• • CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

This week Congress failed to pass another round of coronavirus aid relief, a hurricane strikes the south, and jobless claims slightly tick down.

Any hopes of passing a pre-election coronavirus aid package were dashed as Congress and the White House were unable to make enough meaningful progress to strike a deal. The Senate adjourned earlier this week for the November elections and will not reconvene until November 9. It remains unclear how long it will take to find consensus around another aid package. The lame duck agenda will largely be dictated by the outcome of Tuesday's elections, further complicating coronavirus aid negotiations.

Millions of people are looking to Washington for assistance during the pandemic. Another 751,000 people filed jobless claims last week, and nearly 360,000 other people filed claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program. The report from the Department of Labor marks the lowest claims since the middle of March. While the decrease is promising, for 32 consecutive weeks the number of Americans filing for unemployment claims remains higher than at any point during the Great Recession. As COVID-19 claims spike, economists remain highly concerned about the health and stability of the  job market and the overall economy.

On Wednesday, Hurricane Zeta made landfall  on the coast of Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane. The storm is known to have killed six people and left more than 2 million without power across various states in the south. Catholic Charities agencies have mobilized to respond to the devastation. You can support the people through the immediate aftermath as they work through the process of recovery by donating here.

Feast of All Saints and All Souls

All Saints' Day, or the Solemnity of All Saints, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints and is celebrated on November 1.  Following on November 2 is the feast of All Souls which commemorates the faithfully departed. In some communities the Feast of All Souls is also celebrated as the Day of the Dead or el Día de los Muertos.  This celebration originated in ancient Mesoamerica (Mexico and northern Central America) where indigenous groups, including Aztec, Maya and Toltecs, had specific times when they commemorated their loved ones who had passed away. After the arrival of the Spanish, this ritual of commemorating the dead was intertwined with two Spanish holidays: All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2). On the Day of the Dead, it's believed that the border between the spirit world and the real-world dissolves. During this brief period, the souls of the dead awaken and return to the living world to feast, drink, dance and play music with their loved ones. In turn, the living family members treat the deceased as honored guests in their celebrations, and leave the deceased's favorite foods and other offerings at grave sites or on the ofrendas (home altars).

Father of all, we pray to you for N., and for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let perpetual light shine upon them. May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

What is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church in the United States during the month of November and was started in November 1990?

On October 23rd, the trivia question was, "Why are presidential elections held in the United States on a Tuesday in November?

Congress chose the first Tuesday in November to harmonize current electoral practice with the existing 34-day window in federal law, as the span between Election Day and the first Wednesday in December is always 29 days.

A Tuesday in November also made sense for the agrarian makeup of 19th-century America. In the 1800s, most citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place. Since people often traveled at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers. 

With this in mind, Tuesday was selected as the first and most convenient day of the week to hold elections. Farm culture also explains why Election Day always falls in November. Spring and early summer elections were thought to interfere with the planting season, and late summer and early fall elections overlapped with the harvest. That left the late fall month of November as the best choice.

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