slavery in the United States and the long history of inequality that followed emancipation and continues to this day.
“It’s a long journey, but here we are,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), the lead proponent of the holiday in the House. “That racial divide has fallen out of the sky and we are crushing it to the earth. . . . This bill and this day is about freedom.”
Juneteenth celebrates ‘a moment of indescribable joy’: Slavery’s end in Texas
The bipartisan support for the federal holiday comes at a time when Congress remains in a partisan deadlock on more substantive priorities for Black leaders, such as a push to federally guarantee voting access in the face of Republican-led state laws restricting it, as well as an effort to pass a federal policing overhaul to deter incidents of brutality and violence by law enforcement against racial minorities.
Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.), one of three Black senators, hailed the new holiday but warned that weightier matters deserved similar cooperation.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.), seen here in 2019, led the effort to create the Juneteenth holiday in the House. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post/For The Washington Post)
“I would hope that we would not cash in substantive change for an opportunity to commemorate,” he said. “I think commemoration ought to drive change and not be a substitute for change.”
The congressional fight to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday was a relatively rapid affair compared with the campaign to establish a holiday in King’s honor. It was approved Wednesday by the House on a 415-to-14 vote just a day after the bill establishing the holiday moved suddenly and unanimously through the Senate.
The push to establish June 19 as a national holiday celebrating emancipation only gained serious traction last year, as the nation erupted in turmoil over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a White Minneapolis police officer.
Lawmakers marveled Wednesday over the sudden breakthrough this week, which was triggered by a single Republican senator’s announcement that he would no longer object to passage of the bill.
“While freedom was delayed for Black Americans following the end of the Civil War, we will delay no longer in recognizing, today, it finally arrived by making Juneteenth a federal holiday,” said Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a lead proponent of the federal holiday push, on Wednesday.
The federal holiday, he added, “does not right the wrongs of our nation’s past, but it finally gives recognition and voice to those who suffered.”
Juneteenth was originally the celebration of the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger proclaimed in Galveston that “All slaves are free” — some 30 months after the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln took effect. Enslaved people continued to be held in the South after that until liberation by Union troops, and historians have found that slaves continued to be held in some parts of the country even after Granger’s order.
Emancipation was ultimately secured in December 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment and the commencement of federal Reconstruction.
But Juneteenth has, over time, become a date of more sweeping significance for African Americans — evolving from folk celebrations in South Texas to a national holiday recognized by 48 states.
It has been a Texas state holiday since 1980, and the state’s senior Republican senator, John Cornyn, played a leading role in building GOP support for its passage.
“I believe that there’s no better time than the present, particularly given the strife we’ve seen — this level of distrust for example between law enforcement and the communities they serve — to acknowledge our nation’s history, and to learn from it,” Cornyn said Wednesday.
Plantation planned Juneteenth event that would tell the stories of displaced ‘White refugees’
Although the bill passed the Senate unanimously, 14 House Republicans voted against it Wednesday.
“Let’s call an ace an ace. This is an effort by the Left to create a day out of whole cloth to celebrate identity politics as part of its larger efforts to make Critical Race Theory the reigning ideology of our country,” Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale (R-Mont.) said in a statement ahead of the vote, referring to an intellectual tool set for examining systemic racism that Republicans have denounced. “Since I believe in treating everyone equally, regardless of race, and that we should be focused on what unites us rather than our differences, I will vote no.”
Cornyn responded to Rosendale’s statement by writing on Twitter: “Kooky.”
Several House conservatives rose Wednesday to lodge objections based on the formal name of the bill creating the holiday, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. They said the name would detract from the significance of July 4, and one member, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), said it would “create confusion and push Americans to pick one of those two days as their independence day based on their racial identity.”
The 14 Republicans who voted against the bill were Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.), Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.), Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.), Ronny Jackson (Tex.), Doug LaMalfa (Calif.), Massie, Tom McClintock (Calif.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Mike D. Rogers (Ala.), Rosendale, Chip Roy (Tex.) and Tom Tiffany (Wis.).
Advocates pushing for Congress to address systemic racism more forcefully warned that the overwhelming bipartisan support for the holiday should not distract or take momentum away from issues like voting rights.
Amara Enyia, policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives, said advocates would not be “assuaged or placated” by a new federal holiday.
“There’s always the concern that these things do distract from the substantive issues,” she said. “We acknowledge the importance of Juneteenth, but that just cannot in any way, shape or form substitute for the tangible steps that lawmakers need to make to address the issues that folks have been talking about before [the federal holiday] became an issue.”
