Help Asylum Seekers
NETWORK needs your help to sign a letter to President Biden about ending Title 42, which was used by the Trump administration to keep asylum seekers out of the U.S. We expected that President Biden would rescind this cruel action, but , the Department of Homeland Security continues to use it to keep asylum seekers out of the U.S. So, in observance and celebration of the Vatican’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees on September 26, we will be delivering this letter to the President and his administration.

CLINIC and NETWORK have co-authored this sign-on letter for Catholic organizations and institutions at the national, state, and local level. Please click here to sign on to the letter.

We are inviting parishes, dioceses, immigration legal clinics and outreach centers, and colleges and high schools to sign on, so please invite any of your congregation’s ministries to sign on as well. Our goal is to get 500 Catholic organizational and institutional signatures.

Signatures are due September 20. We will then deliver and lift up the letter in the media during the days leading up to September 26. Please include your social media information if you would be willing to be tagged in social media posts about this letter.

“In alignment with our Jesuit values, Loyola University Chicago condemns all acts of racism and racial injustice.  We stand in solidarity to achieve justice and commit ourselves to be actively anti-racist, meaning that we will not be silent when we recognize racism, will work to regularly reflect on the ways racism shows up in society, and identify ways we can improve based on our reflections.”

White Coats for Black Lives
White Coats for Black Lives is a nonprofit social justice student organization based in the United States that aims to dismantle racism in medicine and fight for the health of Black people and other people of color. Click here to read a statement that they have shared from Loyola’s Anti-Racism Initiative.

The call to action is broken up into several sections:

• Personal (e.g. Acknowledge that white supremacy is real and enacts itself through institutional racism.  Notice the ways that institutional racism is present in your environment.)
• Interpersonal (e.g. Respect that every person has their own understanding of their identity, lived experiences and preferences.)
• Institutional (e.g. Learn more and voice your opinions publicly about race equity, especially as it pertains to Loyola.)
• Structural (e.g. Measure the ways that you have impact on improvements in personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural levels racial equity.)

Join people of faith around the world as we kick-off the 2021 Season of Creation
This year thousands of Christians from the six continents are invited to unite for a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth, and discovered radically new ways of living with creation. More than ever we are called to make a discernment process and take actions to deal with the socio-economic, environmental and ethical crisis. We can be protagonist.

See online the starting moment of the Season of Creation

Voters’ Rights are Human Rights
Congress is currently considering two important voting rights bills: The For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. There are several in-person events planning to support these bills, but for Sisters who cannot attend, the School Sisters of Notre Dame have created a Virtual March to Promote Racial Justice and Voting Rights on Aug. 28th. A 4-minute video explains the importance of protecting voting rights and invites participants to join the sisters in several at-home actions, including spending 10 minutes in their prayer room.

Speak Out for Gun Safety
In June, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) proposed a new rule that would specify the definition of “rifle” to include certain pistols equipped with arm braces that can be fired from a shoulder.  Much like with bump stocks, the gun industry has exploited a loophole to intentionally evade the law in order to make and market particularly dangerous short-barreled rifles. Some arm braces allow a user to turn a pistol into a short-barreled rifle — one of the most highly regulated weapons in the country due to its combination of lethality and concealability.

You can comment on a proposed rule that will help close this dangerous loophole. Click here to read more from Everytown for Gun Safety.

Save the Bees!
Threats to pollinators come from every corner. Pesticides infect bees and their hives, weakening the entire ecosystem. The extreme weather of climate change disrupts timing of plant flowering and the pollinator migration patterns. Agribusiness is destroying vital pollinator habitats.

On Sunday, the U.S. recognized National Honey Bee Day, but we need to take urgent action and fight for pollinators every day. Our apian friends are in danger and their possible extinction threatens our way of life.

Click here to tell Congress to Support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act.

