Info Alert 173 Happy Founders’ Day! November 10, 2020
Fratelli Tutti (Pope Francis speaks to us post-election) Political charity is also expressed in a spirit of openness to everyone. Government leaders should be the first to make the sacrifices that foster encounter and to seek convergence on at least some issues. They should be ready to listen to other points of view and to make room for everyone. Through sacrifice and patience, they can help to create a beautiful polyhedral reality in which everyone has a place. Here, economic negotiations do not work. Something else is required: an exchange of gifts for the common good. It may seem naïve and utopian, yet we cannot renounce this lofty aim. #190
Post-Election Pope Francis in his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, offers us some practical steps in bridging the divide after the 2020 election. Steven Millies, an associate professor of public theology and current director of the Bernadin Center at Catholic Theological Union has stated that Catholic Social Teaching is Catholicism’s hidden jewel. The principle that recognizes the dignity of the human person is the starting point for healing and reconciliation on so many levels. In our country today, we have a crisis in solidarity with all other human beings. Empathy and deep listening need to flow from an acceptance of all who are made in the image and likeness of God.
Immigration This is important information about the influence of the Latinx vote in this election. • Latinx voters made up 13% of the electorate, the largest non-white group. • Over 7,000,000 Latinx voters were early voters. 1/3 of them were first time voters. • The first Latino, Ricky Hurtado, was elected to North Carolina state house. • In Georgia, a sheriff was defeated who targeted and criminalized Black and Latinx communities in Cobb Co.
Black Catholic History Month November has been designated by the Catholic Church as a time to recognize the contributions of our Black Catholic brothers and sisters and to celebrate all they have overcome and accomplished despite racism within society and within the Church. November was chosen because the lives of so many saints, important to the Black community, are celebrated in the Church calendar this month. Revisit the lives of those who are on the Road to Sainthood: Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, Rev. Augustus Tolton, Henriette Delille, Pierre Toussaint, Julia Greeley and Sister Thea Bowman.
Prayer (excerpt from Prayer after an Election USCCB) God of all nations . . . We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants, those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges, those in the military and law enforcement. Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord, with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice in the years ahead for all people, and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst. Amen.
Action Participate in Hope for the Holidays (see attachments). Send cards and check made out to IHM Social Justice To Sister Joyce @ 1725 S. Sproul Rd. Springfield, PA 19064 by December 4. I will mail them in one mailing. Pray entire prayer from USCCB website Watch the “Doctrine of Discovery” video on the OSP-IHM Website.