Manchin outlines demands on voting legislation, creating an opening for potential Democratic compromise
The rapid passage of the measure took lawmakers across Capitol Hill by surprise. According to Senate aides, the stage was set Tuesday when Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) publicly announced he would no longer object to passage of the bill after previously opposing it on budgetary grounds.
Senate leaders immediately polled the other 99 senators about the legislation privately, and when none objected, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought it to the Senate floor Tuesday evening for passage. There was no debate.
“We need to celebrate Juneteenth, I have no problem with that,” Johnson said Tuesday. “It’s still bizarre to me that’s the way we celebrate a holiday — you give 2 million Americans a day off to the tune of $600 million,” referring to a cost estimate on the lost productivity of federal workers.
The House moved quickly Wednesday to pass the bill, and the White House said President Biden will sign the bill in the East Room on Thursday.
“Juneteenth is a recognition that darkness can come to light, that there is a celebration as my forefathers and mothers struggled to endure the horror they experienced,” said Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), a longtime proponent of the holiday. “And so celebrating Juneteenth as a national holiday is simply an idea whose time has come.”
“I would hope that we would not cash in substantive change for an opportunity to commemorate,” he said. “I think commemoration ought to drive change and not be a substitute for change.”
The congressional fight to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday was a relatively rapid affair compared with the campaign to establish a holiday in King’s honor. It was approved Wednesday by the House on a 415-to-14 vote just a day after the bill establishing the holiday moved suddenly and unanimously through the Senate.
The push to establish June 19 as a national holiday celebrating emancipation only gained serious traction last year, as the nation erupted in turmoil over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a White Minneapolis police officer.
Lawmakers marveled Wednesday over the sudden breakthrough this week, which was triggered by a single Republican senator’s announcement that he would no longer object to passage of the bill.
“While freedom was delayed for Black Americans following the end of the Civil War, we will delay no longer in recognizing, today, it finally arrived by making Juneteenth a federal holiday,” said Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a lead proponent of the federal holiday push, on Wednesday.
The federal holiday, he added, “does not right the wrongs of our nation’s past, but it finally gives recognition and voice to those who suffered.”
Juneteenth was originally the celebration of the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger proclaimed in Galveston that “All slaves are free” — some 30 months after the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln took effect. Enslaved people continued to be held in the South after that until liberation by Union troops, and historians have found that slaves continued to be held in some parts of the country even after Granger’s order.
Emancipation was ultimately secured in December 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment and the commencement of federal Reconstruction.
But Juneteenth has, over time, become a date of more sweeping significance for African Americans — evolving from folk celebrations in South Texas to a national holiday recognized by 48 states.
It has been a Texas state holiday since 1980, and the state’s senior Republican senator, John Cornyn, played a leading role in building GOP support for its passage.
“I believe that there’s no better time than the present, particularly given the strife we’ve seen — this level of distrust for example between law enforcement and the communities they serve — to acknowledge our nation’s history, and to learn from it,” Cornyn said Wednesday.
Plantation planned Juneteenth event that would tell the stories of displaced ‘White refugees’
Although the bill passed the Senate unanimously, 14 House Republicans voted against it Wednesday.
“Let’s call an ace an ace. This is an effort by the Left to create a day out of whole cloth to celebrate identity politics as part of its larger efforts to make Critical Race Theory the reigning ideology of our country,” Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale (R-Mont.) said in a statement ahead of the vote, referring to an intellectual tool set for examining systemic racism that Republicans have denounced. “Since I believe in treating everyone equally, regardless of race, and that we should be focused on what unites us rather than our differences, I will vote no.”
Cornyn responded to Rosendale’s statement by writing on Twitter: “Kooky.”
Several House conservatives rose Wednesday to lodge objections based on the formal name of the bill creating the holiday, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. They said the name would detract from the significance of July 4, and one member, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), said it would “create confusion and push Americans to pick one of those two days as their independence day based on their racial identity.”
The 14 Republicans who voted against the bill were Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Andrew S. Clyde (Ga.), Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.), Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.), Ronny Jackson (Tex.), Doug LaMalfa (Calif.), Massie, Tom McClintock (Calif.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Mike D. Rogers (Ala.), Rosendale, Chip Roy (Tex.) and Tom Tiffany (Wis.).
Advocates pushing for Congress to address systemic racism more forcefully warned that the overwhelming bipartisan support for the holiday should not distract or take momentum away from issues like voting rights.
Amara Enyia, policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives, said advocates would not be “assuaged or placated” by a new federal holiday.