SPEAK UP FOR JUSTICE:
Urge U.S. to Expedite Resettlement for Afghan Allies and Refugees
Please contact the Biden administration, your senators and representatives and urge them to expedite resettlement, including Special Immigrant Visas, for Afghans who have assisted U.S. military and diplomatic personnel since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.

Regardless of what one may think about the situation in Afghanistan today, the U.S. withdrawal or the original invasion of 2001, the United States has a responsibility to protect these Afghans who put their own lives at risk to further the U.S. mission and now face severe repression and death.

It is not just allies who will need assistance fleeing the returned Taliban regime. Faithful America has asked that we speak out to encourage President Biden’s administration to offer asylum to Afghan refugees. Click here to sign the petition.

Speak Up to Promote Gun Safety
Tomorrow, August 19, is the last day to contribute to public comments on the Biden administration’s proposed rule change on ghost guns, which would require ghost gun parts manufacturers and dealers who are engaged in the business of selling those parts to be federally licensed, parts would need serial numbers, and purchasers must pass a background check before buying ghost gun parts from a licensed dealer.

Please click here to add your comment before Thursday, August 19, 2021

Craft for a Cause
Sr. Judy Morris works with Water With Blessings, a Louisville-based group that equips and empowers and entrusts mothers to become Water Women: compassionate mothers to become agents of change in their communities who filter clean water for their families and neighbors.
You can contribute to this important mission with your crochet hooks and knitting needles, making protective covers for the precious water filters that Water with Blessings provides. Click for crochet instructions and click here for knitting instructions. You can also create knotted hangers for special filters provided to Navajo Nation women; click here for instructions.

EVENTS:
Spiritual Retreat Reflecting on Our Common Home
During the week of August 23, 2021, Sister Dianne Bergant, CSA, will preach a spiritual retreat focused on viewing Laudato Si’ from a Biblical perspective.

The retreat sessions will be available on the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes (CSA) YouTube channel at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily, beginning at 3 p.m. on Monday, August 23 and concluding at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 28. For those wishing to participate at a later date, the recordings will remain available on the CSA YouTube channel and website indefinitely.

From Interfaith Power and Light
Our partner Dayenu, a Jewish Call to Climate Action, is hosting a series of public in-person Jewishly-rooted and multifaith actions across the country. The Hear the Call events are happening throughout the month of Elul as Jewish communities prepare for the High Holidays.

You can also join Interfaith Power and Light on August 27 for a day of action to ask our congressional leaders to invest in climate action and creation justice!

Sign up for this virtual event on August 27th at 12pm Eastern to join people of faith in calling your members of Congress, asking them to pass a climate budget that includes important, once-in-a-generation investments in climate change prevention and resilience.

Bring Civil Rights Lawyers Back to the Courts
Myrna Pérez, a daughter of Mexican immigrants and an advocate for voting rights, has been nominated for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She would be only the second Latina ever to serve on the Second Circuit, and the first since Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Click here to add your name to a petition to tell Senators to confirm Myrna Pérez’s nomination to the Second Circuit Court.

Speak Up to Promote Gun Safety
On April 7, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his initial set of executive actions to tackle the gun violence crisis in our nation, including a change to regulate ghost guns.

On May 21, 2021, the ATF announced a notice of its proposed rule change on ghost guns and the public has 90 days to submit comments on the proposal. The proposed rule would clarify that partially complete firearm frames and receivers (such as 80% receivers) are firearms if they are designed as a part of a functioning firearm, or could easily be converted into one. The rule change would also require ghost gun parts manufacturers and dealers who are engaged in the business of selling those parts to be federally licensed, parts would need serial numbers, and purchasers must pass a background check before buying ghost gun parts from a licensed dealer.

Over 54,000 comments on this legislation have been submitted and the majority of comments are from gun rights advocates and groups. We must counter the corporate gun lobby objections with strong support for this common-sense rule change that will save many lives.