“There’s always the concern that these things do distract from the substantive issues,” she said. “We acknowledge the importance of Juneteenth, but that just cannot in any way, shape or form substitute for the tangible steps that lawmakers need to make to address the issues that folks have been talking about before [the federal holiday] became an issue.”
Manchin outlines demands on voting legislation, creating an opening for potential Democratic compromise
The rapid passage of the measure took lawmakers across Capitol Hill by surprise. According to Senate aides, the stage was set Tuesday when Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) publicly announced he would no longer object to passage of the bill after previously opposing it on budgetary grounds.
Senate leaders immediately polled the other 99 senators about the legislation privately, and when none objected, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought it to the Senate floor Tuesday evening for passage. There was no debate.
“We need to celebrate Juneteenth, I have no problem with that,” Johnson said Tuesday. “It’s still bizarre to me that’s the way we celebrate a holiday — you give 2 million Americans a day off to the tune of $600 million,” referring to a cost estimate on the lost productivity of federal workers.
The House moved quickly Wednesday to pass the bill, and the White House said President Biden will sign the bill in the East Room on Thursday.
“Juneteenth is a recognition that darkness can come to light, that there is a celebration as my forefathers and mothers struggled to endure the horror they experienced,” said Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), a longtime proponent of the holiday. “And so celebrating Juneteenth as a national holiday is simply an idea whose time has come.”
Black Democrats Are ‘Pushing Hard’ To Look Into Reparations For Descendants Of Slavery
BRIANNA LYMANREPORTERJune 15, 202110:36 AM ET
Black Democrats are pushing for the party to vote on a bill to study reparations for descendants of slavery with the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre heightening the stakes, it was reported Tuesday.
“For those of us who went to Tulsa, it became even more apparent to us how important it is to pass H.R. 40 and to do so certainly before we leave for the August Recess,” Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson said, according to The Hill.
“We came away united with the strong feeling that now is the time to do [it]” he continued, noting victims of Greenwood nor their descendants were compensated for their losses. “And so we will now address leadership with this newfound sense of energy and urgency.”
“It’s always going to be inconvenient, but now is the time,” Johnson said, according to The Hill. “If you go back and look at the Tulsa situation and see how the people are still out there – have not been able to get redress for the wrongs that were done to them – I mean, if you can’t see reparations from that viewpoint, then you just don’t want to see reparation.”
President Joe Biden traveled to Tulsa to mark the solemn anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre (1921) in which a mob of armed white residents attacked the prosperous black community of Greenwood.
Tulsa race massacre Survivors Viola Fletcher (C) and Hughes Van Ellis (C R) listen to US President Joe Biden as he speaks on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre at the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 1, 2021. – (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Approximately 300 black residents were killed and nearly 1,200 homes were burned to the ground. The event is noted as the worst incident of racial violence in U.S. history. (RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Demands ‘Reparations’ For Families Separated At The Border Under Trump)
Democratic California Rep. Barbara Lee, who once headed the Black Caucus, expressed a similar sentiment about the importance of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre and reparations, according to the report.
“Tulsa is ground zero, I believe, in terms of raising the level of awareness and the why’s, and the importance of reparations and getting H.R. 40 passed,” she said, according to The Hill. “We’re pushing hard.”
“You have generational trauma. All of this is manifested today in much of what the Black community is still living with,” Lee said, according to The Hill. “And so this is a very important moment. It’s a day of reckoning, I think. And it’s time that this country live up to its promise of justice.”
H.R. 40, which is sponsored by Democratic Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, would establish a commission to study the history of slavery and its effects.
The House Judiciary Committee voted in April in favor of the bill. If the House votes in favor, the bill would allocate $20 million to create a 13-person commission to study the adverse effects of slavery and recommend remedies to Congress.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Bishops call for a renewed transatlantic partnership ahead of the EU-US Summit
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Content:
Press Release, 08/06/2021
Bishops call for a renewed transatlantic partnership ahead of the EU-US Summit
Bishops from both sides of the Atlantic have released on Monday 7 June 2021 a joint declaration towards a renewed transatlantic relationship ahead of the June 2021 EU-US Summit. They encourage European and American policy-makers to work together for a stronger partnership at the service of a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.
In view of the upcoming June 2021 EU-US Summit gathering political leaders from both sides of the Atlantic, H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ and H.E. Mgr. José Horacio Gómez, Presidents of COMECE and USCCB respectively, issued a joint statement calling for a renewal of the transatlantic ties rooted in shared values of freedom, democracy, rule of law, justice, and respect for human life.