Please click here to add your comment before Thursday, August 19, 2021

SAMPLE COMMENTS:

• I support ATF 2021R-05 rule change because gun violence is a public health epidemic and the federal government must regulate do-it-yourself easy to assemble unserialized untraceable ghost guns—including AR-15s—that are becoming weapons of choice for criminals, extremists, gun traffickers and other prohibited gun purchasers.
• According to the ATF, law enforcement recovered about 10,000 ghost guns in 2019. Serial numbers must be required for ghost gun parts and background checks must be required for anyone purchasing ghost gun parts. Gun deaths and injuries have surged over the past year and federal inaction on ghost guns will result in more tragedies in our communities in all corners of our nation.
• According to the Center for American Progress, ghost guns are increasingly being used in shootings across the nation. I urge the ATF to support this proposed rule change to keep Americans safe.
• In November 2019, a 16-year-old shot five of his classmates at Saugus High School in California—two of them fatally—using a homemade handgun, before fatally shooting himself.
• In August 2019, a shooter used a homemade gun kit to build a .223-caliber firearm that he later used to fire 41 shots in 32 seconds in a bar in Dayton, Ohio, shooting 26 people and killing nine.
• In 2017, in Northern California, a man prohibited from possessing firearms ordered kits to build AR-15-style rifles. On November 13, he initiated a series of shootings that began with fatally shooting his wife at home, followed by a rampage the next day during which he fired at multiple people in several different locations, including an elementary school, killing five people and injuring dozens more.
• In 2013, a shooter opened fire in Santa Monica, California, shooting 100 rounds, killing five people, and injuring several others at a community college using a homemade AR-15 rifle. Reporting indicates the shooter had previously tried to purchase a firearm from a licensed gun dealer and failed a background check, potentially indicating why he opted to order parts to build a gun instead.

Virtual Volunteer Opportunities
The Environmental Voter Project has opportunities for phone and email work to help encourage votes for candidates who put the climate first. Click each link to learn more.

• August 11: Volunteer Texting and Calling Training. 12pm ET / 11am CT / 10am MT / 9am PT / 8am AKT. No experience necessary. 
• August 17: St. Petersburg, FL Municipal Primary Phonebank. 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT / 3pm AKT. Starts with training; no experience necessary.
• August 23: St. Petersburg, FL Municipal Primary Phonebank. 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT / 3pm ADT. Starts with training; no experience necessary.
• August 26: Boston, MA Municipal Primary Phonebank. 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT / 3pm ADT. Starts with training; no experience necessary.
• August 30: Volunteer Texting and Calling Training. 12pm ET / 11am CT / 10am MT / 9am PT / 8am AKT. No experience necessary.

Prayer for Truth
The Dominican Sisters of Hope have asked us to join with people of faith to pray for the guiding principle of our charism… Truth. As an Order whose motto is Veritas (Truth), these times where truth-telling is being overridden by false narratives repeated over and over are most disturbing.

From July 22nd through November 7th (the Feast of All Dominican Saints), we invite you to say a prayer for Truth every day. The Dominican Sisters of Hope have prepared a prayer that you can access by clicking here, or you may create your own. The Sisters of Hope also ask that you commit to one act of daily fasting so justice can prevail.

Helping Provide a Lifeline for Children
In today’s Peace and Justice blog, Sr. Judy Morris addressed the importance of the new Child Tax Credit made possible by The American Rescue Plan. The Children’s Defense Fund is working to make this lifesaving funding available long term and to correct inequities in the system. Click here to see how you can help.

Medical Equity is Justice
While the United States has a surplus of COVID-19 vaccines, many countries around the world still have little to no access to them. This inequality has led to prolonged shutdowns, worsening hunger and poverty, and avoidable sickness and death around the world. In addition, virus variants are emerging in areas without vaccine access and threatening to make existing vaccines less effective.

Take action today: Urge the Biden administration to take further steps to pursue a massive global vaccine access campaign.