As many people and families around the world are still facing a time of severe uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Card. Hollerich and Mgr. Gómez, on behalf of EU and US Bishops, express hope that the upcoming Summit will result in redefining common priorities serving “a people-centered and just recovery from the pandemic and its consequences, intensifying common efforts for a more peaceful world, and strengthening the commitment to a better care for our common home”.
While the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is swiftly advancing in the European Union and the United States of America, the Bishops remind political leaders that most of the countries are still far away from the prospect of a post-pandemic world, and encourage them to accelerate their efforts, including through the COVAX Facility, to ensure an equitable access to vaccines for all, especially the most poor and vulnerable.
Entitled “Shared Responsibility for the Whole Human Family” and inspired by Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, the declaration exhorts “the EU and the U.S. to be beacons of trust across the global community and engines for a reinvigoration of multilateral cooperation”.
Hearing the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, the Catholic Church also calls on decision-makers to shape the transatlantic partnership according to the concept of integral ecology as outlined in Laudauto Si', which includes the challenge to address climate change as an opportunity to improve general living conditions, health, transport, energy, and security, and to create new job opportunities.
The statement concludes with prayers of EU and US Bishops for a fruitful and mutually beneficial partnership, “not only for our citizens, but to also at the service of the whole human family. The Church on both sides of the Atlantic stands ready to contribute to these noble efforts of the decision-makers”.
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COMECE Communication Officer
Alessandro Di Maio
+32 (0) 2 235 05 15
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Pope urges inclusive and sustainable food systems
A vegetable and food vendor in a market in Jakarta, Indonesia (ANSA)
As the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) kicks off its 4-day Conference on Monday, Pope Francis sends a message on how the world needs to rebuild after the current crisis.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis has pledged the support of the Holy See and the Catholic Church for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its “dedication to a more just world, at the service of our defenseless and needy brothers and sisters”. He urged special attention for the poor rural food producers, who are more likely to suffer from malnutrition and hunger.
The Pope made the remarks on Monday in a message to Michal Kurtyka, the Polish Minister of Climate and Environment, who is chairing FAO’s 42nd Conference at it headquarters in Rome, June 14-18. While reviewing the state of food and agriculture in the world, the virtual session has as its overall theme, “Agriculture Food Systems Transformation: From Strategy to Action”.
Creating inclusive and sustainable food systems
FAO coordinates international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. The Pope said that this task assumes a special prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, as “many of our brothers and sisters still do not have access to the food they need, either in quantity or quality”. Last year, he noted, the number of these people was the highest in the last five years. With conflicts, extreme weather events, economic crises, together with the current health crisis, the future could be worse. Hence, policies capable of tackling the structural causes of these growing vulnerabilities need to be adopted.
In this regard, a circular economy, which guarantees resources for all, including future generations, and promotes the use of renewable energies, will help create resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems that will provide healthy and affordable diets for everyone. However, the fundamental factor in recovering from the crisis that is ravaging us is an economy tailored to mankind, not subject only to profit, but anchored in the common good, friendly to ethics and respectful of the environment.
Farming and rural communities
The reconstruction of post-pandemic economies should take into account the valuable role of family farming and rural communities. The Pope lamented that those who produce food are the ones who suffer from the lack or scarcity of food. “Three-quarters of the world's poor", he said, "live in rural areas and depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods”. However, due to lack of access to markets, land ownership, financial resources, infrastructure and technologies, they are most vulnerable to food insecurity.
Pope Francis expressed appreciation for the international community's effort to enable individual countries achieve food autonomy while preserving local ecosystems and biodiversity. He urged innovative ways to support and help small producers improve their capacities and resilience.
Fraternity vs virus of indifference
As the world prepares to re-launch after the pandemic, Pope Francis said it is fundamental to promote a culture of care against the individualistic and aggressive tendency to discard, which is very present in our societies. “While a few sow tensions, confrontations and falsehoods”, he said, “we, on the other hand, are invited to patiently and decisively build a culture of peace, which is directed towards initiatives that embrace all aspects of human life and help us to reject the virus of indifference”.
Pope Francis said mere outlining of programs is not enough. Tangible gestures are needed that have as their point of reference the common belonging to the human family and the fostering of fraternity. Gestures that facilitate the creation of a society that promotes education, dialogue and equity.
He urged that all welcome the current trial as an opportunity to prepare for a future for all without discarding anyone, warning, “without an all-embracing vision, there will be no future for anyone”.
The Conference is FAO’s supreme governing body whose main functions are to determine the policies of the Organization, approve the budget, and make recommendations to members and international organizations.
Monday, June 14, 2021
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